Movie Description
This is the first screen version of Bram Stoker's famous tale based on the smash hit stage production. Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi) arrives in London and immediately works to enrapture and transform into vampires young Lucy Weston (Frances Dade) and her friend Mina Seward (Helen Chandler). After he succeeds in turning Lucy, and Mina's health suddenly deteriorates, Mina's father (Herbert Bunston), calls in a specialist, Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan). Van Helsing quickly recognizes Dracula's vampirism, and sets about saving Mina (and in the process, becomes Dracula's archenemy). The film, arguably the most influential of the legend's film versions, launched Lugosi's career in horror movies and forever invited vampires across Hollywood's threshold.
| Credits | | Producer: | Carl Laemmle | | Cast: | David Manners, Edward Van Sloan, Frances Dade, Herbert Bunston |
| Details | | Sound: | Stereo Sound, Surround Sound |
Notes
Bela Lugosi played the role of Count Dracula in the stage play.
DRACULA was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2000.
This film was followed by a sequel in 1936, "Dracula's Daughter" directed by Lambert Hillyer. Tod Browning's "Dracula" was also followed by many other film versions of the Bram Stoker tale. There was the classic Hammer "Dracula" made in 1958 starring Christopher Lee and directed by Terence Fisher. That was followed in 1973 by a version starring Jack Palance in the title role. It was produced in Great Britain and directed by Dan Curtis. John Badham made a 1979 "Dracula" starring Frank Langella as the Count and Laurence Olivier as Van Helsing. The most recent version is Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 extravaganza entitled "Bram Stoker's Dracula" starring Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Anthony Hopkins. The granddaddy of them all, of course, is F.W. Murnau's silent 1922 masterpiece "Nosferatu" starring Max Schreck as an unforgettably creepy Dracula. It was remade in color with sound by Werner Herzog in 1979 with Klaus Kinski in the title role., DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Dual Layer
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 - English
Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 - Spanish
Dolby Digital 5.0 - Score
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary - 1. David J. Skal - Film Historian
Trailers - 1. Theatrical Trailer
Bonus Feature - 1. Complete Spanish Version (shot simultaneously on the same sets)
Documentary - 1. THE ROAD TO DRACULA by David J. Skal
Isolated Music Track - 1. A New Score by Philip Glass
Making-Of - 1. Spotlight on Location
Text/Photo Galleries:
Production Notes
Poster
Stills/Photos
DVD-ROM Features:
Web Link
Editorial Reviews
"...It is Lugosi's performance, and the cinematography of Karl Freund that make Tod Browning's film such an influential Hollywood picture..."
Chicago Sun-Times - p.5 - Roger Ebert (09/19/1999)
"...Where this version really scores is in its sheer strangeness..."
Total Film - John Wrathall (10/01/1999)
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