Dracula's Death

Dracula's Death, or Drakula halála, sometimes translated as The Death of Dracula, was a 1921 Hungarian-Austrian[1] silent horror film that was co-written and directed by Károly Lajthay, and starred Paul Askonas and Lena Myl.[2] It was presumed to be a lost film[3] but critic Troy Howarth states in his reference book "Tome of Terror" that a print exists in a Hungarian archive.[1]

Dracula's Death
Original poster
Directed byKároly Lajthay
Written byKároly Lajthay
Mihály Kertész
StarringErik Vanko
Lena Myl[1]
CinematographyEduard Hoesch [1]
Distributed byCorvin[1]
Release date
August 1921 (Austria)
Running time
60 minutes[1]
CountryHungary
LanguageSilent
Hungarian intertitles

The film marked the first screen appearance of the vampire Count Dracula (spelled "Drakula"), though recent scholarly research indicates that the film's plot did not at all follow the narrative of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. Thus, Nosferatu (1922) is considered the first true adaptation of Stoker's novel.[4]

After originally opening in Vienna in 1921 and enjoying a long and successful European run, the film was later re-edited and re-released in Budapest in 1923 as The Death of Dracula.[4][5]

Director Lajthay was both an actor and a director. Most of the films he worked on are considered lost.[1]

Plot

A woman experiences frightening visions after being admitted to an insane asylum, where one of the inmates claims to be Count Dracula (here following the Hungarian spelling Drakula). She has trouble determining whether the inmate's visions are real or merely nightmares.[6][7] The inmate is a leering figure, thin and pale with a widow's peak, pointy ears and sharp teeth (as he appears in existing stills), apparently wearing a cape or cloak. (The poster actually shows a grey-skinned monster with fangs and talons.) He appears to her in her dreams when she sleeps. Eventually she escapes the asylum and later gets married, but the dreams continue to haunt her.

Cast
A still from the film.
  • Erik Vanko (aka, known by his stagename Paul Askonas) as a mental asylum inmate, who claims to be Count Dracula
  • Lena Myl[1]
  • Carl Goetz as meatman
  • Aladar Ihasz[1]
  • Lajos Rethey[1]
  • Dezső Kertész as George
  • Elemér Thury as Doctor
  • James Ard as the doctor's assistant

See also

References
  1. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 234. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  2. Heiss, Lokke. "Dracula Unearthed." Cinefantastique 30.7-8 (October 1998): 91.
  3. Progressive Silent Film List: Drakula halála at silentera.com
  4. Heiss, p. 92.
  5. Gibson, Doug (9 December 2016). "Plan 9 Crunch: All About Cult Films: Drakula Halala -- the first filmed Dracula". Plan 9 Crunch. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  6. Ermida, Isabel (2015). Dracula and the Gothic in Literature, Pop Culture and the Arts. Brill/Rodopi. p. 139 pp. ISBN 978-9004306172.
  7. Scivally, Bruce (2015). Dracula FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Count from Transylvania. Backbeat Books. p. 8 pp. ISBN 978-1617136009.


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