The Road to Dracula

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.

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.

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.

Wonderful Dracula retrospective that was a featurette on the initial Dracula DVD release and has been included on subsequent releases. It's hosted by the delightfully charming Carla Laemmle, niece of the founder of Universal and an actress in her own right. She appears in the opening scene of Dracula as one of the coach passengers and actually says the first lines of the film. This featurette covers the history of Dracula from Bram Stoker to the stage play on to the classic 1931 film. It also oddly covers the Frank Langella '70s version of the film. While the inclusion of this seems strange, it does lead to one of the more amusing moments in the short where the elderly Laemmle swoons over Langella's "sexy" Dracula.

There's lots of interviews with the likes of Rick Baker, Clive Barker, Lupita Tovar, and the sons of Bela Lugosi, Dwight Frye, and John Balderston. It also features film historian and author David J. Skal, who wrote and directed this short. The only real complaint I have is that it doesn't cover the sequels to Dracula or any of the other versions, like Hammer's enjoyable series of Dracula films. But the focus is on Universal's Dracula film and the history of the character leading up to that, which is fine. It's a fun featurette with lots of information and history, especially for those new to Dracula or the Universal horror films.