happydude33 wrote:
HalLane wrote:
And it will also be great to have these digital restorations sitting neatly on a hardrive where you won't have to fiddle with clumsy disks and dusty packaging, which is even nicer.


I like your style. Totally agree.

You fellas may have something here. I'm getting so tired of always exhausting myself while fumbling about for 10 minutes trying to pry open those clunky & cumbersome DVD cases, and constantly sneezing and having my sinuses swell up from all that thick, dirty dust and grime that's layered all over 'em.   Good riddance some day, I say!  

todmichel wrote:

Melford's version has better ambiance/atmosphere, better use of the sets, better editing (I know it's not Browning's fault, but it's a fact), far better photography and effects, far more impressive violence (the mirror's scene, Dracula's death, etc), more coherence, best casting, etc. All together, for many people outside of the Lugosian fan club it makes a superior version. And all the rest, including this strange American idolatry for Bela Lugosi, is just popular belief based on faith, and not facts. Including this legend about Melford's staff watching the rushes of the US version. It was maybe true at the beginning, but the Hispanic version was "in the can" AND previewed far before Browning - or Freud - finished the other version. In other termes, the Hispanic Dracula is "the real thing" and the US version its pale copy, not the contrary.


Interesting take on it, but good luck trying to convince the rest of the cinematic world. I don't know about your "American idolatry of Bela Lugosi" thing -- is there any idolatry of Carlos Villarias -- either Spanish, American, French, or otherwise? I think not. You don't have to prefer Lugosi's performance, but Bela's effectiveness goes far beyond just the "biased Lugosian Fan Club" group. 

And I've never agreed about the mirror scene; I've always liked it more in the Browning version.

"Physical Media: Alive and Well, Forever!"



Last Edited By: Joe Karlosi Jan 25 12 8:58 AM. Edited 1 times.