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rwojo
Reviews
Dracula (1931)
Thank goodness they chose him.
Thank Goodness Lugosi was chosen by Universal to play Dracula.
This was the only way we can imagine
how it would have been to see Lugosi perform on stage (as
well as Herbert Bunston and Edward van Sloan) at the Fulton Theatre in
New York.
The "stagebound" atmosphere of Dracula really does give the viewer a
real sense of how it was in the theatre, except that every seat is a
good one!
Had it been any other studio but Universal, with its European look,
I wonder if Dracula would have been the hit it still is today.
Same thing with FRANKENSTEIN: some of the way it looks on screen can
be attributed to James Whale but it was the Universal technicians that
actually gave the picture that Universal Studios look.
Inspiration (1931)
I liked this film better than ROMANCE.
INSPIRATION may not be one of Garbo's better films, but like most of her films, it's basically a "women's picture".
I will agree that Robert Montgomery (not a favorite of mine) should not have been cast in this picture but is OK. A more likely actor would have been somebody like Conrad Nagel. If one really wants to re-cast the picture, how about Baclanova in the Garbo role? The look of the film is very good. Films of this period with European backgrounds always interest me, and Garbo's persona fits very well in it.
Even though this was 1931, there was still some silent film techniques in many of the movies made at this relatively late date: the way Karen Morley's suicide was filmed, for instance.
Liked this one better than ROMANCE and liked it a lot better than any of her films made after the PAINTED VEIL. But I don't think any of her sound films quite stack up to her silent films (she always looked ter- rific and that William Daniels photography!).