The Road to Dracula

This small documentary was produced by Universal Studios in order to celebrate the edition of their classic horror film, "Dracula", in DVD 68 years after its initial theatrical release. Hosted by Carla Laemmle, niece of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle, the film gives the story behind the myth of Dracula and how it went from being a popular horror novel to be one of the most important cultural icons in humanity thanks to the many films he has appeared.

The documentary is also a celebration to the members of the cast that made the 1931 version, as they have become the prototype of those characters for many generations, specially Bela Lugosi, the Hungarian actor who played Dracula. Along Laemmle, film historians and relatives of the cast members are interviewed in an interesting way that gives a lot of insight on how the movie came to be. Bela Lugosi Jr and Dwight David Frye (son of Dwight Frye) talk extensively about their respective fathers, and Lupita Tovar gives some light about her participation in the Spanish version of "Dracula".

Besides the historic figures and historians, people in the modern film industry talk about how "Dracula"'s influence is still recognizable in the current horror genre. Horror writer and film director Clive Barker as well as make-up artist Rick Baker speak about the impact "Dracula" had in their respective areas. Among the many interviews, probably the one that is the most important is the one with Ivan Butler, who in his youth was a member of the theatrical company that made "Dracula" for the first time.

Along with the interviews many clips of the many incarnations of "Dracula" made by Universal appear. It's a shame (although it's understandable)that the documentary only focused on Universal's versions, because the character of Dracula has been portrayed in so many ways that it would be interesting a more complete history about the character. In fact, that would be my only criticism, that it focuses in the events before the 1931 version and lacks information about what happened next and its impact in other media.

Still, despite being short, it's quite informative, specially for enthusiasts of horror and the history of Universal Studios in general. It may not be the best documentary about Dracula the character, but it's a very good one about "Dracula", the film. Very recommended is also "Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'", a similar documentary but about "The Wolf Man" (1941). 7/10

This video documentary presented in home-video collections of "Dracula" (1931) is a decent and brief overview of the "Dracula" story from Bram Stoker's novel to stage and screen adaptations. Besides the 1931 classic, a lost 1921 Hungarian film, "Dracula's Death" (Drakula halála) (1921), "Nosferatu" (1922), the 1979 "Dracula" and the Spanish- language "Dracula" (1931), which was produced at nights while the more-famous English-language version was made during the days, are mentioned. There's also a brief re-creation of a scene for the lost 1931 silent version of the same script. The doc ends with lots of praise for Bela Lugosi, and there's a recitation of the lost fourth-wall- breaking epilogue to the film. There are the usual talking heads and lots of moving stills to present "The Road to Dracula." The movie's maker, David J. Skal, author of "Hollywood Gothic" and related books, also does a good share of the talking here.

Interestingly, another of those talking heads, Gary Don Rhodes agrees with Skal here on the supposedly superior and more artistic camera- work in the Spanish "Dracula" as opposed to the English one, and he says there are far more camera movements in the Spanish version. In his later book, "Tod Browning's Dracula," however, Rhodes claims, "the many critics who have claimed that the Melford version (my edit: i.e. the Spanish one) of 'Dracula' employs more moving camera are wrong. They are, without doubt, mathematically incorrect." Seems he changed his mind. Indeed, Rhodes is right in his book, and it's more interesting and informative than a short documentary of nodding heads could ever be to read Skal's "Hollywood Gothic" and the counterarguments to it in Rhodes's book.

Very short documentary made in 1999 by Universal to celebrate their re release of the Dracula films. It mostly covers how Dracula was adapted to stage numerous times and in various productions. It also covers a lost silent film dealing with Dracula and "Nosferatu" the silent German classic dealing with him. You see people talking about Lugosi and the making of the movie. It's all somewhat interesting but there's nothing really new or exciting here. Also there are some questionable talkers--what exactly does Clive Barker have to do with Dracula? Also it ends very abruptly without even mentioning all the sequels Universal did and only a mention of the 1979 version. Still, all in all, it's OK.

Road to Dracula, The (1999)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Pretty good documentary that was originally released when Dracula (1931) was first put on DVD. The documentary talks about the original Bram Stoker novel and then moves onto the plays and then we get to the movies. We of course get a lot of information about the Tod Browning film but there's also talk about the Spanish version, which was shot at the same time and we get some small talk about the silent version that was made of the Browning one. Carla Laemmle hosts the documentary and we get interviews from Clive Barker, Bob Madison, Bela Lugosi, Jr., Rick Baker, Scott MacQueen, Dwight David Frye and Gary Rhodes among others. I don't think the film is as good as many of the others released with their movies but there's still plenty of nice information to make it worth watching for fans. Of course all of the interviews are a major plus because you can't help enjoying seeing these people comment on the films and perhaps see things in them that you might have overlooked. I think some of the talk deserved more, like the stuff dealing with who actually directed the film but this is only a minor issue. There's some interesting debate on the performances in the film and many of the comments on Lugosi are quite interesting. Of course we get plenty of great clips from the movies and we even get talk about the sequels including Dracula'S DAUGHTER and SON OF Dracula.

This short documentary was produced by Universal Studios in order to celebrate the edition of their classic horror film, "Dracula", in DVD 68 years after its initial theatrical release. Hosted by Carla Laemmle, niece of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle, the film gives the story behind the myth of Dracula and how it went from being a popular horror novel to be one of the most important cultural icons in humanity thanks to the many films he has appeared.

I feel like more needed to be here. This is on the Legacy Collection DVD, and while it has some great interviews -- sons of those from the film, Rick Baker, Clive Barker -- it could have been so much more. At a mere 35 minutes, it never really gets into the meat and potatoes. We hear the same stuff any Dracula fan might already know, but hardly touch on the bigger stories.