The discussion of Gary Rhode's new book prompted me to to dig out the re-edit of DRACULA that I did on VHS years ago which is very similar to the version Clark created. I noticed some small things in my edits that I would do differently now and since I know much more about video file formats and Adobe Premiere Pro than I did back then, I did a new digital edit a few days ago. From the recent posts here it looks like Clark's cuts are almost identical to mine, except that I do include snippets of the Melford version to represent scenes that were cut from the Browning version. It's actually not that jarring if you are familiar with the Spanish version too and can use your imagination a little to picture the scene being done by the actors in the Browning troupe. I was tempted to add some creative touches and editing choices of my own, but decided to stick strictly to reconstructing what the Browning version would have been like if the continuity of the script had been followed as it was in the Melford version. The only thing I didn't bother to include was the extra long scene from the Spanish version with Van Helsing interviewing Renfield in Dr. Seward's office. It really bogged the film down. In fact a lot of Melford's scenes moved slower than in the Browning version and the more I compared the two, the more respect I had for the Browning movie. Melford's has a few striking visuals, like the Dracula emerging from the smoke-filled coffin and the the zoom in on Dracula on the castle stairs. And the Lupita Tovar is great in the scene where she is turning vampish and tries to bite Harker. But overall, I think Browning's direction is superior and most of the faults in the way the film plays are with the cut footage and the editing. I also kept the confrontation between Dracula and Van Helsing as one scene instead of intercutting it with Mina and Harker's scene. I think it's stronger as one continuous scene and I get the feeling it's probably the way Browning decided to do it.

If I can figure a way to make it available for download for those interested I will. I tried uploading it as a private video on Youtube thinking perhaps the copyright issues wouldn't come up if it wan't public, but it immediate got flagged as a copyright violation so I removed it. Right now it's saved as an mp4 with H264 codec. But I could export it as something else to make it easier to download if Clark or someone can advise me on the best settings.

Kerry Gammill
www.monsterkid.com
Last Edited By: Count Gamula Feb 25 15 4:40 AM. Edited 1 times.