Product 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…

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3868 in DVD
• Brand: DRACULA 75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION: UNIVER (DVD
• Released on: 2006-09-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Dolby, Full Screen, Subtitled
• Original language: English, Hungarian
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .50 pounds
• Running time: 179 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
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

DVD features
The extra features on this 2-disc 75th anniversary edition of a film classic are a mix of previously available extras and some new stuff. But these are trumped by the news about the film itself: as befits one of the legendary titles of Hollywood history, Dracula looks noticeably cleaner and brighter than in its previous DVD releases, and the soundtrack also seems improved. As with previous DVD packages, the Spanish version of Dracula, shot concurrently with the English-language version, is included. It's a cool movie in its own right and essential viewing for vampire-movie fans.

Also returning from previous DVDs: the option to watch the film with Philip Glass's fascinating original score (the film had no score except for source music and "Swan Lake" over the titles); this is a one-time-only experience, as nothing could improve on the original's eerie patches of silence. Also back are horror scholar David J. Skal's contributions: a commentary track and a featurette called The Road to Dracula, which gives the history of Bram Stoker's character.

New to this edition: a 36-minute documentary, Lugosi: the Dark Prince, a decent career overview with comments from enthusiasts including director Joe Dante; "Monster Tracks," a feature that allows for pop-up onscreen info-bites (a distraction for the short of attention); a feature commentary by Steve Haberman, horror author and a screenwriter on Dracula: Dead and Loving It (lots of context, but Haberman also gives a spirited and rather welcome rebuke to recent conventional wisdom that favors the Spanish film over the Browning version); and Universal Horror, a 95-minute documentary by Kevin Brownlow. As good as Brownlow's work generally is, this 1998 doc, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, is choppy, and ranges far afield from Universal's great run of horror movies. It's worth seeing for clips from very rare films and for interviews with the likes of Fay Wray, Gloria Stuart, Ray Bradbury, and Curt Siodmak. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

dracula
so many reviews i couldnt read them all, butt this guy was the greatest actor for count dracula and who directed did superb job. butt the real count dracula lived for real and he did drink blood of the people and he killed them if they crossed him , he was a real count and very rich and mean and had a castle so just in case nobody knows this. this is based on true story

Excellent album !
Excellent album for all the tracks it has, not only for the films (English and Spanish version) but also for the documentaries. Don't miss this album if you are a true Bela Lugosi's fan. This special edition for anniversary is of as high quality in its conception. 75 years is easy to say but let's imagine the hard efforts in making the mos famous Holywood's Dracula.

2 Disc Anniversary Set You Can Sink Your Teeth Into!
I've seen Dracula movies many a time in my day, but I tell ya, nothing like looking at the original! Pick this up! All subsequent Dracula films take their cue from Lugosi.

Universal Pictures made this 75th Anniversary edition, 2 DVD set perfect, that any horror fan/geek would love.

Lugos almost didn't get the part. It's all explained in this DVD. As you know the Stoker story very well, no need to detail it. What I didn't know is that it's loosely based on the Stoker novel. The majority of the film is based on the earlier Broadway screenplay. The letters and articles that Stoker wrote, in a diary style, were little used in the film. The film is in glorious black & white, too.

Other features:

Legend of the Dark Prince was an amazing mini biography of Bela Lugosi, typecast from the start, playing all kinds of madmen and freaks, never made it to the star quality of a Boris Karloff, but every script he was ever given, he played seriously, no matter how bad or crazy that script was.

When you turn on "Monster Tracks", all kinds of trivia pop up during the film, little tidbits, which I highly recommend you activate.

The feature commentaries are interesting but David J. Skal is a bit longwinded. I didn't listen to Steve Haberman's opinions. He's best known for the comedy script, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, a film that closely follows Bela Lugosi's film.

The talkies were still relatively new, so there was not a lot of music in this film - but I think the silence, the brooding and the horror of Dracula really came through on this outing. There is a score by Philip Glass that you can turn on during the DVD movie, but I kept it off. Too distracting.

Disc 2 has the same film, but with Spanish actors. Universal would film their star Lugosi in Dracula during the day, then, using the same sets, Carlos Villarias played Dracula nights. How appropriate. Intro by the gal who played Mina (Eva in the Spanish version), Lupita Tovar Kohner, who married the producer soon after production. She's hot in this film, lots of lace and low cut blouses in the Spanish version. Si, si. The production values in many ways were superior to the English version, but no one can match Bela Lugosi!

The trailers of that time, the posters and a general documentary of Universal horror pictures of the 1930s and 1940s tops the feature parade, nicely done but overly long, by Kenneth Branagh, with Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr., and even an Abbott & Costello clip (with Bela Lugosi reprising his role).

Other films mentioned:

Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Dracula (the Frank Langella version)
Plan 9 from Outer Space (Lugosi's last film, sadly).