Legend of Dracula (Film)

Legend of Dracula or Vlad the Impaler: The Legend of Dracula is a 1936 American fantasy horror film directed by Tod Browing based on a script written by John L. Balderston. It stars Bela Lugosi as the title character, Vlad Dracula, loosely-based on the historical Prince Vlad Tepes of Wallachia.

The film was one of Universal Pictures' most successful films in the Hayes Code era, although its premise invoked widespread controversy since its release. It was later banned in Romania throughout the entirety of Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime, and the leader condemned it as a "slander against the Romanian people".

In 2014, Universal Pictures released Dracula Untold, the film's remake, which starred Luke Evans as the titular character.

Synopsis
In 15th-century Transylvania, Count Vlad Dracula (Lugosi) is hailed as a great warrior for his military successes against the invading Ottoman Empire. Named "the Impaler" for his ruthless means of executing criminals, traitors, and invaders, his reputation catches the attention of Sultan Mahomet the Conqueror (Rudolf Valentino), who sets out to face the Count in battle himself.

Dracula's forces begin to get overwhelmed, and the Count grows desperate for a means to stop the Sultan's conquest. A mysterious beggar visits his castle uninvited, and reveals himself as the warlock Uniila (Boris Karloff), who promises Dracula immortality and supernatural power in exchange for the curse of vampirism. Dracula accepts the offer, and he is transformed into a vampire through black magic.

The King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus (Peter Lorre), hears of Dracula's dark magic practices, and begins to grow weary of him. King Matthias requests Dracula to "turn away from the Evil One", but Dracula accuses the King of abandoning the war effort. The King is forced to conspire with Sultan Mahomet to execute the Count, with the Sultan promising to cease his invasion once Dracula is destroyed.

Vlad's castle undergoes siege, and Dracula persuades his wife Anastasia (Vilma Bánky) to drink his blood, so that she can join him beyond death. In the ensuing chaos, Anastasia falls to her death from the castle's tower to the river below. In a final confrontation, Dracula is killed by a joint army of Hungarians and Turks.

Thinking Dracula dead, the Turks celebrate their victory, while King Matthias laments Dracula's decision. However, in the castle's crypt, Dracula rises as a vampire.

Background
Prior to the film's production, Bela Lugosi had confessed to Balderston that he his typecasting into the vampire Count exasperated him, and told him that the name "Dracula" actually referred to a real ruler in Europe who gained notoriety for impaling his enemies. Balderston took ideas from Lugosi's story and made a thorough research into the history of Vlad III "Tepes", suggesting to Universal Pictures that a film which featured the warlord would gain immediate success. At that time, Balderston was hired to write a screenplay for the upcoming film "Dracula's Daughter" which was an intended sequel to "Dracula" (1931) and was to have featured scenes detailing the Count's past.

Balderston opined that exploring the Count's past as "Vlad the Impaler" would be the superior route for a script, and Universal asked Bela to reprise his role, now as "Count Vlad Dracula." Lugosi, at first hesitant to star in a film that "made a mockery of history" and warning the producers that they were treading on "sensitive ground", eventually accepted with the condition that a disclaimer be released in the introductory credits that the story which would take place was fiction. Despite Lugosi's appeal and Universal's agreement to the condition, no such disclaimer was included in the introduction, instead referring to the film's story as having been "inspired by the legend of the ruthless Vlad the Impaler of Romania".

Balderston's initial scripts featured grotesque violence, including shots of impaled victims, and the Production Code Administration (PCA) asked for numerous revisions of the draft. Subsequently, the film did not show on-screen impalements, instead referring to these events secondhand.

Reception
The film received mixed to positive reviews, and grossed over $300,000, over four times its 1931 predecessor, Dracula. Variety praised the film, considering it "superior and more chilling than the original." The Chicago Tribune considered it to "have been a step-up" from the 1931 film, but questioned the ambiguity of Dracula's morality, remarking that "a leader's resolve to win against a superior enemy" could not "justify his indiscriminate ruthlessness on his subjects." Despite this, the review opined that "it is made clear in the finale that evil is never a means to an end."

However, the film also received backlash for its gross historical inaccuracies, particularly from Hungarian and German historians, such as its decision to depict Vlad the Impaler as "a Count subject to King Matthias of Hungary" instead of an independent voivode. The most recurrent criticism was the decision to portray Vlad as a Hungarian nobleman of Szekely origins (though this was in fact consistent with Bram Stoker's original premise in the 1897 novel).

Most Hungarian-Americans, and viewers from Lugosi's home country of Hungary, did not take much issue, seeing it as "made for entertainment" and "consistent with Vlad III's stubborn and authoritarian character". The film was largely unheard of in Romania during its release, but received condemnation during communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu's reign. Romanian nationalists criticized it for "wrongly portraying Vlad Tepes as an anti-Christian" and "fabricating lies on Romanian history." The film was banned during the entirety of Ceaușescu's regime.

Cast
Bela Lugosi as Vlad Dracula, Count of Transylvania

Peter Lorre as King Matthias Corvinus

Boris Karloff as Uniila the Solomonar

Rudolf Valentino as Sultan Mahomet

Vilma Bánky as Countess Anastasia