I see why Gary refers to the Carfax Abbey gate instead of the churchyard gate. Due to budget cuts, the churchyard set was likely never built, as no footage of it exists in either Browning's or Melford's version. This necessitated improvisation of Lucy's demise in both films. As Gary relates on pg. 182, in the Spanish version, Van Helsing and Harker are standing in front of the Carfax Abbey gate (doubling for the cemetary) discussing Lucy's death, while in the English version the two are by the gate (Gary's wording is a little misleading), but aren't discussing Lucy, thus making her fate more vague. Browning changed Van Helsing's dialogue at the end to perhaps imply that he's staying behind to stake Lucy.

Speaking for myself, I'd always assumed that shot of Van Helsing and Harker by the gate suggested they just staked Lucy, and Van Helsing's parting words to Mina and Harker meant he was staying behind to tend to Renfield's body. I haven't had a problem with this deduction, and since Browning does leave it open to interpretation, I'll continue to view it that way. I believe that as long as a viewer can fill in what's left vague in a film with an explanation that logically fits the existing narrative, such vagueness shouldn't be judged as a flaw.

Last Edited By: Casey62 Feb 13 15 9:27 PM. Edited 5 times.