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Bram Stoker's Dracula - the movie - review - jimbow8 - 07-04-2005
The Mad American Wrote:Question for you since you stated you are a big fan of the book Dracula. What is your favorite film adaptation of the book?
The Mad American Wrote:Nice review and I think I agree with pretty much the entire thing. The saving grace of the movie was Oldman. I used to annoy my wife by immitating the part from the opening where Dracula shouts for his wife..."Issabeta!!!!"
Question for you since you stated you are a big fan of the book Dracula. What is your favorite film adaptation of the book?
For some reason I personally always liked the Dracula made in I believe the late 70's(will have to check IMDB) with Frank Langella playing Dracula.
jimbow8 - earlier post Wrote:I bought the super-duper version of VanHelsing on DVD (I know, most people hated it, but I thought it was a pretty fun summer action romp). This version contains the original 30's versions of Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman that inspired Steven Sommer's movie. I started watching Lugosi's Dracula last night but fell asleep. So far..... this movie seems to cover a lot of what was NOT in the book and change most of the rest. This movie is about Renfield's trip to Transylvania (occured before Harker went there in the book) and Harker apparently never goes. Mina is Dr. Seward's daughter. (?) The secondary characters are nowhere to be seen. Aside from all that, it seems like a good movie so far (only watched about half of it). I'll have to see the rest before I make a judgement.
(continued)
I finished the Lugosi version of Dracula. I liked it and thought Lugosi's performance is deserving of the icon it has become. Dwight Frye as Renfield was marvelous and I also got a kick out of Charles K. Gerrard as Martin. Edward Van Sloan is also excellent as Professor Van Helsing. A lot of the sets, especially the castle and Carfax Abbey, were gorgeous and quite obviously the inspiration for many Dracula movies (and horror movies in general) which have been made ever since.
My disc also has a wonderful little documentary titled The Road to Dracula. Check it out. It mentions that in the 30s (before dubbing was used) they would often film a movie in different languages. There is apparently a Spanish version of Dracula which was filmed on the exact same sets and in many ways superior. Spanish version. According to the documentary, the spanish crew would watch the results of the original shoot and say, "Hey, we can do that better!" Has anyone seen this? It sounds fascinating.
One thing that I have noticed about these old movies is that they come to very abrupt endings. I find this both disconcerting and refreshing in some ways.
Bram Stoker's Dracula - the movie - review - jimbow8 - 07-04-2005
I also just watched Lon Chaney's The Wolf Man (also starring Bela Lugosi - did not know that). I think this is probably the best of the "original" three Universal monster movies. The viewer can identify with the characters moreso than in the others. Chaney's emotions and internal conflicts are plainly visible and he is truly a sympathetic character. I had no idea that this movie had such a star cast (of names that I know): Claude Raines, Ralph Bellamy, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney (obviously). I've never been a relatively big werewolf fan, so I never thought I would like this movie that much. Boy was I wrong. This is a real gem.
Amazingly, I cannot find this movie on Netflix.
Bram Stoker's Dracula - the movie - review - fpw - 07-04-2005
jimbow8 Wrote:I had no idea that this movie had such a star cast (of names that I know): Claude Raines, Ralph Bellamy, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney (obviously).
How could you leave off Maria Ouspenskaya? "The way you walk was thorrrrny..."
Bram Stoker's Dracula - the movie - review - jimbow8 - 07-04-2005
fpw Wrote:How could you leave off Maria Ouspenskaya? "The way you walk was thorrrrny..."Strictly because I had never heard of her before. She was great in the movie.