Product Description

Bela Lugosi and Dracula are inseparable images from the heyday of Hollywood. More than any other actor in film history, Lugosi is the master of the macabre, the king of the vampires, and the cult hero of horror movies. And yet he was also a man who fought in wars and revolutions, who married five times, and who mastered stagecraft and film arts in Hungary, Germany, and the United States. He remained an enigma in Hollywood even as his career dwindled into the weird worlds of drug abuse and filmmaker Ed Wood. Lugosi’s fusion with the famed vampire became more permanent than ever when he was buried in his Dracula cape in 1956. LUGOSI: HOLLYWOOD’S DRACULA unravels the truth behind the legendary star by interweaving rare film footage from 1918-1956, home movies, and previously-unseen photographs with narration by Lugosi costar Robert Clarke and Lugosi fan Rue McClanahan. Numerous on-camera interviews span family members like his son and widow, Academy Award-winning director Robert Wise, legendary film producer Howard W. Koch, and a host of Lugosi’s costars and personal friends.

The film has won awards and accolades at film festivals and theatrical screenings across the globe. Film historian Michael H. Price, author of FORGOTTEN HORRORS, has proclaimed that "Gary Rhodes’s LUGOSI: HOLLYWOOD’S DRACULA is the first life-story to give Lugosi his generous due, to treat Lugosi as something greater than a martyr, and to mingle an academic thoroughness with an unabashed enthusiasm towards its troubled and majestic subject."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91208 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-08-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Color, Black & White, Director's Cut, Full Screen, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 120 minutes

Joseph H. Lewis, legendary director of GUN CRAZY
"All I can say is it's divine ... superb!"

John Wooley, FANGORIA
"A beautiful job of capturing the essence of Lugosi..."

Forrest J. Ackerman, FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND
"The best film I've ever seen about Bela Lugosi. Absolutely wonderful."

Customer Reviews

`Boo!
Gary D. Rhodes textured portrait of a film icon is quite good. Besides an in-depth look at his Hollywood rise and fall, yuo can view Bela Lugosi's oldest existing film, a brief fragment of Hungary's "Struggle for Life(1918). You see scenes from "Dance of the Volcano(German/1920)" and a good, restored sequence from perhaps his earliest American film role in "Midnight Girl(1925)", an otherwise slow and tedious movie. A wonderfully restored interview from 1932(at his home) and several other special features(including a first-time interview with his last and fifth wife(shortly before her cancer-caused death) are real bonuses. It's a two-disc marathon, and even features previously unknown radio broadcasts(five), including a dark diatribe against facism in 1944 that belies his left-wing, pro-communist leanings. For the Lugosi fan, this cannot be missed.

A documentary that's as entertaining as a Lugosi film
Here's a real treat for Lugosi fans--an in-depth, fascinating, and utterly entertaining hour featuring lots of previously-unseen material. The clips from his early silent films are beautifully restored, and left this reviewer with a strong urge to see the complete films. There's an impressive array of interviews with former co-stars and friends, and some surprisingly clear interviews with the star himself (some of these also appear on Roan's excellent "White Zombie" disc).

I was also impressed by the sometimes hallucinatory editing style--often a rapid succession of film clips set to spooky music--that made the documentary every bit as entertaining as watching one of Bela's movies.

If I have one minor gripe, it's that a large amount of "deleted scenes" could have been editing back into the feature. Most of them are expanded interviews and clips from particular films. I'm sure the decision was made to cut these extra scenes for reasons of pacing or time. But a true Lugosi fan would not only NOT mind the extra padding, he (or she) would most likely appreciate it. It's a minor point, because of course you can access all these extra scenes from the main menu.

Order this one, you won't be disappointed.

Superb Tribute to a Very Talented Actor
This is a marvellous documentary all about the actor Bela Lugosi, produced by the foremost experts on the actor and with great affection this is a MUST have for any Lugosi fans or afficienados of the golden age of movies. Packed full of rare footage, interviews and little known facts I am so glad that this doesnt dwell on the tragic aspects of his life so well documented in the movie ED WOOD, instead its a respectful tribute and something I will watch again and again...not to mention listening to the bonus cd with some superb old radio shows featuring Mr Lugosi!