On Walpurgisnacht, Renfield (Dwight Frye) goes to the Borgo Pass where he is met by Count Dracula's coach. The next day, Renfield and Dracula (Bela Lugosi) take 'the Vesta' to England. Ship arrives in Whitby harbor in a storm, captain lashed to boat, everyone dead, Renfield mad. Renfield is taken to Dr Jack Seward (Herbert Bunston)'s sanitarium near London. Newspaper clipping notes Renfield's strange desire to eat small living things.
Dracula arrives in London. He goes to a play where he is introduced to Dr Seward, daughter Mina (Helen Chandler), Lucy Weston (Frances Dade) and John Harker (David Manners). Dracula announces he has taken Carfax Abbey which adjoins the Sanitarium. Shortly thereafter, Lucy dies of blood loss. Professor Van Helsing arrives to examine her. At the same time, Dracula visits, and Van Helsing notes no reflection in mirror. While Van Helsing, Seward and Harker discuss vampires, Dracula summons Mina outside. She is found fainted on the lawn.
DRACULA 1931 (SPANISH VERSION) DVD
Many argue that Melford’s Drácula is superior to Browning’s yet, outside of narrative cohesion and exposition, there is little significant difference between the two films. The most notable distinction between the movies is that the Spanish version wasn’t confined to observing the Hays Code and, as a consequence, Melford permitted his actresses to dress more provocatively. This is most apparent in Lupita Tovar’s role as Eva (in her counterpart role to Mina) during her conversation on the veranda with Juan Harker (Barry Norton in his counterpart role to John) as her breasts are easily discernable through her low cut nightgown. What results is that the sexual undertones in Browning’s work is thereby brought to the forefront and, by making the theme of subverted sexuality more explicit, much of the insinuative potency of Dracula’s socially usurping malevolence is lost. Furthermore, though Melford denies his camera to record the vicious acts of the Count (Carlos Villarías) as does Browning, we are still witness to the much spoken of but never previously depicted bite marks which the vampire leaves upon the necks of his victims, thus depriving the audience of creating their own macabre, personally terrifying, vision of the wound.
THE PUBLIC ENEMY 1931 DVD and LASERDISC
Tom Powers and Matt Doyle are best friends and fellow gangsters, their lives frowned upon by Tom's straight laced brother, Mike, and Matt's straight laced sister, Molly. From their teen-aged years into young adulthood, Tom and Matt have an increasingly lucrative life, bootlegging during the Prohibition era. But Tom in particular becomes more and more brazen in what he is willing to do, and becomes more obstinate and violent against those who either disagree with him or cross him. When one of their colleagues dies in a freak accident, a rival bootlegging faction senses weakness among Tom and Matt's gang, which is led by Paddy Ryan. A gang war ensues, resulting in Paddy suggesting that Tom and Matt lay low. But because of Tom's basic nature, he decides instead to take matters into his own hands.
LITTLE CAESAR 1931 DVD
Little Caesar is one of the most important films ever made. That’s a large claim for a low-budget Hollywood movie from the beginning of the Depression but it’s hard to think of many other films that so emphatically defined – and in some respects proscribed - a whole genre. In setting, character and acting, it set the ground rules for ten years of gangster movies and, inadvertently, influenced a whole sub-genre of films which reacted against the clichés which Little Caesar helped to create. It wasn’t the first gangster movie by any means – but it’s fair to say that it kicked off the 1930s vogue for the genre and that Edward G. Robinson’s performance was the model for many actors who trod similar turf.
FRANKENSTEIN 1931 DVD
Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) wants to build a man in his own image, using the body of a dead man. He and his assistent Fritz (Dwight Frye) dig up a freshly burried coffin and steal the body. When they realize the head and the brains of the body are severely damaged, they decide to steal a brain from Dr. Frankensteins former teacher Dr. Waldman (Edward van Sloan). When Fritz accidentely drops the glass jar with the label "good brain" on it on the floor, he decides to take the glass jar with the label "bad brain". Using some kind of mysterious ray that Dr. Frankenstein discovered, the body is brought to life during a thunderstorm, and the monster of Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) is born.
Later, when Dr. Frankenstein realizes that he has created an agressive monster, he and Fritz lock the monster up in a cell. When the monster is repeatedly bullied and provoked by Fritz, the monster eventually manages to kill him. When the monster escapes, he meets a little girl playing near the water. The monster and the girl throw flowers in the water. Enjoying the playing, the clumsy monster proceeds to pick up the girl and throw her in the water, too. Later we learn that the little girl drowned in the incident, when her father carries her through the streets.
DR.JEKYLL AND MR.HYDE 1931 DVD
Based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men - a good and an evil side. He believes that by separating the two man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug it is already too late...
Monkey Business DVD 1931
While stowing away on a ship to America, the boys get involuntarily pressed into service as toughs for a pair of feuding gangsters while trying desparately to evade the ship's crew. After arriving stateside, one of the gangsters kidnaps the other's daughter - and it's up to our unlikely heroes to save the day.
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