Dracula (75th Anniversary Edition) (Universal Legacy Series)
starring: Bela Lugosi
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When Universal Pictures picked up the movie rights to a Broadway adaptation of Dracula, they felt secure in handing the property over to the sinister team of actor Lon Chaney and director Tod Browning. But Chaney died of cancer, and Universal hired the Hungarian who had scored a success in the stage play: Béla Lugosi. The resulting film launched both Lugosi's baroque career and the horror-movie cycle of the 1930s. It gets off to an atmospheric start, as we meet Count Dracula in his shadowy castle in Transylvania, superbly captured by the great cinematographer Karl Freund. Eventually Dracula and his blood-sucking devotee (Dwight Frye, in one of the cinema's truly mad performances) meet their match in a vampire-hunter called Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan). If the later sections of the film are undeniably stage bound and a tad creaky, Dracula nevertheless casts a spell, thanks to Lugosi's creepily lugubrious manner and the eerie silences of Browning's directing style. (After a mood-enhancing snippet of Swan Lake under the opening titles, there is no music in the film.) Frankenstein, which was released a few months later, confirmed the horror craze, and Universal has been making money (and countless spin-off projects) from its twin titans of terror ever since. Certainly the role left a lasting impression on the increasingly addled and drug-addicted Lugosi, who was never quite able to distance himself from the part that made him a star. He was buried, at his request, in his black vampire cape. --Robert Horton
Description:
The legend of Dracula continues in this gripping, masterful 2-disc edition of cinema's most ominous vampire, digitally remastered for the 75th Anniversary Edition. Relive the horror, the mystery, and the intrigue of the original 1931 vampire masterpiece starring Bela Lugosi and directed by Tod Browning. The inspiration for hundreds of subsequent remakes and adaptations, this classic film launched the Hollywood horror genre with its eerie passion, shadowy atmosphere, and thrilling cinematography. The children of the night are calling…
When Universal Pictures picked up the movie rights to a Broadway adaptation of Dracula, they felt secure in handing the property over to the sinister team of actor Lon Chaney and director Tod Browning. But Chaney died of cancer, and Universal hired the Hungarian who had scored a success in the stage play: Béla Lugosi. The resulting film launched both Lugosi's baroque career and the horror-movie cycle of the 1930s. It gets off to an atmospheric start, as we meet Count Dracula in his shadowy castle in Transylvania, superbly captured by the great cinematographer Karl Freund. Eventually Dracula and his blood-sucking devotee (Dwight Frye, in one of the cinema's truly mad performances) meet their match in a vampire-hunter called Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan). If the later sections of the film are undeniably stage bound and a tad creaky, Dracula nevertheless casts a spell, thanks to Lugosi's creepily lugubrious manner and the eerie silences of Browning's directing style. (After a mood-enhancing snippet of Swan Lake under the opening titles, there is no music in the film.) Frankenstein, which was released a few months later, confirmed the horror craze, and Universal has been making money (and countless spin-off projects) from its twin titans of terror ever since. Certainly the role left a lasting impression on the increasingly addled and drug-addicted Lugosi, who was never quite able to distance himself from the part that made him a star. He was buried, at his request, in his black vampire cape. --Robert Horton
Description:
The legend of Dracula continues in this gripping, masterful 2-disc edition of cinema's most ominous vampire, digitally remastered for the 75th Anniversary Edition. Relive the horror, the mystery, and the intrigue of the original 1931 vampire masterpiece starring Bela Lugosi and directed by Tod Browning. The inspiration for hundreds of subsequent remakes and adaptations, this classic film launched the Hollywood horror genre with its eerie passion, shadowy atmosphere, and thrilling cinematography. The children of the night are calling…
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- BROWNING AND LUGOSI SET THE BAR
A true classic of the genre in every sense of the word. Bela Lugosi simply can't be topped as the definitive Count Dracula. For devotees of this film the 75th Anniversary Edition is the one to get, especially since Steve Haberman's excellent audio commentary finally sets the record straight by debunking the recent unwarranted criticism Tod Browning's version has received when it's compared to the alternately filmed Spanish version. Haberman points out some serious flaws with the Spanish version that ... Read More
Rating: 
- 2 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:
A movie whose iconic nature has prevented many people from realizing that it's actually a rather poor film, Dracula is only worth watching to see Bela Legosi provide the definitive version of the world's most famous vampire; aside from Legosi the movie has little to offer besides lethargic pacing, a complete anti-climax of an ending, and uninspired direction by Tod Browning.
Rating: - BETTER!!!!!
I got the 75th Anniversary edition for the restoration of the missing sound fragments of earlier versions and the new special features.I've read all the other comments about the sound and cropping, etc.I just wish Universal could do it right the first time.They have also included again the re-scored version, which is better left unheard.It is nothing but a desecration.
Rating: 
- Bram Stoker doesn't know jack about vampires. Watch Twilight instead.
Okay, first off, my TV must have broke, because this movie has no color in it! That's inexcusable, as they had color back then. Not only that, but the special effects are like a high school play's, and not even CGI. Plus this movie is all wrong with the assumptions about vampires. They don't die when exposed to sunlight. They just sparkle.
For a woman who knows about vampires, check out Stephenie Meyer.
Rating: - Care for a bite
This movie is one hour and fifteen minutes long and released on February 14, 1931. This is Béla Lugosi finest roll. Béla Lugosi would play Dracula in two more films: Mark of the Vampire andAbbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Dwight Frye plays an excellence believable Renfield; Dracula's slave. If nothing else some of the sex scenes, even though they are tame, are great. I am a big fan of the old Universal Studios monster horror films and this is one of the great ones from that era. If you can ... Read More
- BROWNING AND LUGOSI SET THE BARA true classic of the genre in every sense of the word. Bela Lugosi simply can't be topped as the definitive Count Dracula. For devotees of this film the 75th Anniversary Edition is the one to get, especially since Steve Haberman's excellent audio commentary finally sets the record straight by debunking the recent unwarranted criticism Tod Browning's version has received when it's compared to the alternately filmed Spanish version. Haberman points out some serious flaws with the Spanish version that ... Read More
- 2 stars out of 4The Bottom Line:
A movie whose iconic nature has prevented many people from realizing that it's actually a rather poor film, Dracula is only worth watching to see Bela Legosi provide the definitive version of the world's most famous vampire; aside from Legosi the movie has little to offer besides lethargic pacing, a complete anti-climax of an ending, and uninspired direction by Tod Browning.
- BETTER!!!!!I got the 75th Anniversary edition for the restoration of the missing sound fragments of earlier versions and the new special features.I've read all the other comments about the sound and cropping, etc.I just wish Universal could do it right the first time.They have also included again the re-scored version, which is better left unheard.It is nothing but a desecration.
- Bram Stoker doesn't know jack about vampires. Watch Twilight instead.Okay, first off, my TV must have broke, because this movie has no color in it! That's inexcusable, as they had color back then. Not only that, but the special effects are like a high school play's, and not even CGI. Plus this movie is all wrong with the assumptions about vampires. They don't die when exposed to sunlight. They just sparkle.
For a woman who knows about vampires, check out Stephenie Meyer.
- Care for a biteThis movie is one hour and fifteen minutes long and released on February 14, 1931. This is Béla Lugosi finest roll. Béla Lugosi would play Dracula in two more films: Mark of the Vampire andAbbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Dwight Frye plays an excellence believable Renfield; Dracula's slave. If nothing else some of the sex scenes, even though they are tame, are great. I am a big fan of the old Universal Studios monster horror films and this is one of the great ones from that era. If you can ... Read More
