Musidora

Words almost fail me...where was Dracula or Bram Stoker in this? Oh yeah, right, the women character's names were taken from a book by Stoker.

There was no fantasy in this mess, nothing even particularly supernatural. What else was it missing? Let's see: No brides of Dracula; no live baby for Dracula's din-din; no Dracula castle wall-scaling; no Renfield; no insane asylum; no Bloofer Lady; no blood baptism and Host-scarred Mina; no night spent in a magic circle fending off the brides; no gypsies. Hell, where was Dracula? Did I miss something? They've just staked Lucy in this regrettable production as I write this, and all I can say is, "Thank you, Jesus!" Now if everyone else comprising the cast would just go up in flames in a good old fashioned Hammer conflagration, I'd be so happy.

Why call it Dracula when there is so little of Stoker's Dracula, save some character names, in it? Is this just to sucker folks in? Is it directorial arrogance presuming that its audience is unfamiliar with the source novel? When I sat down to watch this, particularly because it was broadcast on PBS as a Masterpiece Theatre offering, I expected something, somehow, approximating Stoker's work. Call it LORD BLOODYLONGHAIRANDDIRTYNAILS VS. THE WHINING YOUNG VICTORIANS and then it makes some sense, but don't call it Dracula.

I'm now watching it just to see how one of the most incoherent productions bearing the name Dracula will turn out. I guess I want a good laugh, or I can't stop watching the train wreck! And the ending is stunningly awful--why not just add a closing THE END? with shivery question mark? BLECH!

Well, I haven't seen it...yet. I'm going to see it tonight and approach it as if it's an SNL or MadTV spoof of the original.

From what I've read about it - so many negative reviews! - I'm thinking that it sounds like a misogynistic film. I'm surprised so many alternative religion-types are finding it unfavorable from a religious perspective but not a gender issue one.

I love the original film partially because it deals with men and women coming together to celebrate the procreative act. There is a division of the genders in terms of the roles that men and women play in society; but then, there is a blurring of roles emphasized by Lord Summerisle donning drag to lead the May Day rites.

Can't wait to take this film in and have a good "larf."

Suddenly seeing Little Nemo and his friends from Slumberland come alive took my breath away and almost brought a tear to my eye. This is pure cinematic magic: ingenuous, fantastic, and charming. Like peeping into a world of harmless ghosts and fairies.

As someone else has pointed out in this forum, the action of LITTLE NEMO unfolds unrestricted by narrative conventions. Nemo and Flip stretch as if they're waking, and for a viewer today, that's where the marvel is. Nemo wakes in 1911 into the world of moving, hand drawn pictures and, after so many years of neglect, he wakes, again, for us.

Well, I could just go on for days expressing my enchantment with this jewel from the past.

Musidora