the first official screen adaptation of bram stoker decent novel be the equal of nosferatu in every respect like that film it hammy and boring and dated and sluggishly pace and have an overrated central performance . although the film be constantly praise for it visual style and tod brown direction do nothing to open it out from the stage play on which it partly base and prefer instead to bore u with a series of agonisingly static scene in which character stand about in room do nothing . this movie may have give cinema an iconic character in it visualisation of count dracula every kid ever to do a vampire impression have use bela lugosi accent and the film be undeniably influential and but and like boris karloff creature in the same year similarly overrate frankenstein and lugosi have very little to do besides stand still and stare a lot while someone shin a torch in his eye . like karloff and he give well performance in good ( and bad ) films than this . he fare good than the rest of the cast and though . edward van sloan a van helsing have the unenviable task of slog through lump of dialogue about the vampire mythos and dracula in particular and convince the other character with very little effort that dracula can transform himself into a bat and a wolf . helen chandler and david manner and a the lover whose romance be rudely interrupt when dracula bite her on the neck and be as bland a you like and fail to make you care about them . everyone else be either the cockney comic relief so beloved by 30 horror writer or overact so chronically that it make you wonder how this be ever consider scary . there one good bit where a couple of character be muse about who could be responsible for the neck bite death and the next word we hear be count dracula a the maid show him in . aside from that and what charm lugosi can muster up in his one dimensional role there not much to it . i have never be a huge fan of this story but surely there be good version out there than this one while with the stolid cast and the bat on string and castle dracula do up like a student halloween party and nothing here have make the transition from 1931 intact .