As mentioned, the story line follows that of the book closely - Dracula makes his way from Transylvania to London where he succeeds in feeding off the Londoners until his nemesis - Dr. Van Helsing confronts and does battle with the great vampire.

Tod Browning who also made the excellent Freaks was brought on board to helm Dracula for Universal. The film is tightly directed and the first half of the film in particular is wonderfully shot with the stark black and white contrasting strongly as themes in the film. In particular look out for the first shot of Dracula descending the stairs of his castle while Renfield has his back turned to him.

The film is replete with atmosphere - there is little soundtrack but the swirling mists, shadowy figures and an excellent Castle Dracula all add up to providing all the requisite ingredients of a good vampire film. In contrast to later films on the vampire we even get a glimpse into the anguish of the Count when he states how 'glorious it would be to be dead'. The film moves along at a good pace though the climax is definitely disappointingly sudden.

Bela Lugosi, at least for the first half of the film, is a majestic Count Dracula. Far from the hideous visage of Max Schreck's Nosferatu, Lugosi is suave and almost charming. As the film progresses though Lugosi begins to ham up his role almost dishing up a parody of the Dracula character. On the whole though, the film is compulsive viewing and it remained until Coppola's version, the most authentic outing for the Count.