 |
| Bela
Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye, Edward
Van Sloan |
|
 |
Anamorphic
widescreen |
 |
Dolby Digital
5.1 |
|
DTS |
|
|
Trailer(s) |
|
Featurette(s) |
|
Documentary |
|
Audio commentary
|
|
Deleted scenes
|
|
Concept art
/ storyboards |
|
Multi-angle
feature |
|
|
|
|
Dracula (Bela Lugosi): Wine?
I never drink...wine...
A vampire from Transsylvania travels
to London in search of a bride.
 The
very first monster to appear out of the Universal stable, Dracula
is also the monster movie that shows its age most clearly. Lugosi'
career-defining turn as the eponymous vampire is still a treat,
but the film's execution is overly theatrical and marred by several
structural flaws. Most problematic is that the film's opening reel
is far stronger than the rest of the film. The immense sets and
dramatic lighting effects create an authentically creepy atmosphere
, which unfortunately evaporates almost completely once the action
moves to London. Once removed from his cavernous castle, Count Dracula's
threatening presence evaporates visibly under the bright lights
of the flatly lit household interiors, and little remains of the
unspeakable horrors made tangible in the film's brilliant opening.
These moments and a handful of other strongly played scenes ensure
the film's classic status. It's just a pity to realize it could
havce been so much better. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
The eight movies that were selected
as Universal's 'Classic Monster Collection' were released on Region
1 DVD some years ago, but have since gone out of print and have
been put on moratorium by Universal, awaiting a re-release.
These same eight titles were recently released on DVD for Region
2 and 4, available both separately and as part of an eight-disc
box set. The R2/4 release of Dracula doesn't include the
Spanish version of the film, but otherwise there are no major differences
with the original Region 1 versions.
The fullscreen image is framed
at its original aspect ratio of approx. 1.33:1. The transfer is
good enough for a film this old, with agreeable blacks and not too
muc damage to most scenes. Composite shots are generally the worse
for wear, as are the opening credits. But overall image quality
is good enough and is the best this film will look without an all-out
restoration ef.
The original mono sound mix is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. There's
quite a bit of hiss and popin this track, with dialogues sounding
fairly muffled at times. The new Dolby Digital 5.1 track featuring
the score Philip Glass recently composed for the picture, performed
by the Kronos Quartet, does a better job, anchoring the original
dialogues in the center channel and surrounding them with the nicely
spread musical performance.
The Region 1 release, which has
since gone out of print and been put on extended moratorium by Universal,
had the unusual inclusion of the Spanish version of the entire film, which
was shot at night with Spanish actors on the same sets and with the same script, but which
resulted in a movie that's actually quite a bit better than Browning's. Sadly,
for reasons so far unknown, the Spanish version has not been included on the
newly released Region 2 and 4 edition, which is all the more painful due to
being referenced quite often during the outstanding audio commentary by
film historian David J. Skal. He also hosts the comprehensive 45-minute
documentary 'The Road to Dracula', which offers a complete and highly
enjoyable overview of the production's background, history and later legacy.
Another unusual extra is the alternate score by minimalist composer
Philip Glass. Dracula dates back to the early sound age when films
were released without an orchestral score on the soundtrack, which Glass
turned out to be eager to compose just recently. The newly composed score for the formerly musicless
film won't be to everyone's taste, but it adds an atmosphere that
certainly transforms the film. A collection of posters and stills is
to be found in 'The Dracula Archives', with the theatrical trailer
and some pages of textual production notes round out these extras, which
would have been impeccable had it not been for the absence of the Spanish film version.
 Menu
screens are static and simply laid out.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
2002
Click
here for IMDB info on Dracula.
Click here
to return to the front page.
|
|
| |
