Dracula halála

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Movie
Original title Dracula halála
Country of production Hungary
original language Hungarian
Publishing year 1921
Rod
Director Károly Lajthay
script Mihaly Kertesz (unsecured)
Károly Lajthay
production Corvin-filmgyár (Budapest)
camera Eduard Hoesch
occupation

Drakula halála , in German: Dracula's death , is a Hungarian silent film with the Austrian Paul Askonas in the title role. It is considered to be the first Dracula film in cinematography.

action

There is only rudimentary basic information on the plot: The 16-year-old seamstress Mary Land visits her father, who is housed in an asylum near Vienna. There she meets a disturbing man who claims to be Dracula and thus immortal. The man has power over two prison inmates who consider themselves doctors and who desperately want to operate on Mary's eyes. Soon the girl is under the spell of the mysterious processes and gets into a nightmare in which the undead seduces her as well as kidnaps her.

Production notes

Film scene with Paul Askonas (left) and Margit Lux

Drakula halála was created in 1920 or 1921 in Budapest or Vienna studios. It may also have been shot on original locations at the Steinhof in Vienna and in Melk in the Wachau . Although some sources claim that this film was the first adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula , published in 1897, this claim is highly unlikely given the traditional content.

The cast of the female lead is not entirely clear. After Képes Movizilag , Lene Myl played the main role, here Margit Lux is mentioned as a supporting role. Later information, however, lists Margit Lux as the main actress and Lene Myl as the supporting actress, for example in Budapesti Hírlap and Színházi Élet . This would also be supported by the fact that Myl did not appear in any other film as an actress, while Lux has worked in a number of other silent films - including mandrake by director Mihaly Kertesz , who (however, this is also unclear) probably also on the script to Drakula halála was involved. At least that is what Gary D. Rhodes suspects, who also assumes that Lene Myl could have played one of Dracula's brides.

The film is considered lost. Several sources state that Drakula halála is said to have been performed for the first time in Austria in February or August 1921, but a Viennese premiere cannot be established. The film is said to have been shown for the first time in Germany the following year (1922), but here, too, neither an exact performance date nor a German distribution title can be determined. The first secured performance of Drakula halála took place in 1923 in the production country Hungary.

criticism

There are no detailed reviews. Budapesti Hírlap writes in a premiere report of an "exciting, fascinating plot" and an "interesting story".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b background report of the magazine Képes Movizilag from January 16, 1921
  2. ↑ a b Premiere report the newspaper Budapesti Hírlap from 28 April 1923
  3. ^ Advertisement in the magazine Színházi Élet , No. 12/1923