Having recently received volume 1 of the Monsters from the Vault archive on DVD, I've just had the opportunity to read Tom Weaver's excellent article, "Monster Sidekicks: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly," in issue number 1. Although another example of Tom's fine work, the first part of his article pained me greatly, as Tom convincingly makes the point that the character of Renfield in the 1931 DRACULA, as portrayed by Dwight Frye, is perhaps the most pointless and ineffectual monster sidekick in all of Universal's classic horror movies.
As Tom explains, "to the best of the audience's knowledge," Dracula never gives Renfield anything to do in the film. Yes, Renfield awakens Dracula aboard the Vesta (a rooster's job, as Tom colorfully describes it), but for the rest of the movie the audience has no idea what use Dracula is making of his devoted slave. We see Dracula wordlessly commanding Renfield to do something involving Mina, but we have no way of knowing what that something was, or whether Renfield has done it. In the end, all we can see Renfield doing is pointlessly interrupting conversations downstairs and ultimately being killed when Dracula mistakingly believes that Renfield has betrayed him.
While all of his points are completely valid, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Dwight Frye as I read Tom's article. As those who have read the DRACULA screenplay or have followed the thread and/or seen my fan edit of DRACULA "Restored" are aware, the reason Renfield's role in the movie is so obscure is because of the shoddy re-edit that Universal did of DRACULA just prior to the release of the film in 1931. When one reads the shooting script or sees the film as it's been re-cut to match the continuity of the script, it becomes clear that Renfield has a very important role to play in Dracula's attacks on Mina and the audience does, indeed, learn what Dracula's wordless commands to Renfield entailed and can see that Renfield successfully performs the actions that Dracula requires of him. When shown in the proper sequence, it becomes very clear that Renfield's job throughout the entire second half of the film is to distract Van Helsing and the other characters while Dracula is in the process of repeatedly attacking Mina.
Universal's re-edit of Browning's DRACULA needlessly obscures the entire point of Renfield's character in the released version of the film, as well as completely undermining the effectiveness of Dwight Frye's performance. We know that Tod Browning bitterly resented Universal's tampering with his work, but does anyone know if Dwight Frye ever said anything about how the film was cut? How must he have felt as he watched the film unreel and seen his performance torn into pieces and randomly scattered throughout the film?
I would dearly love to see Universal release an official re-edit of DRACULA, restoring the film to its proper continuity and finally give coherence to Renfield's character and Frye's performance. The mess they made of the release version of the film is truly shameful.
As Tom explains, "to the best of the audience's knowledge," Dracula never gives Renfield anything to do in the film. Yes, Renfield awakens Dracula aboard the Vesta (a rooster's job, as Tom colorfully describes it), but for the rest of the movie the audience has no idea what use Dracula is making of his devoted slave. We see Dracula wordlessly commanding Renfield to do something involving Mina, but we have no way of knowing what that something was, or whether Renfield has done it. In the end, all we can see Renfield doing is pointlessly interrupting conversations downstairs and ultimately being killed when Dracula mistakingly believes that Renfield has betrayed him.
While all of his points are completely valid, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Dwight Frye as I read Tom's article. As those who have read the DRACULA screenplay or have followed the thread and/or seen my fan edit of DRACULA "Restored" are aware, the reason Renfield's role in the movie is so obscure is because of the shoddy re-edit that Universal did of DRACULA just prior to the release of the film in 1931. When one reads the shooting script or sees the film as it's been re-cut to match the continuity of the script, it becomes clear that Renfield has a very important role to play in Dracula's attacks on Mina and the audience does, indeed, learn what Dracula's wordless commands to Renfield entailed and can see that Renfield successfully performs the actions that Dracula requires of him. When shown in the proper sequence, it becomes very clear that Renfield's job throughout the entire second half of the film is to distract Van Helsing and the other characters while Dracula is in the process of repeatedly attacking Mina.
Universal's re-edit of Browning's DRACULA needlessly obscures the entire point of Renfield's character in the released version of the film, as well as completely undermining the effectiveness of Dwight Frye's performance. We know that Tod Browning bitterly resented Universal's tampering with his work, but does anyone know if Dwight Frye ever said anything about how the film was cut? How must he have felt as he watched the film unreel and seen his performance torn into pieces and randomly scattered throughout the film?
I would dearly love to see Universal release an official re-edit of DRACULA, restoring the film to its proper continuity and finally give coherence to Renfield's character and Frye's performance. The mess they made of the release version of the film is truly shameful.
