In the 1931 film 'Dracula', Renfield goes to Transylvania to sell or arrange the purchase of property for Count Dracula. Unlike Bram Stoker’s novel, where Jonathan Harker travels to Dracula’s castle as the solicitor handling the estate transaction, Tod Browning’s English-language film assigns that journey to Renfield.
Renfield is introduced as a solicitor travelling to Dracula’s castle on business. Dracula wants to lease Carfax Abbey, an estate in England, and Renfield is there to discuss the transaction. On the journey, villagers warn him about vampires, but he continues toward Borgo Pass. Dracula himself, disguised as the coach driver, takes Renfield to the castle and later hypnotizes and attacks him.
After this encounter, Renfield becomes one of Dracula’s servants and is eventually confined in Dr. Seward’s asylum. The film’s Renfield, played by Dwight Frye, is famous for his manic laughter, insect-eating, and increasingly obsessive devotion to the Count. The character combines elements of Stoker’s Renfield with the novel’s solicitor, Jonathan Harker. That adaptation choice is why quizzes sometimes mistakenly identify Harker as the traveller in the 1931 film.