Some friends here-- and some oddly-thinking others privately -- have clung to the erroneous Bizarro World logic that certain production photos from DRACULA must have been especially staged, rather than representative of scenes being filmed. That is, the director (Browning, Melford, or J. Pismo Clam) decided not to film a certain scene in the script, but instead had an entire soundstage dressed and lit for the sheer joy of posing a couple of actors to get unwanted and rather undramatic still photographs.

Guys-- it doesn't hold any more water than a bag made of Kleenex.
http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/43202/Dracula-Gallery-Updated-20150301-Added-10918-22#.VQyheSx0zIU

Take a look at the photos. Every one represents a still recordation of a scene in the film. The only exceptions to this are a series of a dozen atmospheric shots solely of Lugosi posing on the abbey set. Since he was playing the lead character of "Dracula" in a movie called (interestingly enough), DRACULA, it stands to reason someone at Universal might have suggested to get a few pictures of him making scary faces, because we might want to make some one-sheets for the movie, or something.

All the other strictly-publicity photos are shot in front of a cyc, in poses often imitating the action in the film, or in some cases, behind the scenes candids.

To deny, in the face of common sense and standard movie-making procedure, that these photos represent scenes which were shot (and, very possibly, used in the film until later removed) is just ... silly.

"Hey, light that big abbey interior up, boys, and get the two old hams into costume. I have a great idea for a couple of dull photographs. I'll just have the old guys stand there and do nothing. Don't worry, we're not really shooting that scene in the script, I'm in auteur mode so we're not rolling film. Oh, and when we're done, have the grips lug those three 200-pound crates over to the castle set so I can have Lugosi pose by them. That's one of the ballyhoo tricks I learned in the carnival: always show your bad guy posing with wooden crates. Gets 'em every time."

Last Edited By: Ted Newsom Mar 20 15 7:03 PM. Edited 1 times.