Does the 1931 silent DRACULA exist? in Silent Horror Forum

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Does the 1931 silent DRACULA exist?

Author	Comment
infinite1	Does the 1931 silent DRACULA exist?	Lead	[-]
Feb 19 12 2:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Does anyone know if the 1931 silent DRACULA with Lugosi exists in part or if it's complete? If it does, I would love to see it as an extra on the remastered Blu Ray later this year.
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MonsterGuy95		#1	[-]
Feb 19 12 3:32 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I saw a clip of it on the Road to Dracula DVD Docu. (inc. on the Dracula Legacy Set).
DonM435		#2	[-]
Feb 19 12 3:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	That's a re-creation. I agree that it would be great to see the silent version exactly as it was presented. Tod Browning was better at making silents, so it just might be an effective film that way.
Wich2		#3	[-]
Feb 19 12 5:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Boy, Don - unless it's a very different cut, possibly even containing some different material. Because the stagey, set-bound last two thirds of the Talkie would play even worse mute with title cards.
DonM435		#4	[-]
Feb 19 12 8:32 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yeah, but who can tell? Maybe the shift to title cards and a music score would impart a rythm and life to the static scenes.
MYST0		#5	[-]
Feb 25 12 8:58 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Did it have sound effects? Are the discs around? Maybe they could be put in sync with the sound film some way.
TServo4		#6	[-]
Feb 25 12 11:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	While it's possible that a silent version may have been distributed overseas with music and effects (although I've never found evidence of this), the silent version would have been distribute in the US as a silent film with no track, of course. J. Theakston Capitol Theatre, Rome, NY
hnicolella		#7	[-]
Feb 25 12 11:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've seen the script to the silent version of the '31 "Dracula." Much of the dialogue is reduced or eliminated entirely in the title cards. For example, Renfield's plea to Dracula as the Count is about to kill him has no title card at all. Henry Nicolella
pulp novelties		#8	[-]
Feb 27 12 7:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	hnicolella wrote: I've seen the script to the silent version of the '31 "Dracula." Much of the dialogue is reduced or eliminated entirely in the title cards. For example, Renfield's plea to Dracula as the Count is about to kill him has no title card at all. Henry Nicolella Boy, sounds like a lot of people standing around no matter what way you slice it. I can imagine it being even more of a snooze in the last half.
Wich2		#9	[-]
Feb 27 12 7:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Same here.
Doctor Daka		#10	[-]
Feb 28 12 3:51 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Is the silent script available anywhere? Was it included in that book that had the shooting script for the sound version in it?
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cjh5801		#11	[-]
Feb 29 12 2:28 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's not included in Riley's shooting script. - Clark hollowaypages.com
cosmicjim		#12	[-]
Mar 3 12 1:45 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It would be difficult to even look up ads in old newspapers for it, as at that point "All-Talking" would have been listed in the ads, rather than "Silent".
The Genii		#13	[-]
Mar 4 12 6:48 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Without Lugosi's voice, what is the point? Isn't that voice so intricately linked with his performance in our minds that a silent version would seem meaningless. A subtraction rather than an addition.
PhantomXCI		#14	[-]
Mar 4 12 10:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The Genii wrote: Without Lugosi's voice, what is the point? Isn't that voice so intricately linked with his performance in our minds that a silent version would seem meaningless. A subtraction rather than an addition. In retrospect, yes. But the silent version was created for those rural, Mom & Pop-run cinemas which still hadn't converted to sound. So it's probable that few of the people who saw the silent version even knew what Lugosi sounded like to begin with.
cjh5801		#15	[-]
Mar 5 12 1:24 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I wonder if the silent version had any of the missing footage that was cut from the sound version. - Clark hollowaypages.com
Doctor Daka		#16	[-]
Mar 5 12 8:55 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Are we positive a silent version was ever actually released? I know of one Universal serial where the pressbook said on the cover that there would be two versons, silent and all talking, yet only an all talking version was released.
doctor kiss		#17	[-]
Mar 5 12 9:52 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A silent print of DRACULA was certainly submitted to the British Board of Film Censors in 1931, indicating that it saw some kind of release in the UK. The sound version was submitted on February 16th, with a length of 6978ft [link], and the silent version on April 16th, with a length of 6315ft [link]. (To confuse matters, the BBFC online catalogue mistakenly links all the re-releases of the talkie version to the silent entry!)...
Doctor Daka		#18	[-]
Mar 5 12 10:47 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Very good! Thank for the reply.
cjh5801		#19	[-]
Mar 5 12 2:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	doctor kiss, I wonder if perhaps the notation on which version was synchronized should be reversed? If the first entry was actually the silent version, the included intertitles might explain the additional footage and longer running time. If the second entry is really the sound version, it would explain why the re-releases have been tacked onto it. The actual running time of the release version is just under 75 minutes, which isn't accurately reported in either entry. 77 minutes is too long for the sound version, and 70 minutes seems pretty short for a silent version with added intertitles. - Clark hollowaypages.com
Rick		#20	[-]
Mar 5 12 2:48 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I dunno. Everybody complains about how stagy and talky the last 2/3rds of the movie is. Seems to me a lot of that talk could be replaced with a few succinct intertitles. But then again...who knows?
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Does the 1931 silent DRACULA exist?

Does the 1931 silent DRACULA exist?