Dracula

Rating:
Summary: A Classic Horror Movie
Review: This is the original Dracula. It is great. It has a good story, but not as quit as how the book is. But, mostly, Director and writers do that, so they can show it there way. I think there is nothing wrong with it. It would be nice if it went by the book. But, I give this 4stars instead of 5 because They killed Dracula, but they never kiled Lucy, when she became a vampire, and they never staked Dracula's Brides.

Rating:
Summary: A Horror Classic...
Review: Many different versions of Dracula have come and gone over the years, but the 1931 classic still stands out as the definitive vampire movie. This movie not only brings the story of Dracula to life, but also captures many chilling moments that will keep horror fans coming back for more. Bela Lugosi stars as Dracula, creating the classic look that has been associated with vampires ever since. But even though Lugosi did a wonderful job portraying Dracula and speaking his many memorable lines, it is Renfield (Dwight Frye) who really brings this movie to life. His maniacal laugh and haunting stare are associated with renfield to this day. And just when the pace of the movie begins to slow down, Renfield returns with his torment between being Dracula's servant and trying to save Mina's life. Incredible scenes such as Renfield pleading for his life as Dracula slowly advances, assure that this classic movie will always have a place in history.

Rating:
Summary: America's first supernatural movie
Review: In the 1970's I saw a revival copy of "Dracula' in the theater and I was stunned at how clear the screen image was. We are used to a somewhat "soft" TV and grainy VHS image. The DVD image in this copy of Dracula is as crystal clear as one could want.
This DVD package offers a great value to a viewer and a prize to the collector. Included on this disk is the original 1931 film or it may be watched with a new modern score by Philip Glass. Included is the spanish language co-production and a voice-over commentary of the Lugosi Dracula. There are also "making-of..." features and production notes.
Everyone knows that the Lugosi version of Dracula begins with interesting camera work and really creepy sets but desends into a filmed stage play. It is also noticed that Dracula, with the exception of a little "Swan Lake" (act 2, scene 10) there is no music score. Do not let that deter you. The silence of Dracula adds to the moodiness and the stage-like presentation adds fuel to the debate over the greatness of the director, Tod Browning. Enjoy the camera work of the great Karl Freund in the begining of the film then settle in to watch Lugosi create a legendary movie icon.
The long unavailable spanish language version is also a treat. The spanish actors did not match the style that most old movie fans are used to but the cinematography and the sets are excellent and the director, George Melford, turned out a visually haunting film. It is fun to move from the Lugosi version to the Melford version to see how the identical scenes were handled. To a person who cut his teeth on "Famous Monsters" and was told that Tod Browning was a great director the experience offered in this DVD shows that Browning's most famous film effort is visually weaker than Melford's. However, Browning had Lugosi and Bela made "Dracula" a great classic movie.
This DVD belongs on the shelf of any classic movie collector. It was the oldest movie that regularly appeared in theaters and is America's first supernatural movie. That it is musically silent reminds us that by 1931 movies had only been "talking" for 4 years and virtually no movies of that time had scores. It is Lugosi's crowning moment and it is the granddaddy of all talking horror movies. Universal is to be commended for the fine presentation that they do in most of their Classic Horror series.

Rating:
Summary: The Roots of Modern Vampire Films
Review: This version of "Dracula" is a movie buff's film. For its time it was groundbreaking. Nowadays, it comes across as a little overacted and since it's in black and white a little less than interesting visually. (Or if you're a fan of black and white films I suppose it could be MORE interesting visually, it's all a matter of perspective.) It can still be viewed as the "where it all began" as far as how all major films about Dracula would be approached for many years to come. The 1922 silent film "Nosferatu" presented the Dracula-like character a great deal differently and did not take hold the way this 1931 interpretation starring Bela Lugosi did. This movie paved the way for the success that the Dracula genre still enjoys to this day. I'd recommend it to anybody who is interested in seeing the "roots" of the vampire in the film industry.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been much better
Review: The DVD of the English-language Bela Legosi version is FAR too compressed in my opinion. The picture is grainy and there is alot of digital "noise" (dithered pixelation in multi-hues). The image quality is not crisp but is rather dark and very fuzzy.
The Spanish-language version, by contrast, is a much better picture, obviously sampled at a higher rate and with less compression. Why would the producers of this DVD spend more time (and valuable disk space) for the Spanish version of the film is beyond me! I mean, how many of you reading this would actually buy it for the obscure Spanish version versus the ultra-classic Bela Legosi version? Put the Spanish version on a separate disk next time, or on the flip-side and compress the main feature less.

Rating:
Summary: The One and Only Bela
Review: Another one of the countless adaptations of Bram Stokers Book. However, one of the older ones and one of the best ones. Filmed in eerie and stylish pictures, you will find great Bela Lugosi portraying one of the smoothest counts in vampire-film history. Even as his greatest menace seems to be coming from his eyes staring sinister and shining like beacons out of his slightly dimmed face...

Rating:
Summary: Beware the version with "music"
Review: We recently ordered what we thought was the original Dracula movie. We'd had a copy before, but had loaned it out and never got it back. It was an all-time favorite. Well, the one we received contained a new "musical score" that is obtrusive, distracting, and poorly, poorly done. It was the biggest disappointment. This was a classic! The music not only is too loud, and inappropriate -- but it obscures the already-muffled dialogue. Old movies often have fuzzy dialogue, owing to the limited technology at the time -- I understand that. But this musical score adds nothing of quality to the picture. I only wish we'd known this when we ordered it...

Rating:
Summary: Something about Bela
Review: There is something about Bela Lugosi's Dracula. Few if any actors ever claimed a character so singularly or portrayed a character so totally as did Lugosi with Dracula. He was Dracula and Dracula was him. Other actors had and will continue to play the role, but they will never come close to "being" Dracula. Even the classic Stoker novel pales bloodless in comparison to Lugosi's performance -- regardless of what you think of the 1931 Tod Browning film. The film itself is unimportant -- it is Lugosi's engaging and hypnotic performance alone that terrified audiences and captured the imagination and collective unconscious of the world. Lugosi is synonymous with Dracula. Period. He may have believed he was Dracula (as only the BEST actors can do) and thus he made us believe that he was --and indeed he was Dracula. Those eyes, those hands, that voice. They are the stuff of nightmares and erotic dreams. In Lugosi's performance we have one of the few truly sublime moments of film acting ever. Others will play the role (due mostly to the power evoked in the part by Lugosi), but none other will BE Dracula than Bela Lugosi.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Bonus Features
Review: While this is, by no means, my favorite vampire story, it is the one that started it all. Lugosi gives a performance that has been the standard for seventy years. The bonus Road to Dracula feature is interesting and as another bonus you get the spanish version of Dracula, which by some is considered superior to the english version. There is also an option to listen to a new musical score while watching the movie. All in all a great package.

Rating:
Summary: "...outstanding in every way."
Review: The screen’s definitive Dracula film is unquestionably Tod Browning’s eerily perverse and haunting 1931 masterpiece. With not a single note of music in it, despite "Swan Lake" played during the credits, Browning creates a gothic fantasyland of nightmares and menace. Definitely the screen’s most subtly sexual and obstinate version of the classic tale, the film’s greatest strength is in Bela Lugosi’s spellbinding performance, as the film rests alone on his effortless charisma and eccentricity. His slow but enchantingly elegant delivery creates such a powerful effect, it’s really unforgettable. The film’s establishing scenes of Dracula’s castle and foggy Carpathian Mountains are among the most memorable in cinema history. Full of atmosphere and superbly captured by cinematographer Karl Freund, the film is carried into London, not loosing an ounce of its style. In the next scenes, as the Count matches wits with Van Helsing, the film deteriorates into a rather stagy drawing-room drama, with too much chat and not enough horror. But there’s no denying the impact of the opening scenes, and Lugosi’s suave and unusually rhythmic line delivery, the film is still outstanding in every way. Along with stunning camerawork and excellent set design, as well as the film’s marvelous execution, "Dracula" remains one of the most memorable and influential horror pictures of all time.