Dracula: The Legacy Collection [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

The two-disc set Dracula: The Legacy Collection contains five different films that feature the most famous vampire in movie history. Dracula, Dracula [Spanish Version], Dracula's Daughter, Son of Dracula, and House of Dracula are each presented in standard full-frame transfers that preserve the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1. All soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. The extras on each film fluctuate in quality and quantity, but Dracula does include a commentary from film historian David Skal and a featurette on the history of the character hosted by film director Stephen Sommers. This is a solid release that should please any genre enthusiast. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Screen: Black and White
• Features:
  • cc
  • Van Helsing director Stephen Sommers hosts an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how these original Dracula films inspired his motion-picture event
  • Includes Philip Glass' new score to Dracula, performed by the Kronos Quartet on an alternate audio track (5.1 Surround)
  • Introduction to the Spanish version of Dracula by star Lupita Tovar
  • "The Road to Dracula" original documentary on the making of the film
  • Commentary by film historian David J. Skal on an alternate audio track
  • Dracula original poster and photo gallery
  • Newly remastered audio track for maximum clarity
  • Original theatrical trailers for all films

AWARDS

• Telluride Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 1999
•     Film Presented - 1985

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Bela Lugosi - Count Dracula
       Helen Chandler - Mina Seward
       Barry Norton - Juan Harker
       Dwight Frye - Renfield
       Carmen Guerrero - Lucia
       Herbert Bunston - Dr. Seward
       Frances Dade - Lucy Weston
       Adeline Reynolds - Madame Zimba
       Claud Allister - Sir Aubrey Vail
       E.E. Clive - Sgt. Wilkes
       Dick Dickinson - Villager
       Billy Bevan - Albert
       Carey Harrison - Gendarme
       Douglas Wood - Dr. Townsend
       Gregory Muradian - Johannes
       Beatrice Gray - Mother
       Fred Walton - Dr. Bemish
       Christian Rub - Coachman
       Edgar Norton - Hobbs
       Agnes Anderson - Bride

• Director:

  Tod Browning, Lambert Hillyer, Robert Siodmak, Erle C. Kenton, George Melford

• Producer:

  Carl Laemmle, Jr., E.M. Asher, Ford I. Beebe, Paul Malvern

• Play Author:

  John L. Balderston

• Screenwriter:

  Garrett Elsden Fort

• Book Author:

  Bram Stoker

• Play Author:

  Hamilton Deane

• Screen Story:

  John L. Balderston, Curt Siodmak

• Screenwriter:

  Eric Taylor, Edward T. Lowe

• Cinematographer:

  Karl W. Freund, George Robinson, John P. Fulton

• Featured Music:

  Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Richard Wagner

• Composer (Music Score):

  Heinz Roemheld, Hans Salter, Edgar "Cookie" Fairchild

• Editor:

  Miton Carruth, Maurice Pivar, Saul A. Goodkind, Russell Schoengarth

• Art Director:

  Charles Hall, Albert S. D'Agostino, John B. Goodman, Martin Obzina

• Associate Producer:

  Donald H. Brown

• Costume Designer:

  Vera West

• Special Effects:

  John P. Fulton

• Short Story Author:

  Oliver Jeffries

REVIEWS:

• Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) has made the most lasting impression of all versions of the Bram Stoker classic, although it was neither the first version (there were numerous silent-movie vampire tales) nor, for many viewers, the best version (many aficionados cite F.W. Murnau's 1922 Nosferatu). There are at least three reasons for the film's lasting importance. First, the opening sequences in the foothills of the Carpathians, and the subsequent set-up shots in Dracula's castle, are rendered in classic German Expressionist style by cinematographer Karl Freund, establishing a Gothic creepiness and tangibly dark and perverse tone that stick with the audience long after the setting shifts to England. The success of these atmospheric shots would influence horror filmmakers for decades to come. Second, Bela Lugosi's interpretation of Dracula would define the role. His suave, faded gentry style and unusually cadenced line deliveries would become the touchstone for many imitators. Lugosi gives his character just a hint of the sexual carnivore in his pursuit of the pretty maidens of England, themes that Werner Herzog and Francis Ford Coppola would develop more fully several decades later. Freund played a key role in defining Lugosi's sinister character by shining tiny pinpricks of light into his eyes, giving them an eerily otherworldly, penetrating quality. Third, the set designs are outstanding, from Dracula's Transylvanian castle to the London insane asylum housing Renfield, giving the film a perfectly Gothic horror quality. The film's second half deteriorates into a drawing-room drama, with too much chat and not enough horror. However, there is little doubt that the film's opening act, with its brilliant sets and stunning camerawork, together with Lugosi's elegantly sinister performance, make Dracula a memorable and influential classic. ~ Dan Jardine, Rovi
• While House of Dracula is far from a classic horror film, it does have an interesting premise: Dracula and the Wolf Man seek out a doctor who can cure them of their afflictions. Unfortunately, this idea isn't developed sufficiently, particularly in regard to everyone's favorite vampire. It's revealed that Dracula is not sincere in his request but is merely using it as a means of making the luscious girl friend of the doctor into one of his brides; yet why the fiend should need to go through such a convoluted and unnecessary ruse is never explained. As in many such films, coincidence runs rampart, further erasing the delicate "believability" line that is so difficult to maintain in supernatural flics. It also should be pointed out that, for a film that features Universal's "big 3" monsters (plus a scientist who eventually develops monstrous tendencies), there's very little horror to be found here. One exception is a marvelous sequence involving Dracula and his intended victim, the latter seated at the piano and playing "Moonlight Sonata" as the good Count begins to work his spell upon her. It's also a detriment that Frankenstein's monster is barely present and really is just shoehorned into the plot. All that aside, the mere presence of the monsters in a "serious" (rather than farcical) film is a plus, and the cast is worthy, if not perhaps capable of providing the same impact of a Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi
• While Tod Browning's classic 1931 version of Dracula looks today like a creaky horror story enlivened by Bela Lugosi's mesmerizing performance, George Melford's Spanish-language version, shot at night on the same sets where Browning's Dracula was shot during the day, subtly shows how it could be a better and stronger film, even without Lugosi as the bloodthirsty Count. Melford's version is 28 minutes longer than Browning's, and most of the difference can be chalked up to atmosphere; while much of Browning's film has the slightly wooden look of a photographed stage play, Melford's compositions and camera movements give his version a more fluid grace and subtly sinister mood, and, if his film's pace is a bit slower, the result has an effectively eerie undercurrent that Browning's sometimes lacks. While much has been made of the Vampire legend's erotic undercurrent, Melford's Dracula (1931) is one of the first films to give this part of the story a fair hearing; the actresses were able to wear more revealing gowns than American censors would have permitted, and a significant bit of dialogue directly compares Dracula's spell to the loss of virginity (imagine the buzz that would have generated in an American movie house in 1931!). And most of the cast is just as good as, if not better than, their English-speaking counterparts, especially Carmen Guerrero as Lucia (Lucy), Lupita Tovar as Eva (Mina), Eduardo Arozamena as Van Helsing, and Pablo Alvarez Rubio as Renfield, whose rapt madness is even more disturbing than Dwight Frye's excellent portrayal in Browning's version. The Spanish-language Dracula (1931) suffers only when one compares Carlos Villarias's performance as Dracula to Bela Lugosi's; while Villarias is adequate, then as now, Lugosi owns the role. But Melford's Dracula (1931) is not a mere historical curiosity of the confused early days of sound, but a superbly entertaining horror story that succeeds on its own merits and serves as a fine example of the surprising things that film research and preservation can uncover. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi