Your favorite Dracula ?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Richard--W, Aug 7, 2019.

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  1. unclefred

    unclefred Coastie with the Moastie

    Location:
    Oregon Coast
    Christopher Lee is tops for me. Kinski was also outstanding.
     
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  2. Bluesman Mark

    Bluesman Mark I'm supposed to put something witty here....

    Location:
    Iowa
    I voted for Lee & Palance. Though Horror Of Dracula, (just plain Dracula everywhere but the US), was of course Lee's 1st time in the role, & he was excellent, as far as acting goes, I think he did a bit better in Dracula, Prince Of Darkness & Taste The Blood Of Dracula, even if the films weren't quite the measure of Horror, though Prince with Fisher returning to direct certainly comes very close.

    Palance was simply superb in the 1973 telefilm version. Filmed on location in Yugoslavia & England it often belies it's humble TV origins & because of Jack in the titular role is often filled with some nice tension.

    Schreck & Kinski in the two versions of Nosferatu would be my runners up. Lugosi is great in the role, but the rest of the film around him is a disaster, as for some reason Tod Browning basically filmed it as the stage play, with a snail's pace, & drained all the life out of it, (no pun intended). The Spanish language version, filmed on the same sets at night is a far richer & more sensual take on it, but Carlos Villarias as the Count is a mistake in the role, mugging & hamming too much. The rest of the cast is superior to the English language one, with the exception of Renfield. Both Dwight Frye & Pablo Alvarez Rubio are equally good in the role. The fact that the Spanish version has a runtime of 104 minutes compared to the Lugosi version running a mere 85 minutes works in the favor of the Spanish version as the tale is better told, while even though it's longer, moving faster than the glacial pace of the English version.

    Carradine was excellent in the two House films, but was hampered by the fact that they were "monster rally" sequels to sequels to sequels..... Chaney Jr was miscast in Son, but since Robert Siodmak structured & filmed it as much like a film noir as a horror film, his everyman persona being played for a chump by Louise Allbritton's femme fatale works in context. Jourdan was good, if not quite great in the BBC production, though it's the most faithful cinematic telling of the story. Nice mention of Francis Lederer in The Return Of Dracula. He underplays the role well in an interesting, if flawed Hitchcockian update of the story, exuding an excellent air of arrogant menace throughout.
     
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  3. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham
    Agree!
     
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  4. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Christopher Lee. I love everything about the 50s Hammer Horror films.

    My 2nd vote went to Lugosi for establishing what we picture Dracula to be like.
     
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  5. dlemaudit

    dlemaudit Forum Resident

    Location:
    France, Paris area
    Still have nightmares about Max Schreck as Nosferatu , the most frightening , just plain bizarre .
    Christopher Lee and Bela runners up
    all fantastic
     
  6. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident Thread Starter



    Darn, how could I forget to include the Mel Brooks version in the poll?
    I really enjoyed this spoof. It's smart, clever and respectful, but also
    very funny. Of all the spoofs Dracula Dead and Loving It (1995)
    is the only one I enjoy, except for A & C Meet Frankenstein (1949)
    which is a bone-fide classic. It had the advantage of Bela Lugosi who
    should have been nominated for an Oscar for his perfect comic timing
    and measured flamboyance.

    Making fun of the character started at the very beginning. Please don't
    pile up the ridicule in this thread.
    Let's talk about the movies.
     
  7. Avenging Robot

    Avenging Robot Senior Member

    Did not expect a tie between Bela and Christopher Lee. I voted Max Schreck myself. I was expecting Bela to be wiping the floor with the competition.
     
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  8. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Excellent post.

    I thought about including Carlos Villarias in the poll but decided against it
    because I didn't think anyone would vote for him. Everyone pretty much
    agrees that Lugosi blasts him off the screen. The Spanish Version is such
    a good film, however. It improves on the Browning with more dramatic
    deliberation and imaginative visual flourishes. I wish Lugosi had starred
    in both versions.
     
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  9. bostonscoots

    bostonscoots Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Props to Bela Lugosi for essentially creating the role of Dracula, but I grew up loving Christopher Lee's take on the Count. Unlike Lugosi and many others, Lee's Dracula didn't seem to wrestle with much remorse over being a vampire - he always looked like he really enjoyed drinking blood from the bare necks of busty village girls. Lee's Dracula movies would become increasingly outlandish, turning him into a caped super villain but Lee was never less than captivating onscreen.

    ...and I agree with the earlier assessment of Tod Browning's Dracula as a flat, mostly inert film. An exercise in style if not substance, Dracula is rescued by Lugosi's performance, inspired art direction, and some truly haunting images (Renfield staring up into the light from the hold of the Demeter, for example).

    So yeah, I gotta go with Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee...with props to Gary Oldman and Max Schreck for making it work without a cape...
     
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  10. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Remorse in Lugosi? are you sure?
     
  11. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident Thread Starter

    This double-feature matinee started in 1964. The admat appeared
    in the papers every Halloween season for a number of years before
    my parents allowed me to see it. Then I saw it many times in the
    late 1960s to mid-1970s. The films were already a decade old by
    the time I saw them, but they were always new to me.

    [​IMG]

    Brilliant films that hold up 100% today.
     
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  12. bostonscoots

    bostonscoots Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Yeah...when Lugosi says "To be dead...really dead. That must be glorious!" I think there's some remorse in that, sure.
     
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  13. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Even the critics in 1958 recognized that Horror of Dracula was
    ushering in a new modern approach to the horror film:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2019
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  14. Django

    Django Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    Christopher Lee.
     
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  15. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    Murnau's Nosferatu just TOWERS over all the pale and frigid remakes. The only frightening Dracula film ever made.
     
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  16. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    Bela first then Jack Palance
     
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  17. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Perhaps there is, but he's not playing on remorse. He's playing more
    on perversity. To me he sounds as if he's embracing the perverse as
    he says that. He plays on relishing the taking, or the kill as it were.
     
  18. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    Horror Of Dracula, closely followed by KKinski's Nosferatu.
     
  19. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    Max you can imagine the blood stains on his lip! LOL...the dude is serious!
     
  20. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    he was a fun take...funny guy!
     
  21. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    yes, all those cool Universal monsters back then were quite scary to a youngster! I still love them all...
     
  22. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    YUM! loved that cereal when I was a kid...
     
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  23. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    Interesting so many ppl love his Dracula...I never was able to enjoy him...why? I don't know...EVEN my Mother loved him! LOL.
     
  24. Partyslammer

    Partyslammer Lord Of The New Church

    Whenever I watch the Copola/Oldman version, I do the old "What If?" imaging what if Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were cast in the roles at their peak ages instead of Oldman and Hopkins.
     
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  25. Brian Mc

    Brian Mc Member

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Bela Lugosi, followed by Christopher Lee

    [​IMG]
     
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