Dracula VS Spanish Dracula (1931)

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

In 19th century theater actors were taught to strike flamboyant postures that would express character in certain situations to the back row. The practice has long since been abandoned, but actors trained in the 19th century style carried the idea over into silent films. Lugosi's performance as Dracula consists in part of a number of postures that must have been very striking in the theater. He must have toned these postures down for the film, but this is one of my favorites:

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

In this publicity still for the 1951 stage revival an older Lugosi asserts his claim on the role in this curtain call pose at the end of the play:



Wouldn't you cheer Lugosi, if you saw him do this at the end of the play?

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

This 1928 window card for Ford's Theater in Baltimore, MD is from the same promotional material used for the Broadway play in which Lugosi starred for two years.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Some nice archival stuff there, Richard.

This is one of those movies that I saw at a young age on TV and which made an impression on me. Not quite as strong an impression as the Frankenstein movies but they're definitely a big part of the reason that I love monster movies and horror films so much. I really love Bela in this role.

[Horace Cordier Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Horace Cordier]

Some nice archival stuff there, Richard.

This is one of those movies that I saw at a young age on TV and which made an impression on me. Not quite as strong an impression as the Frankenstein movies but they're definitely a big part of the reason that I love monster movies and horror films so much. I really love Bela in this role.

Nice Richard.

I love Bela too - and having just watched him in THE DEVIL BAT I think he was a better actor than often given credit for. He had terrific natural charisma and often great comic timing. His most limiting factor unfortunately was his accent.

I have a feeling he would have been marvelous on stage as Dracula. Have any period reviews been archived online? Richard?

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

I don't know if any period reviews have been archived online. I wish the whole history of the play and its primary sources were archived online.

Bela's personal scrapbooks of reviews went up for auction earlier this year. One of those scrapbooks covered two years of Dracula on stage. There's no way of knowing who bought it.

[Koukol Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Koukol]

Bela's hand gestures are phenomenal...something no other vampire film tried to replicate.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Lupita Tovar Dies: Mexican-American Actress Who Starred In Spanish-Language Version Of 'Dracula' Was 106

[Alison Jane Girl Boss Jane Find all posts View Profile Close Alison Jane]

And you decided to share that info via a thread that deemed her films less popular?

[JoeS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoeS]

Finally caught up with it.

First things first. I give full credit to Director Medford and his cast and crew for the effort. They could easily have just 'mailed this in' and did a quickie shot for shot alternate version - but, they clearly didn't. They not only gave it their all, but, they put their own emphasis and spin on the proceedings.

Second, no, this isn't a 'better' version as many revisionists would have it. Sure, some of the camera movement is refreshing compared to the largely static Browning edition. And, it's good to see a fuller edit of the original screenplay/play adaptation (a 29 minute additional runtime!). But, the Lugosi version is better if for no other reason than.........LUGOSI! Carlos Villarias had a decent career in Mexican cinema, but, there's a reason that Lugosi, limited as he was in certain ways, is still a legend. You can't teach charisma. Bela had it, Carlos didn't. More importanly, much of that extra screentime is given over to long-winded explanations, slow line reading and the actors staring at one another. If one were to ruthlessly take a stopwatch to it, I doubt there is more than 10 to 15 minutes of truly 'new' material.

Other than Villarias (and, the stolid Eduardo Arozamena as Van Helsing), the Spanish cast holds up reasonably well. Pablo ílvarez Rubio may not quite equal Dwight Frye as Renfield, but, it's a more than worthy alternate performance. The actresses give their roles a bit more vigor than their English speaking counterparts. Medford's Direction is good, but, he does have a pacing problem. The Browning version is much better edited than the Spanish version. Much.

All in all, 'Spanish' DRACULA is a worthy restoration. It would have been a shame had it disintigrated into history. But, the revisionists have it wrong. The Browning-Lugosi is still the definitive version of the count from that era.