(1931)
Dir - George Melford
Overall: GOOD
For a brief time, Universal chose to shoot back-to-back versions of their own films for Spanish-speaking audiences. Done with the same working script from Garrett Fort and on the same exact sets as Tod Browning's iconic, English version, George Melford's Dracula provides some improvements over its counterpart while simultaneously being less effective in other areas. The pluses are mainly due to the supporting cast who inject a higherenergy over the more restrained performances in Browning's version. That said, Carlos Villarías, though adequate, is no Béla Lugosi. Comparing his portrayal to that of the man who has owned the Count Dracula role for nearly a century now is admittingly unfair though. Dwight Fright was likewise scene-stealing of course, yet Pablo Álvarez Rubio here as Renfield is just as feverishly demented. Melford creates a solid atmosphere and stages a few moments with some flash, plus the dialog expands upon Fort's screenplay, (which was adapted by Baltasar Fernández Cué), fleshing more of the plot out in the process. The extra twenty-nine minute running time feels its length though as the pacing becomes too comatose at regular intervals. Still, this is a solid experiment and for Universal horror completists, it is essential.
(1932)
Dir - Tod Browning
Overall: GOOD
Probably the boldest and most controversial Pre-Code film from a major production studio, Tod Browning's seminal Freaks, (The Monster Story, Forbidden Love, Nature's Mistakes), remains bizarre still today. Based in part on the short story "Spurs" from Tod Robbins, it was significantly cut and modified before release as test audiences reacted unfavorably to Browning's initial and now lost ninety-three minute version. Though the finished film runs just over an hour, it still provides plenty of shocks almost a century later. This hinges in part due to the audacity of its very existence. By casting real life circus performers and non-actors with physical deformities, (all of whom deliver odd, almost unintelligible performances that further enhance the noncommercial strangeness), viewers were allowed a glimpse into a world seldom seen. Yet Browning, (who had worked in a traveling circus before, made The Unknown with Lon Chaney in such a setting, and cast the dwarf Harry Earles in his previous film The Unholy Three), had a natural sympathy for his title charters which comes off on the screen. Showing them engage in everyday activities while looking out for themselves humanizes them more than the "normal" characters who end up doing the most despicable and unprovoked things. Lest we forget the ending which is one of the most memorable and wacky from any early talkie.
(1934)
Dir - Charles Vidor
Overall: MEH
This screen adaptation of Elizabeth A. McFadden's Broadway play of the same name is melodramatic in spades, spearheaded by a vile performance from stage thespian Mary Morris, making her lone film appearance here. Double Door is laughable in some respects, namely how ridiculously unreasonable the behavior is from Morris' odious spinster who does everything in her power to manipulate and thwart her half-brother's marriage to a charming young woman who just wants everyone to get along. Why all parties involved are so afraid of her let alone have put up with her for this long is a frustrating logical pill to swallow since Morris cranks up the bitterness to such levels that her villainous portrayal is more uncomfortable than fun. Both her and Anne Revere reprise their roles from the Broadway version, with the later as well as Evelyn Venable laying on the bellowing schmaltz so heavy that they sound as if they are going to burst into uncontrollable tears with every line delivery. Things take an inevitably sinister turn in the finale, but at least Morris gets her comeuppance and everyone else seems to have broken off from her stranglehold at long last. Stuffy and unintentionally silly, it is sadly too dated to hold up.
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