Dracula

Rating:
Summary: The coolest DVD on the planet
Review: The Lugosi version of Dracula is not the best or scariest version of the tale, nor is it a particular favorite of mine. In fact, up until now I've never felt compelled to have it in my collection. However, the multiple versions of the film and other supplemental material contained on this DVD make it a DVD that's simply too cool not to own.

Rating:
Summary: Bela Lugosi's "Dracula"
Review: Bela Lugosi perfected the role of "Dracula" on stage, brought it to the screen, and in doing so, immortalized the character for centuries to come with his hypnotic stare, gestures, & speech.

Rating:
Summary: Truly a classic- Lugosi's finest and most famous work
Review: When you think Dracula, you think of Bela Lugosi in the trademark cape with the errie yet enticing accent. And when you think Bela Lugosi, you think this movie- duh! Bela Lugosi made this 1931 horror classic a legend- the prince of all horror movies. The film, which begins with a haunting rendition of the Swan Lake theme during the opening credits, is rather slow moving, but the crisp and calm character of Lugosi's Dracula perfects everything. Dwight Frye plays the perfect madman as the Count's looney henchman. Helen Chandler's Mina is innocent and bewildering, while Van Helsing is smart and quick. Overall, a defenite must for any classic horror buff. Something you will want to watch again and again!

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Summary: If You've read this far ...
Review: ... you've probably seen this movie, & have your own opinions or reasons for or against it. What intrigued me was the idea of the Kronos Quartet's Philip Glass score ... and in that i was not disappointed -- but then, i enjoy a lot of Glass's music. & If you've read this far you probably have your own opinions as regards to Glass's music. Other reviewers have commented that the movie tends to become a bit stagebound when the locale changes to England; it is here that the score really tends to move the 'action' along. I first got this on VHS, & for some reason the picture quality seems at least as good as the DVD. Of course the DVD is the better buy -- especially if, like me, you feel ripped off in getting only one version of a film. I've been curious about the Spanish version for several years now, & while available seperately on VHS, this is the most cost-effective way to go. & As another reviewer has noted the source material seems to have been of higher quality. & one more thing -- it is my two-and-a-half year old daughter's favorite movie! Perhaps the hypnotic quality of the music accounts for some of it, but the idea that this is one of the early talkies is probably more to the point. Nearly every line, every voice, is distinctive in a way that modern movies are not. Perhaps also the idea that this was in effect an 'enhanced' stage production, & the actors may have been more accustomed to 'playing to the peanut gallery.' Whatever it is, my girl will watch "Drac-u-la!" again & again as if it were Barney ...

Rating:
Summary: This is an incredible DVD!
Review: First things first: there HAVE been better adaptations of the Stoker story (see my review of BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA)! Bela Lugosi is fine in the title role but it's not a character that gave the actor much of a stretch. He was largely picked for the Broadway play that this film is based because of his own heritage being remarkbly similar to the infamous Count's. When the film was cast and the great silent film star, Lon Chaney, Sr. (Universal's first pick for the role) died it left the role without an actor. As the commentary and documentary on this DVD relates, several other actors were considered, including Paul Muni and Conrad Veidt (THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI). But finally the studio decided on Lugosi. A wise move! He and Dwight Frye give what are easily the best perfomances here! And Although Lugosi gave one other great performance on film, Ygor in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (in this reviewer's opinion, his best work) he definitely leaves his mark on the character of the Transylvanian count. Very seldom has a actor been so strongly identified with a role. Dwight Frye is also excellent as Renfield! He is so convincing you believe his insanity every moment he is on the screen. Because of these features the movie warrants a 3 and a half star rating! However, the technical areas of this film are somewhat poor. At times the pinspot lights on Lugosi's eyes are way off the mark. Although the early scenes in the Count's native country are very atmospheric, once the action moves to London, the film borrows heavily from the stage play both in content and staging. The result is a very slow moving and talky production with only Lugosi and Frye to recommend it.

When it was decided to release this film in DVD format, MCA had an abundance of material to choose from and include. Fortunately for us they didn't leave much out. Besides the usual commentary (here very dry and lacking in spontaniety) and an interesting documentary, there are three count em', three versions of the film. First you have the original familiar version. It looks better than it has ever looked. Unfortunately, the soundtrack leaves something to be desired. Whenever there isn't dialogue or sound effects it is extremely scratchy sounding. The second version is a unique addition indeed. A new score by Philip Glass has been dubbed over the largely musicless original track. Although not always effective, and at times obtrusive, it is an original and interesting idea which might be explored further in other DVD editions of early sound films. The third version is actually a different version of the same script. When DRACULA was made in 1931 a fairly common practice was filming a separate version in another language, usually Spanish. This idea was used to great effect with DRACULA. It's inclusion on this DVD makes it easy to compare the two versions. Not surprisingly the Spanish version is far superior. The acting, staging and technical qualities make the Lugosi film look amateur in comparison. And thanks to some caring preservation the print used is in excellent condition. Releasing it with the other features on this disc was a fantastic idea.

So if you are looking for the definitive edition of DRACULA, look no further. This Count has found a permanent home on DVD!

Rating:
Summary: Okay, but not the best
Review: I think that 'Dracula' is a little bit slow-moving, and it isn't scary at all. I prefer the Spanish version.

Rating:
Summary: Did not like it.
Review: I collect vampire movies and books, which is why I bought this movie. I found it flat. It is not well enough done to be horror nor slappy enough to be good slapstick. The only engaging characters are the Carpathians and Reinfield, the rest are flat and boring.

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Summary: Dracula (1931)
Review: This is a great DVD if you like Bela Lugosi. This is also a great DVD if you like extra content. The DVD does have a minor problem, "I find the new soundtrack annoying." Fortunately, the original version is also on the disc.

There is also the Spanish version, which in some ways, with the exception of Bela Lugosi, I like better.

Don't take my work for it, buy it, view it, and see for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: A Near-Perfect Disc
Review: This disc is both a wonder (primarily) and a disappointment (secondarily).

Since the disappointments are minor, I'll get them over with. These all have to do with the original English-language version of the film (there are several versions on this disc).

First, the video's fine, with the tolerable allowances one must make for a film of this vintage, putting up with the speckles, particles, and other artifacts. But the audio bothered me. It's not terrible, but the problem is that computer "noise reduction" was employed on this film to eliminate most of the extraneous sounds. This works fine when no one is speaking, and since the film has almost no music, it isn't a problem for most of the non-dialogue portions. HOWEVER, there's also a lot of speech in the film, and because noise-reduction could not be used on the dialogue without compromising the sound, the result is that when anyone talks the background noise rises, falling away sharply after the speech ends. Perhaps this won't bother many people, but it bothered me, and I'd really have preferred it if they'd let the sound alone (as Universal did, for the most part, on the DVD of "Frankenstein").

Another problem with the noise-reduction is that, intentionally or not, the process actually deleted a couple audio elements of the film. Again, these are somewhat minor, but they miffed me (in a way, even more than the former phenomenon).

The first deletion occurs during the London theatrical sequence, where four of the characters are on a balcony enjoying a show. No need to bore with details, but there's music during this sequence, and toward the end of it, just after Bela Lugosi intones "There are worse things awaiting man ... than ... death," you're supposed to hear a saturnine snippet of Schubert's "8th Symphony." But you don't, and it's very obvious that the noise-reduction eliminated it as if it were a "defect." That's carrying technology too far, and it's especially irksome here because the music has a message: it's supposed to serve as a "coda" to Lugosi's ominous words, as well as a lead-in to the sinister events that follow.

The second erasure occurs later in the film, where Van Helsing is trying to diagnose Mina Harker's weird dream. She's sitting on a couch, with Edward Van Sloan (Van Helsing) leaning toward her from a chair. At one point Jonathan Harker steps up to intervene, and Van Helsing chides him, saying "Please, please, Mr. Harker." At least, that's what he's supposed to say. But only the first syllable of the name comes through, so it becomes "Mr. Hark." Again, not a large glitch, but enough to bug anyone who's seen this film many times.

Apart from the above faults, I have nothing but praise for this disk, and that's Praise with a capital P. David J. Skal, who wrote and directed the 35-minute documentary, "The Road to Dracula," offers us many tidbits on the original Stoker novel, the various stage and screen adaptations preceding the Lugosi version, and even some comments on the producer (Carl Laemmle, Jr.), director (Tod Browning), and cinematographer (German émigré, Karl Freund). Skal is not only a first-rate scholar in the horror genre (which anyone who's read his book "Hollywood Gothic" already knows), but has an excellent speaking delivery and manages to capture our attention in a scholarly, but never dry, manner. This comes through on his play-by-play commentary on the film, as well as on "Road."

Then there's the newly-scored version of "Dracula," the new music from none other than Philip Glass (whose scoring credits include the cult documentary "Koyaanisquatsi," among others). I had misgivings about this before I heard it, and still have reservations, but I nevertheless believe Glass did a fine job, using an all-string accompaniment with many minor-key elements. The score has the good sense to be "emotional" in a rather atavistic way, but rarely calls much attention to itself. Admittedly, if you've grown up watching a film for years with almost no music, it's a bit jarring to hear a version like this, but I strongly suspect that the more I listen to it, the more I'll like it. I especially admired a couple sequences (such as the storm scene on the ship "Demeter"), where Glass uses pizzicato strings in a manner almost reminiscent of Marius Constant's "Twilight Zone" theme --- it's great stuff, but you have to experience it firsthand for the full essence.

Finally, there's the almost-pristine Spanish version of "Dracula," filmed at the same time, and on the same sets, as the Browning/Lugosi version. A special treat here is the introduction by Lupita Tovar, who played Mina more than a half-century before this version was made, and who gives us some firsthand info on the making of the film. To me, it's always fascinating to see a "survivor" from cinema's early period, who can give us an inside scoop on what film-making was like in those days. And the film itself is fascinating. Virtually scene-by-scene, it replicates the Browning version, but what's interesting are the ways in which it is both superior and inferior to the "original." As Skal notes, Carlos Villarias is no equal for Lugosi in the title role, but by contrast, the cinematography is far more fluid and lends the film a poetic pace that the Browning version lacks. One might be tempted to say that Karl Freund was to blame for the pedestrian quality of the original, except that Freund was one of the greatest cinematographers who ever lived, and was a mainstay of German Expressionism before moving to America. No, the problem was with Browning, who was simply "uncomfortable" directing talkies after handling numerous films in the silent era.

Finally, a few words about Lugosi himself may be in order (to return once more to the English- language version). Whatever one could say about the hamminess of much of his acting, it still meshes well with the overall Victorianism of Stoker's tableau. Besides, the more you study his performance, the more appropriate the studied gestures and "calculated" movements seem to be (we are, after all, supposed to be viewing a walking corpse). What a shame that Lugosi, like his contemporary, Peter Lorre, rarely had much chance to expand beyond his "horror" persona.

Rating:
Summary: An oldie but a goodie
Review: This movie is old and somewhat corny special effects wise but the acting was great.Bela Lugosi plays a totally evil and creepy Dracula with a great supporting cast. One thing thou i recommend buying the 1999 release with the new musical score it makes the movie really creepy.