NEW ROCHELLE, NY –The 1931 classic film version of Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula will be shown on Tuesday, October 25, 2016, from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm, in the Ossie Davis Theater of the New Rochelle Public Library. The free viewing is being presented in partnership with the New Rochelle Council on the Arts as part of a pre-Halloween focus on Dracula.
The 1931 film of Dracula was called the “most chilling, genuinely frightening film ever made,” by the reference series Cinebooks and is often included on lists of “The Greatest Movies.” One of the earliest classic American horror films from Carl Laemmle’s Universal Pictures, the acclaimed masterpiece was directed by Tod Browning, known also for two other vampire films: the 1927 London After Midnight, with Lon Chaney, Sr., and his own sound-era remake, the 1935 Mark of the Vampire (1935)), with Bela Lugosi and Lionel Barrymore sharing Lon Chaney’s dual role.
The story of Dracula, from the 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, is also being featured in a premier presentation of the Adkun Ballet Theatre’s stage interpretation on Sunday, October 23 at 3:00 pm, in the library’s Ossie Davis Theater. All week, the library will have a display of circulating books related to Dracula and vampires.
The Dracula programs are supported in part by an Arts Alive Project Grant made possible with funds from the decentralization Program (DEC) – a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the NYS Legislature – and administered by ArtsWestchester.