In the novel by Bram Stoker, the story of Dracula is told as a story of shifting perspectives, and this includes different views of the character of Dracula. The story of the vampire Dracula naturally includes a number of opposing forces or opposing conceptions, and it also involves an inversion of a number of mythic ideas and principles. Blood is both a symbol of life

Purists argue that Browning's original decision was the best one--to enhance the horror by eerie sound effects instead of underlining it with music. But "Dracula" has been pushed and pulled in so many different directions by so many different artists that Glass is only following the tradition in adding his own contribution. The Glass score is effective in the way it suggests not just moody creepiness, but the urgency and need behind Dracula's vampirism. It evokes a blood thirst that is 500 years old. (Ebert para. 16)

The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosey light (Stoker 381).

In the film, director Tod Browning "stresses the aristocratic and romantic elements of the novel, with Dracula always in evening clothes" (Holte 29). One critic, in trying to explain the success of the novel over many Gothic works from a century before, states a good reason why the ilm is a success as well: "Unlike its early predecessors, Dracula seems to depend on its very inexplicableness, its nonsensibleness, to generate a kind of tension that is unrelieved and ultimately unexplained" (Twitchell 133). The music that sets the tone for the 1931 film version is itself taken from another source, from Tchaikovsky's pas de deux in the ballet Swan Lake. This music plays during the opening credits and sets the tone for what is to come, creating a sense of melancholy and dramatic tension through the music. There is no simultaneous soundtrack for the film at all. One reason for this was that at the time, sound was new in films, and while music had been used for silent films to carry the action and convey emotions and meaning, music played by either a pianist or an orchestra (depending on the budget of the theater), with sound-on-film it was feared that using music in the same way would only confuse the audience unless the source of the music could be seen, meaning if an orchestra was playing on screen at the same time the music is heard, as in a nightclub scene. The emotional content of the film is carried by sound in terms of sound effects and also in terms of silence, for tension is increased in scenes where no one is speaking as, say, Dracula approaches Mina's bed, or when the three female vampires descend toward Renfrew.

The book on which this film is based is one of a series by the same author detailing different incidents in the life of this particular serial killer. The author gains his effects from the horrific details of the crimes, while the novel otherwise follows the procedures of the FBI in tracking down the killer. The book is lengthy and detailed, covering far more territory than the film can in the time allotted, and it achieves its emotional center by delving deeply into the psychology of Clarice in particular, living with her as she experiences fear and uncertainty in speaking with Dr. Lector, following her as she seeks clues to the serial killer on the outside, Buffalo Bill, and as she works to fit into the bureaucracy of the FBI. The novelist is able to take the reader into the mind of characters in this way.

The music stops once Lector is in view and speaking. The music only returns later in the interview, when Lector is challenging Clarice and dissecting her character in a rather insulting way. The return of the tense theme matches Clarice's inner state while also giving the viewer a momentary sense of fear. The first few minutes of the meeting between the two are marked by cross-cutting between the two, with each shot over the shoulder of the other so that the back of each fills most of the screen with the exception of a portion of the other's face. This both links the two visually and shows how each obscures the other, in keeping with the word play that takes place between them as they verbally fence in the rest of the scene. In the scene, Lector takes command in ways Clarice may not realize at the time. When she leaves and the oth

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Approximate Word count = 2701
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)