Dracula

Rating:
Summary: Good music & documentary notes
Review: I found the Glass score to be very helpful to the movie - it is in the style of the period, and although it does play over the dialogue in many instances, it serves a very useful role in papering over the shortcomings of director Browning's work, and establishing a somber, foreboding mood, when all the viewer is otherwise hearing is scratchy silence and jarringly bad (by today's standards, of course) accents and acting. To say nothing of the armadillos in Castle Dracula! The movie stood up to modern viewing much better with it, in my opinion. The documentary notes and commentary, with their focus on the far better Spanish version included are the highlights of the DVD, however. Watching the Spanish version is a real treat.

Rating:
Summary: A Stiff Production with Excellent early moments
Review: Tod Browning's production of Dracula made Bela Lugosi's name immortal in the annals of horror film. While Lugosi had played the role many times on stage, he had a difficult time landing this role. He did and so became intensely identified with the role and never really overcame the typecasting. But he was brilliant in the style he portrayed the count. Helen Chandler was excellent as Bela's victim. The production bogged down in mid to late scenes but the early scenes of Castle Dracula and the bleak Carpathian mountain countryside are brilliant, some of the most gothically chilling in cinematic history. Dwight Frye's Renfield was a role of genius, his maniacal laugh still producting chills down the spine. I only rated this movie three stars because it is somewhat dated and does slow down in pace and drama in the last two thirds. The first third place it with the all time greats and if that mood could have been sustained, Dracula with Bela Lugosi would have been unmatched. Edward Sloan as Dr. Van Helsing was brilliant. The only one better was Peter Cushing.

Rating:
Summary: Dracula With a Background Score?
Review: The only reason I give this one 4 instead of 5 is the addition of the score. The music, at times, seems to drown out the dialouge. The music, also, does not fit(it does not sound as if it was done in the 30s and that is what they should have strived for).I wished Universal(as long as they were going to add music) had incorporated the stock music that they had included for films like The Raven, The Black Cat, and Werewolf of London.Really, Universal should not have put in any music.I hope they don't do this to Frankenstein(1931)!

Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC MOVIE!
Review: Dracula is one of Hollywood's Classic Horror Movies and one of the best movies to come out during the 1930's. Bela Lugosi playing Dracula gives one of (I feel) best performances, but like has been told he was forever type cast as Dracula and his career was not the same. I'm not an actor But I personaly would be proud of a role like Dracula. I highly recommened this movie.

Rating:
Summary: No modern film will ever top classics like this
Review: Bela Lugosi is my hero. This film is the greatest of all time, and the second greatest is it's predecessor, Nosferatu, and the only reason its so good is because of how monstrous Max Schreck as Graf Orlock is. But Bela Lugosi redefines Dracula as an attractive and mysterious ladies man, which probably would have surprised Bram Stoker. This movie also has memorable performances by Dwight Frye as the odd little Renfeld, and Edward van Sloan as Van Helsing, the doctor who (unfortunately) does in Dracula and looks like Duke Nukem (hee hee). The one thing that bothers me about this is the fact that Dracula fears crucifuxes and also the fact that that Phillip Glass added music too it...luckily i bought the musicless version. You just can't desecrate a classic like that. Bela Lugosi must be rolling in his grave

Rating:
Summary: Lugosi Live Again !
Review: Dracula has been the subject of numerous films. While many of them are memorable, of many actors who have played Dracula only two stand out as truly superb in their performance of the role. The first one is unmistakably Bela Lugosi who played the role in this 1931 film. While Lugosi's film portrayal has the drawback of being terribly out of date, now that more than 60 years have passed since, his magnetic appeal can still be sensed thru this release. (For those who are interested, the second truly superb actor is of course Christopher Lee, who unfortunately had to play ol' Drac to death in way too many Hammer movies. And Gary Oldman was good too but maybe a little over the top in Francis Ford Coppola's version.) TOD BROWNING's DRACULA was a hit in the early thirties. We can still see why. The film is said to have been restored but very little of this shows, as there are still plenty of signs of wear on the print used for this DVD. However, all the extra's more than make up for that. It is wonderful to be able to compare Bela to his Spanish speaking competitor, Carlos Villarias. Equally interesting is the comparison between Browning's direction and the direction of the Spanish flick, helmed by George Melford. Melford's version has the technical superiority, which cannot be denied, but Lugosi himself is more enthralling in his performance. (I feel a little uncomfortable with the Spanish version as I simply cannot help chuckle at hearing the changed names of Juan Harker and Eva instead of Jonathan Harker and Mina.) Again, the additional information due to special commentaries by David Skal, film historian, Carla Laemmle and Lupita Tovar, and the wonderful photographical montage added make this DVD extremely enjoyable and this not just for classic movie buffs. A note for Philip Glass fans: while Glass's new music score is very interesting to hear, the Kronos Quartet is unfortunately not adequate to the task of bringing the full range of Glass's thematics to life. That is very unfortunate for it makes the new score sound cheap, while it would have been great if it had been performed by a full orchestra.

Rating:
Summary: An unbeatable value
Review: My rating is for the DVD package as a whole. You simply can't get a better value for your money than this DVD. Three versions of the classic that really started the horror craze back in the early 30s.

Sentimentally, I'll always love the Lugosi version better. To me, Lugosi is the ultimate Count Dracula. No other actor comes close in my book. Along with Dwight Frye's classic, definitive performance as Renfield, these two performers manage to carry the picture over its many rough spots.

I agree with the majority that the Spanish version is better overall. Lupita Tovar, as Mina (Helen Chandler's English counterpart) is the highlight in the acting department. Also, many little directorial "extras" show how the Spanish crew worked hard to improve upon the scenes shot by the English crew during the day. My favorite is the addition of smoke rising from Dracula's coffin as he rises for the evening. A small, but eerily effective addition. One of many. And the third "version" with the Philip Glass score: The less said the better. I don't care for its addition to this classic. By itself, it's somewhat interesting music (albeit monotonous), but its intrusion over the entire film, including the dialogue(!) mind you, is just too much. An experiment that failed, in my book.

The "extras" on this DVD package, however, are outstanding. The poster and photo montage, cast and filmmaker bios and production notes should be of interest to all fans of film in general. But this package benefits immeasurably from the inclusion of two additional features: feature commentary and an outstanding documentary on the making of the film (well, both films), both guided by the hand of David J. Skal, THE authority on (the cinematic) Dracula. If there's ANYTHING you wanted to know about the history or making of this classic film, you'll find it here. Three films, really, on one DVD and numerous, invaluable extras. This DVD package can't be beat.

Rating:
Summary: Great Film, Unfortunate New Sound Track
Review: The great Lugosi Dracula is a classic and I was delighted finally to have an opportunity to purchase the film. My memories of its power were closely connected with what I can only suppose to be the director's conscious use of silence behind the scenes of dramatic horror -- for example, Lugosi's silent passage from the window to Mina's bed in the evocative interplay of light, shadow and silence. The insertion behind this powerful silence, sixty years after the fact, of Philip Glass's no doubt well-intentioned, but repetitive, monotonous and essentially unpowerful fiddling with that silence has, in my opinion, made the film unwatchable. Personally, I would rather hear even the old-film scratchiness than have to listen to that jittery wall of noise that attempts to cover it. It is as though an attempt has been made to protect the viewer from the wonderfully horrifying silence with a curtain of horribly unwonderful noise. I would be interested in hearing the opinions of others: [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Special Edition with New Music Score Misses Mark
Review: Standing on it's own, 'Dracula' is a wonderful movie. Lately, stodgy critics and historians have taken to bashing it - today's audience may be largely put to sleep by it's slow, stagy production - it seems almost styled towards a silent movie at times. But the movie is a great moody accomplishment from acclaimed director Tod Browning - the only complaint, and it is a common one, is the drastic fall off after the first twenty minutes of the movie, set mostly in Castle Dracula in Transylvania. After this, the setting moves to London, and Browning is never able to recreate the unbelievable classic horror atmosphere of that first twenty minutes. As for the special edition with new score by Philip Glass; although there is no complaints about Mr. Glass' compositions, the music is THERE through the whole movie (all released versions up to this point had no music outside of the opening credits), and borders on being obtrusive. The original worked without a score, and some of the creepiest scenes in the movie are made even creepier through pure dead silence. Plus, my biggest complaint is that they removed the original music from the opening credits- the chilling chords of 'Swan Lake' which for me, although Universal used it on many of their horror movies of the era, was the trademark of this movie. How dare they take that out? My advice is to purchase the original edition (the original un-scored version is also readily available), although the re-scored version may add a some excitement to the movie as not seen before, and may keep things moving a little bit quicker if one has a short attention span.

Rating:
Summary: awesome DVD, OK movie
Review: The English version of the movie is the least of the early Universal Horror pictures, or atleast I think so. If you disagree, you MUST buy this DVD however. It is seriously cool. It features THREE versions of the movie. It has the Spanish language version, shot simultaneously with different actors, the original English Lugosi one and the same one rescored with Philip Glass music. The Spanish one is my favorite. The Philip Glass score sometimes helps, but more often detracts. Sometimes it's hard to hear the dialogue over it. Sometimes the silence is creepier in the original. It's nice that they offer it as an option, unlike the video version.