Dracula: The Restoration (2012)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
For Universal's 100th Anniversary, the studio took one hundred of their most popular films, restored them and re-released them on home video. Their 1931 film Dracula was one of the films selected and if you've seen that movie over the past few decades then you know it looks and sounds pretty poor due to time. It's again worth noting that Universal restored one hundred of their films but this one here was worthy of getting a featurette because of how marvelous the work was. We're shown how the film originally looked and then we see what work had to be done in order to restore the black levels, remove scratches and just get the picture back into viewing shape. From here we also see what they were able to do in order to get the hiss off of the soundtrack. We also get to see some of the work that was done on the Spanish version of the film. Fans of the Bela Lugosi classic will certainly have their jaws on the floor when they see how wonderful the picture currently looks and this featurette gives you a behind-the-scenes look at how it was accomplished. This is certainly a must-see for fans.
