Rick wrote:
Same thought that I -- even I -- noted more than a week ago (March 18) in that other thread.

"...it's never "read" to me as a cemetery gate. I never really gave it much thought, to tell the truth. The boys were, I assumed, somewhere near Seward's or the next door Abbey. It was, to my eyes, a back gate to the asylum, a front gate to the Abbey, a gate connecting the two properties...something like that, and I figured it really didn't matter. We were somewhere around where Dracula and Renfield and Mina were and that was all that mattered."



I was applying supplemental knowledge about the script and Melford's version - something I shouldn't have done. When looked at independently, the gate in Browning's film doesn't 'read' as a cemetary gate at all. Neither can it be said for certain that it's the Carfax Abbey gate, although if I had to pick a place, that would be it because, to me anyway, it would logically fit into the narrative at this point, regardless of which way they open. As for it possibly being the gate to Seward's place, we already saw it in that crane shot and it's completely different. I suppose it could be a back gate, but seeing that it's the same as the one with the bobby on the bike who is passing what I LIKE to believe is Carfax Abbey, it'd work better for me to suppose it's the Abbey gate the men are at when they see Renfield arriving there. And yes, they could even be emerging from the cemetery after staking Lucy if we feel we have to follow the script and Melford continuity.

HOWEVER..., I'm not staunchly supporting any of these theories. I got carried away before. All these years I never gave that shot of Van Sloan and Manners by the gate any thought, and that's what I'm back to. As far as I'm concerned they're just somewhere near enough to see Renfield arrive at the Abbey and there's a gate behind them - it doesn't matter what it belongs to. It always worked just fine for me that way and still does.

And with that, I'm closing the gate on it.

Last Edited By: Casey62 Mar 26 15 11:40 PM. Edited 8 times.