Casey62 wrote:
cjh5801 wrote:
Casey62 wrote:On pages 181 and 182, Gary explains that budgetery restrictions prevented the churchyard and its gate from being built. The gate we see when the bobby bicycles by and Van Helsing and Harker see Renfield is from the existing Carfax Abbey set, which Browning also had to improvise to suggest Lucy is stalking children near the abbey, instead of the churchyard. This is why we see Lucy walking through a wooded area with no tombstones or vault in sight - no such set was ever built.


Except the long shot of Carfax Abbey as seen in the Spanish-language version looks to be a matte painting or model. Except for Dracula leading Mina through the courtyard (which has no gate) and Renfield running down to the backdoor, there are no Carfax Abbey exterior sets, so where is Gary getting the impression that the gate is from the existing Carfax Abbey set? 



I'd assume the gate is just another section of the abbey set.

Very seldom does the art department design and build a set not indicated in a script. That's why the olden days guys got the idea of writing things down in a script, so everybody would know what they were going to do, and they wouldn't have to make stuff up that they might not need. They found that saves a little time when you've got fifty guys standing around getting paid for nothing while the carpenters and plasterers build the set. Turned out to be a pretty good way to make movies.