Rick wrote:
Melford's other actors are not remotely near the silly vein that Villarias drinks from.  
Of course not--they weren't told to imitate Lugosi!

My thoughts in a nutshell: Lugosi's performance is stagey and a bit dated, but it is iconic and has nostalgia value.  Villarias is a poor imitation.  However, most of the rest of the Spanish cast is better than Browning's cast, although that's not exactly high praise.  In general, the Spanish version is better.  Put me in the camp that regards the Browning version as a crashing bore after the Transylvania scenes.