I finally saw this movie yesterday for the first time ever and i can honestly say that i was really disappointed in it! I'm a huge fan of the novel and have seen countless other versions of the film but never this one which many people define as the ultimate "classic". But honestly, i don't see any of it's merits.
For starters the film is so far removed from the original novel it is unrecognisable. Shouldn't be too much of a problem then, as long as the film is entertaining- but i found it to be one of the most boring, laborious and monotonous films i've ever had to sit through. There is no artistry involved whatsoever. The editing is a mess- scenes go on far too long with nothing happening and if it's not that then they are inter cut sloppily with hasty edits of close-ups. Gather the fact that the DVD i had was one with no music recorded and i really couldn't stay awake for it- it's just all over the place. I changed the audio to a new soundtrack by Phillip Glass which made it slightly more watchable but still, the film is just a grand mess of murder mystery and lame if not no attempts at horror and zero suspense. When something interesting starts to happen, the scene fades quickly away to another- it's as if nobody had a clue on how to make a movie at all!
Next, Bela Lugosi- the only other reason to be watching this movie as i wanted to see what all the fuss was about. So he "defined" cinema's Dracula? Apart from the accent, i think his performance was terrible. Unnecessary close-ups of eyes don't do anything, and when he's getting ready to do something his expression is that of a little kid just having tasted something he didn't like- as well as being akin to sitting on the toilet. It just looks really bad. And this is supposed to be the best version of Dracula there is? I just didn't see it. The world famous image of Drac in tuxedo and cape is legendary, but i still think that was a pretty awful decision to make considering there is nothing Transylvanian or marginally scary about him other than the accent. He just looks like a cliche magician minus wand, top hat, and white bunny.
I know it was the 1930s and times were different then, people had never seen anything like it, right? But i still can't see where all the popularity comes from when it is just a man in a suit- nothing horrific about that at all when you compare it to Nosferatu, a truly horrific creature. Considering we also had King Kong just a few years later- an absolute masterpiece of cinema, effects and horror, this movie is, i feel, unworthy compared to the lashings of praise people give it. I just didn't see anything good about it whatsoever.
I know this movie was based on the popular stage production at the time (which was in vein of murder/mystery, which is why Universal went with the same thing for the movie version)but it could have been a lot better, and i just can't help but feel that it is getting just too much praise than it deserves. Nosferatu is far better as the true definite original Dracula film than this mess.
Saying that, i also managed to catch a glimpse of the Spanish version of this production- and i can say that it looked 10 times better than Universal's- more stylish, more horror and actually directed well, rather than just putting a camera there and leaving it on.
Being a huge fan of Dracula and the novel i had very high expectations of this, as i rightly should have. But i was really gutted watching it, it fell flat on it's face and i could not believe how bad it was- i did not want to believe that this "classic" was not as great as people said it was but i thought it was truly awful. I really wanted to appreciate this film as a legendary classic but this movie isn't. I don't know what people see in it to give it that high status- i don't think Bela Lugosi can make the film all it is. Sure the image is classic, but everything else fails. If i had to recommend a good classic Dracula movie i would say Nosferatu, if not the Spanish version of this film.
All in all, i was very disappointed with this film, i had expected great things and i was gutted that i didn't see it as this legendary classic everyone else sees it as.
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