Thanks for the comments, Clark. I don't see any of the strobing you mentioned on my player, but I'll look into that. I'm still making some tweaks to the files. I agree that in a way this can be said to represent what Browning originally intended since he co-wrote the script. But I'm sure he would have made some changes in the cutting stage. I can't see him cutting as much out of it of his own accord though. The fact that the shots of Carfax Abbey, which were painstakingly created, were thrown out shows a pretty ruthless hand in the editing and I don't think any director would have been likely to be that quick to throw out such important and expensive establishing shots just to save a few seconds. The biggest gap in the film is from the deletion of the scene of the stalking of Lucy. Its removal leaves an awkward and unexplained jump in the action. If Browning had decided not to film the scene, surely he would have provided some alternate continuity for getting Van Helsing and Harker outside where they see Renfield heading to Carfax Abbey. But they are just suddenly there with no dialog to explain why they are there or where they are going. It has all the signs of a scene that was filmed and then cut, not of a change that was made during production.

My biggest disagreement with Gary's analysis of the footage in this scene is about the gate Harker and Van Helsing are standing by. For some reason he thinks it's the gate to Carfax Abbey and not the churchyard gate. His theory is that the Spanish version used the Carfax Abbey gate from Browning's production to create the scene at the churchyard since there is no indication that the cemetery sets were ever built. But the overwhelming evidence is that the gate was the cemetery gate and was intended to replace the more expensive cemetery set. The staking scene in the Spanish version plays out almost exactly as is was in the script except that we see it from outside the gate instead of from outside the Weston family crypt. The earlier scene of Harker and Van Helsing watching Lucy walk through the cemetery and return to her crypt before they go in to stake her probably was cut from the script in order to avoid building the cemetery, but I don't think the staking scene was cut, just relocated to the cemetery gate.

When Harker and Van Helsing see Renfiled in the script, they are standing at the churchyard gate looking toward Carfax Abbey, exactly like they are in the movie. It's the same gate we see in the Woman in White scene where the script indicates Lucy is walking through the churchyard. And it's the same gate seen as the churchyard gate in the Spanish version. The gate to Carfax Abbey is never mentioned in the script so I don't see how Gary can conclude that the gate the men are standing by is the gate to Carfax Abbey and not the churchyard gate as specifically stated in the script. Logistically this wouldn't make much sense either since they are seeing Renfield approaching what is basically the "back door" of the Abbey. It's a door to the lower levels of the abbey located along the cliff on the side of the Abbey facing the sea. Any gate would probably have been in the front of the abbey making it impossible to see around the back  and down a cliff.

Kerry Gammill
www.monsterkid.com
Last Edited By: Count Gamula Mar 15 15 4:47 PM. Edited 3 times.