Dracula [75th Anniversary Edition] [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

"I am....Drac-u-la. I bid you velcome." Thus does Bela Lugosi declare his presence in the 1931 screen version of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Director Tod Browning invests most of his mood and atmosphere in the first two reels, which were based on the original Stoker novel; the rest of the film is a more stagebound translation of the popular stage play by John Balderston and Hamilton Deane. Even so, the electric tension between the elegant Dracula and the vampire hunter Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) works as well on the screen as it did on the stage. And it's hard to forget such moments as the lustful gleam in the eyes of Mina Harker (Helen Chandler) as she succumbs to the will of Dracula, or the omnipresent insane giggle of the fly-eating Renfield (Dwight Frye). Despite the static nature of the final scenes, Dracula is a classic among horror films, with Bela Lugosi giving the performance of a lifetime as the erudite Count (both Lugosi and co-star Frye would forever after be typecast as a result of this film, which had unfortunate consequences for both men's careers). Compare this Dracula to the simultaneously filmed Spanish-language version, which makes up for the absence of Lugosi with a stronger sense of visual dynamics in the lengthy dialogue sequences. In 1999, a special rerelease of Dracula was prepared featuring a new musical score written by Philip Glass and performed by The Kronos Quartet. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Screen: Black and White
• Audio: DDM2.0
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Features:
  • Disc 1:
  • Lugosi: The Dark Prince: A tribute to the film career of Bela Lugosi, with director Tod Browning
  • Monster Tracks: Interesting interactive pop-up facts about the making of Dracula that can be read while watching the film
  • The Road to Dracula: Documentary on the making of the film
  • Feature commentary with film historian David J. Skal
  • Feature commentary with Steve Haberman screenwriter of Dracula: Dead and Loving It
  • Score by Philip Glass performed by the Kronos Quartet
  • Disc 2:
  • Dracula (1931) Spanish version with introduction bu Lupita Tovar Kohner
  • Universal Horror: This documentary, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, takes you on a fascinating journey through the making of the most memorable monster films of all time

AWARDS

• Telluride Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 1999

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Bela Lugosi - Count Dracula
       Helen Chandler - Mina Seward
       David Manners - John Harker
       Dwight Frye - Renfield
       Edward Van Sloan - Dr. Van Helsing
       Herbert Bunston - Dr. Seward
       Frances Dade - Lucy Weston
       Charles Gerrard - Martin
       Joan Standing - Maid
       Moon Carroll - Briggs
       Josephine Velez - English Nurse
       Barry Norton

• Director:

  Tod Browning

• Producer:

  Carl Laemmle, Jr.

• Play Author:

  John L. Balderston

• Screenwriter:

  Garrett Elsden Fort

• Book Author:

  Bram Stoker

• Play Author:

  Hamilton Deane

• Cinematographer:

  Karl W. Freund

• Featured Music:

  Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Richard Wagner

• Editor:

  Miton Carruth, Maurice Pivar

• Art Director:

  Charles Hall

REVIEW:

• 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