The Road to Dracula

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.

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.

Carla Laemmle, niece of director Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal pictures, introduces and narrates this documentary produced by film historian David Skal. Filmmakers, writers, and film historians discuss the timelessness of the Bram Stoker character and Universal's three adaptations, among others. Included on Universal's excellent Dracula (1931) DVD.

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.

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.