1
00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,960
Speaker 1: Hey, you welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. My name

2
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:09,600
Speaker 1: is Rob Lamb. Things are a little bit out of

3
00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,959
Speaker 1: order this week, but it'll be back to order next week.

4
00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:15,600
Speaker 1: This is going to be our look at nineteen thirty

5
00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:20,200
Speaker 1: one's Dracula. Yes, be Dracula, Todd Browning, Bela Lagosi. This

6
00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,880
Speaker 1: episode originally published one, twenty twenty five. Let's jump right in.

7
00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,680
Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

8
00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,400
Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob.

9
00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,080
Speaker 3: Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And today on Weird House,

10
00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,200
Speaker 3: we're tackling a classic. We're going to be talking about

11
00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:53,920
Speaker 3: the nineteen thirty one Universal Pictures adaptation of Dracula, directed

12
00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:59,160
Speaker 3: by Todd Browning, starring Bela Lagosi. Now, Rob, this was

13
00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:01,959
Speaker 3: your pick for this week. I had always assumed if

14
00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,200
Speaker 3: we talked about Dracula, it would happen in October. But

15
00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,440
Speaker 3: I'm not complaining. Happy to talk about Dracula in January

16
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,760
Speaker 3: or whatever month it still is. Yeah, it's we're still January.

17
00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,160
Speaker 3: So what's going on? How'd you get to Dracula?

18
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:16,959
Speaker 1: Well, this is how it went down. So, yeah, this

19
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,679
Speaker 1: is a film I had actually never seen before. You know,

20
00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,839
Speaker 1: sometimes a film I think is so iconic, so genre defining,

21
00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,800
Speaker 1: so all present in popular culture that it kind of

22
00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:29,880
Speaker 1: fades into a personal obscurity. You know, you haven't seen it,

23
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:32,280
Speaker 1: but you kind of feel like you've seen it, or

24
00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:34,800
Speaker 1: you know you're just overly familiar with its themes. It's

25
00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,280
Speaker 1: cast its place in film history, and therefore, when it

26
00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:39,640
Speaker 1: comes time to watch something, you're like, well, I just

27
00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:41,840
Speaker 1: want to watch something fresh, or you want to watch

28
00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,960
Speaker 1: something you really do know, and films like this can

29
00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:46,200
Speaker 1: kind of fall through the cracks.

30
00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's sort of interesting. I might talk more about

31
00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,720
Speaker 3: this later. But something I find interesting about this Dracula

32
00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,360
Speaker 3: is I've probably seen it at least five or six times,

33
00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:59,800
Speaker 3: but I still forget things about it. And the reason

34
00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:03,800
Speaker 3: is that there are so many different adaptations of Dracula.

35
00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,560
Speaker 3: It becomes hard to keep straight which elements are from

36
00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:09,600
Speaker 3: which version true?

37
00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:15,000
Speaker 1: True? Yeah, what deviations are made, what is intensified and

38
00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:17,200
Speaker 1: what is condensed and so forth.

39
00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:18,400
Speaker 3: Yeah.

40
00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:22,160
Speaker 1: So yeah, I had this realization over the weekend. So

41
00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,359
Speaker 1: my kid has really gotten into dungeons and dragons and

42
00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:28,519
Speaker 1: has set their sight so not only dming a campaign

43
00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,359
Speaker 1: for Friends, but dming Curse of strawed. For those of

44
00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,120
Speaker 1: you who are unfamiliar, The Dark Lord stra of aon

45
00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,919
Speaker 1: Zardovich is D and d's take on Dracula, essentially a

46
00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,799
Speaker 1: dracula esque vampire lord character, created in the late nineteen

47
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,320
Speaker 1: seventies by Tracy and Laura Hickman and based in part

48
00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,080
Speaker 1: on Bela Lugosi's iconic portrayal in nineteen thirty one's Dracula.

49
00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,040
Speaker 3: I have no familiarity at all. Basically, all I know

50
00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:58,160
Speaker 3: is that vampires are a big deal in D and D.

51
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,959
Speaker 3: You can confirm this that they're not like your standard

52
00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,200
Speaker 3: you know, you're just staking them left and right kind

53
00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:05,560
Speaker 3: of enemies that you might expect from some like horror

54
00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,720
Speaker 3: video games or whatever. Like if you meet a vampire

55
00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:10,760
Speaker 3: in D and D, this is like one of the

56
00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:15,320
Speaker 3: most devastating and dangerous enemies you could possibly face.

57
00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,079
Speaker 1: Absolutely, especially like a true vampire as opposed to just

58
00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:21,880
Speaker 1: a vampire spawn. But ah, okay, yeah, any rate, I

59
00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:24,640
Speaker 1: told you know, I'm supportive. I'm a supportive dad, So

60
00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:28,280
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, that sounds good. But one doesn't simply

61
00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:32,120
Speaker 1: run Curse of straw without seeing at least one Dracula movie,

62
00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,840
Speaker 1: and I think the most they'd seen was Bart Simpson's

63
00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:36,440
Speaker 1: Dracula on Treehouse of Horror.

64
00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,800
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, which is a take on a lot of

65
00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:42,560
Speaker 3: the jokes on that are tied into the Francis Ford

66
00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:44,240
Speaker 3: Coppola adaptation from the nineties.

67
00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,600
Speaker 1: Absolutely, yes, yeah, And so you know, I was looking

68
00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:49,720
Speaker 1: at my options, and I was considering the Copola one

69
00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,520
Speaker 1: as well, because I'm like, all right, my wife's going

70
00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:53,760
Speaker 1: to be out of town. It's just the two of us.

71
00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,600
Speaker 1: We've got to watch a Dracula film. And then I

72
00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:58,440
Speaker 1: started really thinking about It's like, you know, I haven't

73
00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,800
Speaker 1: actually seen the nineteen thirty one Assic in full. You know,

74
00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,200
Speaker 1: I've seen so many Dracula films over the years, and

75
00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:08,800
Speaker 1: this one has just fallen through the cracks. So given

76
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:12,560
Speaker 1: that they enjoyed Son of Frankenstein back in October, I

77
00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,840
Speaker 1: was like, well, it makes sense to watch another black

78
00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,440
Speaker 1: and white horror classic. It's maybe not too scary. I mean,

79
00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:21,920
Speaker 1: they can handle stranger things and aliens at this point,

80
00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:23,919
Speaker 1: so I'm not too worried about that. But you know,

81
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:29,159
Speaker 1: some of these Dracula movies hit pretty hard. So yeah,

82
00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:31,599
Speaker 1: we watched Dracula. For my own part, I feel like

83
00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:37,279
Speaker 1: absolutely holds up stunning, atmospherically, creepy, absolutely rooted in Lugosi's

84
00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:41,080
Speaker 1: mesmerizing performance, and it's pretty weird in its own right too.

85
00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:43,680
Speaker 1: I'm also happy to report that my kid also really

86
00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:47,320
Speaker 1: enjoyed the film, resulting in many a oh my whenever

87
00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:52,000
Speaker 1: Dracula or Renfield made crazy or intense eyes. They told

88
00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,680
Speaker 1: me after we were viewing that they half expected Dracula

89
00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:56,560
Speaker 1: to creep out of the shadows in the house.

90
00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,840
Speaker 3: Well, I think that's what you want. I okay, let's see.

91
00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:04,279
Speaker 3: I'm trying to search my feelings and know and find

92
00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:06,400
Speaker 3: what I know to be true. Have I ever really

93
00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,880
Speaker 3: been scared by the Universal Dracula.

94
00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:10,479
Speaker 4: No.

95
00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,080
Speaker 3: I think maybe I'm just too hardened by horror movies

96
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,600
Speaker 3: that would come later. But I do love it, and

97
00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:19,920
Speaker 3: I appreciate the craft of the horror in it, and

98
00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,400
Speaker 3: I feel like I can see how it would be

99
00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,360
Speaker 3: scary if I hadn't been so desensitized by all of

100
00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,480
Speaker 3: the edgier horror movies that would come later.

101
00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, to be clear, they're fine, they're almost thirteen. They

102
00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,560
Speaker 1: were able to handle it, but I was. It did

103
00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:37,520
Speaker 1: bring me much joy that they enjoyed it as much

104
00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,080
Speaker 1: as they did, and they weren't bored with it or anything.

105
00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,000
Speaker 1: And yeah, I don't think there's really a boring moment

106
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,240
Speaker 1: in this one. It flies right along, sometimes literally on

107
00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:48,919
Speaker 1: the wings of a bat. So I don't really have

108
00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,520
Speaker 1: an elevator picture this one, Joe, other than it's Dracula.

109
00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:54,800
Speaker 1: This is the big one. This is a titan of

110
00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:00,000
Speaker 1: not only cinema enlarge, but also horror cinema specifically.

111
00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,200
Speaker 3: Dracula comes to the talkies fully licensed.

112
00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,520
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. Let's see if we're able to.

113
00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:08,400
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and listen to just a little bit

114
00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:09,680
Speaker 1: of the trailer audio here.

115
00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:19,159
Speaker 3: I am Dracula.

116
00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:27,440
Speaker 4: Dracula. The very mention of the name brings to mind

117
00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:32,640
Speaker 4: things so evil, so fantastic, so degrading. You wonder if

118
00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:47,599
Speaker 4: it isn't all a dream, a nightmare millions the original

119
00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,360
Speaker 4: terrifying story of a maniac and a man who lived

120
00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:55,640
Speaker 4: after death, lived on human blood, took the form of

121
00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,240
Speaker 4: a vampire bat, and lured innocent girls to a fate

122
00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:01,480
Speaker 4: truly worse than death.

123
00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:25,960
Speaker 1: You done, he made me drink all right? Well, you

124
00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,000
Speaker 1: might be wondering, well, Where can I watch nineteen thirty

125
00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,600
Speaker 1: one's Dracula. Well, I watched it on the Universal Dracula

126
00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,640
Speaker 1: Complete Legacy Collection Blu ray set. I rented this from Videodrome.

127
00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:38,240
Speaker 1: I think you have the same addition, right, Joe.

128
00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,520
Speaker 3: Uh No, I've got a slightly different thing. I've got

129
00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:46,160
Speaker 3: the Universal Classic Monsters Essential Collection Blu ray set, which

130
00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,280
Speaker 3: I highly recommend. It's got a lot of great extra

131
00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:52,040
Speaker 3: I mean, all the films look beautiful. It's got a

132
00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,120
Speaker 3: ton of great extras, documentaries and commentary tracks and all

133
00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:57,760
Speaker 3: that comes with a nice little booklet. So yeah, I've

134
00:07:57,840 --> 00:07:59,360
Speaker 3: enjoyed this set for years.

135
00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:00,760
Speaker 1: All right, Right, I think we have some of the

136
00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:04,920
Speaker 1: same extras and special features that shared, so definitely, you know,

137
00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:07,040
Speaker 1: Universal Horror release.

138
00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,320
Speaker 3: Here might just be a partial repackaging kind of thing.

139
00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:11,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, because the extras on this day and there's

140
00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,520
Speaker 1: some great extras. They're a little bit older, but charming

141
00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,840
Speaker 1: in ways that sometimes things from nineteen ninety nine are not.

142
00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:22,880
Speaker 1: But there's a really good document short documentary called The

143
00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:26,760
Speaker 1: Road to Dracula, and it's hosted by Carla Limley who

144
00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,360
Speaker 1: lived nineteen oh nine through twenty fourteen. She was the

145
00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:33,920
Speaker 1: niece of Universal founder Carl Limley and cousin of producer

146
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:35,200
Speaker 1: Carl Limley Junior.

147
00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:36,480
Speaker 3: And she's in the movie.

148
00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,120
Speaker 1: She is she has the first line of dialogue.

149
00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's just riding in the carriage in the Borgo pass.

150
00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:46,280
Speaker 1: Yes. Yeah. So it's really fun, and you know, you

151
00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,319
Speaker 1: got some of the usual suspects of various film historians.

152
00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:51,800
Speaker 1: Some will refer to Joe Dante of course, shows up

153
00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:54,840
Speaker 1: to talk a little about horror films, and it's a

154
00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,560
Speaker 1: lot of fun. So these Blu rays are great. But

155
00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:01,080
Speaker 1: this is of course a very famous film. It's generally

156
00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,080
Speaker 1: available for digital purchase in rental, and it's one one

157
00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,240
Speaker 1: of those classics that you will also periodically get to

158
00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:09,839
Speaker 1: see on the big screen, which is a treat.

159
00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:13,640
Speaker 3: While we're on the subject of disc extras, I just

160
00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:15,680
Speaker 3: wanted to say a couple of times I've watched this

161
00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,400
Speaker 3: movie with a commentary track that's on the disc version

162
00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,720
Speaker 3: I have by the film and horror historian David J. Skall.

163
00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:25,760
Speaker 3: Some of the things, like probably a lot of the

164
00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,200
Speaker 3: behind the scenes things I know about the movie I

165
00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,240
Speaker 3: learned through Skall's commentary, So credit to him. That's a

166
00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:33,720
Speaker 3: source of a lot of my just general information.

167
00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:38,040
Speaker 1: Yes, Skall, who sadly passed away last year, is also

168
00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:41,000
Speaker 1: an important part of the documentary shorts on the disc,

169
00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:44,560
Speaker 1: and among his many books you'll find vas for Vampire

170
00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:47,240
Speaker 1: and a to Z Guide to Everything Undead that was

171
00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:50,280
Speaker 1: published in ninety six. I've already added a used copy

172
00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,360
Speaker 1: of that to my cart I think I need that

173
00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:53,040
Speaker 1: in my collection.

174
00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:57,560
Speaker 3: They're all undead, Okay, trying to think what the X is?

175
00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:02,199
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, this might be a pull. Yeah, all right,

176
00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:04,600
Speaker 1: well let's talk about the connections here the people behind

177
00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,720
Speaker 1: this film. I do have to note that, as usual,

178
00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,840
Speaker 1: we can't cover everyone and a film this big. I

179
00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,320
Speaker 1: feel like there's been so much written about it and

180
00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,360
Speaker 1: explored about the picture. Every little part has probably been

181
00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,600
Speaker 1: explored to some degree or another, and we just don't

182
00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,160
Speaker 1: have time for all of that. So my apologies to

183
00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:25,960
Speaker 1: anyone whose efforts and talent we left out here.

184
00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:30,520
Speaker 3: Yeah. Also worth noting that this film is incredibly huge

185
00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:32,559
Speaker 3: and important in Hollywood history, and we're not going to

186
00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:34,640
Speaker 3: be able to explore all of this. This is not

187
00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:39,079
Speaker 3: your complete history lesson on the universal monsters in Dracula.

188
00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,080
Speaker 3: We can't do that today. We're not really qualified for that,

189
00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:43,640
Speaker 3: but we're going to do what we can.

190
00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:47,120
Speaker 1: Absolutely all right. Starting at the top. The director is,

191
00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:50,360
Speaker 1: of course Todd Browning, who ofd eighteen eighty through nineteen

192
00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:54,160
Speaker 1: sixty two, American director who was quite successful during the

193
00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,480
Speaker 1: silent era and by some estimates less sure of himself

194
00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:01,559
Speaker 1: entering into the talky era. And that's something you'll pick

195
00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:03,840
Speaker 1: up on with this film and its frequent use of

196
00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:08,079
Speaker 1: silence and at times a kind of like stagy ritualistic

197
00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:12,160
Speaker 1: framing that feels very you know, in keeping with this

198
00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:18,160
Speaker 1: film's roots on the stage as a play, but also

199
00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:20,920
Speaker 1: fitting for the silent era as well.

200
00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:25,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess we can talk more later about the

201
00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:28,199
Speaker 3: different musical compositions that have been paired with the movie

202
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,880
Speaker 3: over the years, but one thing that will feel kind

203
00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:34,360
Speaker 3: of unusual about it to a lot of modern audiences

204
00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:36,760
Speaker 3: is the lack of music throughout the film. There are

205
00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:39,280
Speaker 3: a couple of scenes with music, you know, with the

206
00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:41,920
Speaker 3: credits and the old version you get the Swan Lake,

207
00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,000
Speaker 3: and there's a scene that takes place at a symphony

208
00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:48,240
Speaker 3: performance where there's music in the background. Because it's diegetic music,

209
00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,880
Speaker 3: it's supposed to be part of the narrative. But most

210
00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:53,040
Speaker 3: of the scenes it's just kind of silence and the

211
00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,720
Speaker 3: characters talking, and some of the most dramatic scenes in

212
00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,760
Speaker 3: the film, there's nothing at all to listen to. It's

213
00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,680
Speaker 3: just it's utterly silent. Well like you know, the vampire

214
00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:03,480
Speaker 3: creeps up.

215
00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you almost it's almost unheard off when

216
00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:09,440
Speaker 1: you compare it to modern films, like so many films

217
00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:14,520
Speaker 1: are just non stop blaring music and sound effects and explosions.

218
00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,679
Speaker 1: And it depends on the genre obviously, but yeah, it

219
00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:20,800
Speaker 1: can be almost shocking how silent this picture is. But

220
00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:24,960
Speaker 1: you're also you're not missing the cacophony either. It's also

221
00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,800
Speaker 1: worth noting that films of this era were also released

222
00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:32,800
Speaker 1: in silent film versions, in part for older theaters, but

223
00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:37,240
Speaker 1: also for international markets since dubbing subtitles were not really

224
00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,280
Speaker 1: all that establish yet. So you'll find versions of nineteen

225
00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,600
Speaker 1: thirty one's Dracula that have the full like silent film

226
00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:47,480
Speaker 1: dialogue set up, where you know, the inter titles. Yeah, yeah, oh,

227
00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:48,359
Speaker 1: I feel.

228
00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:49,960
Speaker 3: Like that would there would be so many there's a

229
00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:54,040
Speaker 3: lot of dialogue in this movie, because generally talkies had

230
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,760
Speaker 3: more dialogue in them than silent films. Did I feel

231
00:12:56,760 --> 00:12:58,920
Speaker 3: like that would extend the run time a lot, if

232
00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,160
Speaker 3: you had to have an intertie for every line.

233
00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:04,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, they must have. I haven't seen it in full myself.

234
00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:05,400
Speaker 1: I've just seen some clips. I'm not sure if a

235
00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:09,040
Speaker 1: full version exists, but yeah, they would have to cut

236
00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:09,880
Speaker 1: some stuff, right.

237
00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,920
Speaker 3: I would think so. Well, I don't know who knows.

238
00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,880
Speaker 3: I've never edited a talkie into a silent film, but yeah,

239
00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:19,000
Speaker 3: I would think it would. It would end up running

240
00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:20,960
Speaker 3: really long and they'd have to cut some stuff down.

241
00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:24,000
Speaker 1: They should do that. When the new Nosferatu film that

242
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,400
Speaker 1: came out, they need to do a silent film cut

243
00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:28,560
Speaker 1: of it. You know. People directors keep doing like black

244
00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:30,800
Speaker 1: and white cuts of films. It's like, that's great, but

245
00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:35,240
Speaker 1: let's see, let's see the silent Cut's see what that's like. Anyway,

246
00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:38,240
Speaker 1: back to Todd Browning. Browning wrote and directed his first

247
00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,959
Speaker 1: full length silent picture in nineteen seventeen, and found success

248
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,559
Speaker 1: with nineteen twenties The Virgin of Stambul. His first talkie

249
00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,080
Speaker 1: was nineteen twenty nine, It's the Thirteenth Chair. That was

250
00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:50,200
Speaker 1: a murder mystery that had Legosi in it. And so

251
00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:53,360
Speaker 1: we'll come back to and Dracula of course, followed shortly

252
00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:56,560
Speaker 1: after that. His other films include the notable lost film

253
00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,320
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty sevens London After Midnight, nineteen thirty two's Free Weeks,

254
00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:03,680
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five's Mark of the Vampire in nineteen thirty

255
00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:06,520
Speaker 1: six is The Devil Doll. His last film was nineteen

256
00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:09,760
Speaker 1: thirty nine's Miracles for Sale, and he retired in nineteen

257
00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,720
Speaker 1: forty two, with Hollywood trends and tastes drifting further away

258
00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:15,160
Speaker 1: from his sensibilities at the time.

259
00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:20,880
Speaker 3: When Browning was younger, he had some experience working with

260
00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:25,720
Speaker 3: circus performers, I believe, and this sort of came out

261
00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:30,320
Speaker 3: in an ongoing obsession that appears in many of his works.

262
00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:34,160
Speaker 3: Certainly there in nineteen thirty two's Freaks, which is a

263
00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:36,920
Speaker 3: ooh man. I haven't seen that movie in many years,

264
00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:39,800
Speaker 3: but I'd be very interested to see what modern critics

265
00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:44,440
Speaker 3: think about that as a retrospective. I mean, it's a

266
00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,000
Speaker 3: very surprising film for the nineteen thirties in many ways.

267
00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:51,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, this was his famous for the One of Us song, right, yeah, yeah,

268
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:54,120
Speaker 1: it's kind of a chant. I guess it's a.

269
00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:56,400
Speaker 3: Song Google gobble one of Us.

270
00:14:56,520 --> 00:15:00,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right. Dracula if you're not aware. Original

271
00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:04,200
Speaker 1: novel is by Brown Stoker, who lived eighteen forty seven

272
00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:08,240
Speaker 1: through nineteen twelve, Irish author and theater critic, whose eighteen

273
00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,000
Speaker 1: ninety seven novel was Seeming. You know that a lot

274
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,520
Speaker 1: has been written and discussed about where this novel arises,

275
00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:19,440
Speaker 1: you know, in brown Stoker's life and mindset, but seems

276
00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,120
Speaker 1: to have spun out of various accounts and experiences of

277
00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:26,040
Speaker 1: disease in the world around him. And perhaps you know

278
00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:28,320
Speaker 1: he was sick as a child. That sort of thing

279
00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:33,640
Speaker 1: also folklore of Ireland as well as mainland Europe. And

280
00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,440
Speaker 1: of course it's also worth noting that in the book

281
00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,120
Speaker 1: there's a lot of use of phonographs. It's often crazy

282
00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:44,840
Speaker 1: to realize how thoroughly modern the novel was at its release.

283
00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,160
Speaker 1: If he had written it today, Mino would have been

284
00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:48,120
Speaker 1: on TikTok i fee.

285
00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:48,400
Speaker 3: Yeah.

286
00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:48,720
Speaker 1: Yeah.

287
00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:53,280
Speaker 3: Wasn't doctor Seward in the book doing like phonograph diaries

288
00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:54,840
Speaker 3: or something? He was? Yes.

289
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:59,680
Speaker 1: Another detail that we often overlook I was reading about

290
00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,920
Speaker 1: this is that the novel was only a moderate success

291
00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,000
Speaker 1: at the time, and Merritt's only brief mention in Stoker's

292
00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:11,840
Speaker 1: nineteen twelve obituary. It wasn't until the copyright battle over

293
00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:17,000
Speaker 1: a little nineteen twenty two film titled Nosferatu stirred everything out.

294
00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:22,080
Speaker 1: That's when Stoker's widow, Florence Balcombe, gave approval to Hamilton

295
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:26,720
Speaker 1: Dean for this stage adaptation of Dracula, And of course

296
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:28,920
Speaker 1: from that we get this film eventually, and all of

297
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,840
Speaker 1: this blossoms. Dracula's cinematic legacy in the novel truly becomes

298
00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:34,840
Speaker 1: a popular classic.

299
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:39,080
Speaker 3: Now, wait a minute, did bram Stoker not himself adapt

300
00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:41,520
Speaker 3: the novel to the stage. I thought there was at

301
00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,080
Speaker 3: least one play version that he wrote, but I could

302
00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:47,160
Speaker 3: be wrong. Well, folks, neither of us knew the answer

303
00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:49,600
Speaker 3: for sure, so I just looked it up to find out. Yes,

304
00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:53,840
Speaker 3: bram Stoker did create at least one version of the

305
00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:58,040
Speaker 3: novel for the stage that apparently debuted before the novel

306
00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,600
Speaker 3: was even released, or at least the same year. So

307
00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:04,040
Speaker 3: he wrote the novel then made a stage adaptation, which

308
00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:08,840
Speaker 3: debuted under the title Dracula or the Undead, and that

309
00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:13,760
Speaker 3: was performed in May eighteen ninety seven, the same month

310
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:17,879
Speaker 3: that the novel was released. And according to an article

311
00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:20,520
Speaker 3: that I just dug up about this. Apparently only two

312
00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:23,320
Speaker 3: people came and showed up in the audience to watch it.

313
00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:28,119
Speaker 1: Oh wow. So yeah, it can be a little surprising

314
00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:34,720
Speaker 1: to realize that the popularity of the novel really rises

315
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,720
Speaker 1: alongside it sent the book cinematic history. And I think

316
00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:42,320
Speaker 1: part of the sort of confusion that can occur, in

317
00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:44,560
Speaker 1: my opinion anyway, is the fact that we often love

318
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:48,439
Speaker 1: Dracula and Frankenstein together. But Mary Shelley's book was published

319
00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,160
Speaker 1: in eighteen eighteen. That's seventy nine years earlier.

320
00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:56,239
Speaker 3: Yeah. So another weird thing to think about is that

321
00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:59,320
Speaker 3: when this movie was made, the movie we're talking about today,

322
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:03,480
Speaker 3: the Universe versa Dracula, the novel was only like thirty

323
00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:07,119
Speaker 3: three or thirty four years old. Wow, Dracula feels like

324
00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:10,480
Speaker 3: an ancient story to us. But it is the equivalent

325
00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:14,000
Speaker 3: of making a movie today based on a novel that

326
00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:18,560
Speaker 3: was originally published like in the early nineties. I looked up, like,

327
00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:21,679
Speaker 3: what were the big novels on the bestseller lists in

328
00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,560
Speaker 3: like nineteen ninety one, So it would be like today

329
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,600
Speaker 3: making an adaptation of the Sum of All Fears by

330
00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:31,040
Speaker 3: Tom Clancy, which that really puts it in a different

331
00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:31,960
Speaker 3: perspective for me.

332
00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:37,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that man, that's mind blowing for sure. All right,

333
00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:41,000
Speaker 1: now getting into the various adaptations here, So yes, we

334
00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:46,800
Speaker 1: have the authorized initial stage adaptation of Dracula by Hamilton Dean,

335
00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:50,080
Speaker 1: who lived eighteen seventy nine through nineteen fifty eight. He

336
00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,840
Speaker 1: was a family friend. He was brom Stoker's widow's choice

337
00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:57,920
Speaker 1: to make the official stage adaptation. Dean himself initially played

338
00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:02,080
Speaker 1: Van Helsing and in nineteen twenty four play here became popular,

339
00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:05,040
Speaker 1: but some revisions proved necessary before it could really make

340
00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,240
Speaker 1: that move to Broadway in nineteen twenty seven. That's also

341
00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:11,040
Speaker 1: when Bella Lagosi comes on board to play the Count.

342
00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,760
Speaker 3: It's funny that there are so many different versions of

343
00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:17,800
Speaker 3: Dracula before it even makes it to the movie that

344
00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,639
Speaker 3: made it so famous, you know. So like you've got

345
00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:25,680
Speaker 3: the original novel, you've got bram Stoker's stage adaptation, You've

346
00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,800
Speaker 3: got multiple different other play versions of the play. You

347
00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,119
Speaker 3: got the Hamilton Dean play. You've got at least a

348
00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:33,680
Speaker 3: couple of versions you said that went through revisions going

349
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:37,560
Speaker 3: on to Broadway. And then also you've got No Speratu,

350
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:42,400
Speaker 3: the the FW Murnau movie, which we said, as we said,

351
00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,560
Speaker 3: is an unofficial adaptation of the story making some changes.

352
00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 3: So it's like this novel that is not even thirty

353
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:51,679
Speaker 3: years old is getting all of these different rewrites in

354
00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:56,080
Speaker 3: different versions before it even reaches its best known form.

355
00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:59,679
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, Nosfaratu was not even the first adaptation.

356
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,120
Speaker 1: There was a nineteen twenty one film called Dracula's Death.

357
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,359
Speaker 1: It was a Hungarian silent film that apparently had very

358
00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:07,240
Speaker 1: little to do with the actual plot of Dracula, but

359
00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:08,439
Speaker 1: still there it was.

360
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,280
Speaker 3: But surely once we get the play version on Broadway

361
00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,080
Speaker 3: starring Bella Lagosi, then that's exactly what we get in

362
00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:15,760
Speaker 3: the film.

363
00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:20,520
Speaker 1: Right, No, no, not no, probably not so the Broadway

364
00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:23,280
Speaker 1: revision though. That's where John L. Balderston comes in, who

365
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:26,680
Speaker 1: lived eighteen eighty nine through nineteen fifty four, playwright and screenwriter,

366
00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:29,560
Speaker 1: and he'd later work on the screenplays for Frankenstein and

367
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,600
Speaker 1: also in thirty one, thirty two Is the Mummy, thirty

368
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:36,560
Speaker 1: Five's Bride of Frankenstein, Mad Love, Dracula's Daughter, Gaslight and many.

369
00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,480
Speaker 3: Others wrote a lot of my favorites of the era.

370
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:44,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, and as we've alluded to this already, and we'll

371
00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:48,840
Speaker 1: keep mentioning this. The play is already a notable condensing

372
00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 1: of Dracula, which if you've ever read it, you already

373
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:54,159
Speaker 1: know that. You know, it's only like four hundred and

374
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,400
Speaker 1: something pages long. It's not a sprawling book in terms

375
00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:00,000
Speaker 1: of length, but it can kind of feel sprawling at times,

376
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:05,040
Speaker 1: just the way that's it's written. Composed of these overlapping correspondences,

377
00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:10,679
Speaker 1: diary entries and phonograph recordings. The beginning of the novel

378
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,879
Speaker 1: is arguably a lot more exciting than some of the

379
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,520
Speaker 1: latter stretches and so forth. And we should also note

380
00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,080
Speaker 1: the other like major influential change that is made in

381
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,760
Speaker 1: the stage adaptation of Dracula. Here is our changes to

382
00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:28,359
Speaker 1: what Dracula is. The way Dracula is presented as a

383
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:29,560
Speaker 1: creature and a character.

384
00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:32,800
Speaker 3: Yeah that's right. I mean, Dracula is the bad guy

385
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,480
Speaker 3: of the movie, but he is much more of the

386
00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:40,520
Speaker 3: Bella Legosi. Dracula is much more charming and interesting than

387
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:45,640
Speaker 3: the Dracula of the novel, who is a filthy, repulsive demon.

388
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:49,560
Speaker 3: Just you know, there's not the Dracula in the book

389
00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:51,240
Speaker 3: is just not lovable.

390
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,719
Speaker 1: He's a creature of dust. He's more in line with this,

391
00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,639
Speaker 1: he's an grotesque, undead warrior king. And here this is

392
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,080
Speaker 1: the kind of Dracula that can stand shoulder to shoulder

393
00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 1: with London's elite later on and is greeted as an

394
00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:13,520
Speaker 1: equal and is charming and erotic in ways that the

395
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:18,919
Speaker 1: original Dracula in the script in the novel is not. Yeah,

396
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,440
Speaker 1: all right. Garrett Fort has the screenplay credit who lived

397
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,800
Speaker 1: nineteen hundred and nineteen forty five, American screenwriter, playwright, and author.

398
00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:30,320
Speaker 1: His credits include Frankenstein, Dracula's Daughter, the Devil Doll. Both

399
00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:32,560
Speaker 1: of those Dracula's Daughter and Devil Doll were thirty six

400
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,520
Speaker 1: and nineteen forties, The Mark of Zaro, just to name

401
00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:35,920
Speaker 1: a few.

402
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,160
Speaker 3: Okay, well we got to talk about Bayla now.

403
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 1: Yes, bail Legosi plays Count Dracula, of course, who lived

404
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:54,119
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two through nineteen fifty six. So we've discussed

405
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:58,600
Speaker 1: some films with iconic, even career defining performances here on

406
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,120
Speaker 1: Weird House before, but the case of Bella Legosi and Dracula,

407
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,240
Speaker 1: I feel like this is on an entirely different level,

408
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,960
Speaker 1: like even compared to things like Carlofs Frankenstein. It's because

409
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,680
Speaker 1: it's not only career defining its genre defining. He not

410
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,800
Speaker 1: only becomes Dracula in this picture, but defines what Dracula

411
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:21,320
Speaker 1: is for the next one hundred years and beyond anyone else.

412
00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:24,719
Speaker 1: Playing Dracula in the shadow of this film has no

413
00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:29,960
Speaker 1: choice but to either embrace Legosi's performance or to play

414
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,000
Speaker 1: against it, which is what you often see, but you

415
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:37,439
Speaker 1: absolutely cannot ignore it like this really sets the tone

416
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,840
Speaker 1: and sets the course for not only Dracula films, not

417
00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 1: only vampire films, but horror cinema in large.

418
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:48,280
Speaker 3: He brings a lot to the role that I think

419
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:52,080
Speaker 3: you wouldn't necessarily get about the character on the page.

420
00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,639
Speaker 3: I don't know if Bela Legosi is the sexiest Dracula

421
00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 3: there has ever been, but he does bring a kind

422
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,760
Speaker 3: of interesting suaveness and attractiveness to the role. He brings

423
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,240
Speaker 3: a smile and a sense of humor to the character

424
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,400
Speaker 3: that I think was not really there previously, was certainly

425
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,879
Speaker 3: not there in the previous film adaptations. In like in

426
00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:18,000
Speaker 3: nos Feratu, you know Max Shrek no attacking Max Shrek's

427
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,320
Speaker 3: performances count orlock there, but that's a totally different take

428
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,199
Speaker 3: on the character. Does not have the kind of charm

429
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,480
Speaker 3: and sense of humor that Belle Lagosi brings to this

430
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,720
Speaker 3: role that actually makes it much more sinister in those

431
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,119
Speaker 3: rare moments where in this movie you get flashes of

432
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,120
Speaker 3: anger and malice from Dracula, like in the moment where

433
00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:40,679
Speaker 3: he slaps down the after they pulled the trick on

434
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 3: him by opening the cigarette box and shining the mirror

435
00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:46,320
Speaker 3: in his face, smacks it away, and you see him,

436
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:48,880
Speaker 3: you know, scowling at Van Helsing and the other men,

437
00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:52,679
Speaker 3: and that moment is quite shocking. And it's because of

438
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:57,440
Speaker 3: the you know, the calmness and the coolness that Legosi

439
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 3: brings to this character. He's kind of like it's he's

440
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 3: in on a joke that only he gets, and the

441
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:06,359
Speaker 3: joke is that you will serve him.

442
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, the sexiness of Dracula. It brings me back to

443
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:11,600
Speaker 1: what I said earlier about the about being you can

444
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,840
Speaker 1: be overly familiar with this picture and you can also

445
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,320
Speaker 1: just be more accustomed to stills from it, and maybe

446
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 1: even stills of an older Legosi playing Count Dracula dressing

447
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,200
Speaker 1: up as Count Dracula. But I feel like you really

448
00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 1: have to see the full performance. You have to see

449
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:30,600
Speaker 1: him in motion. You have to hear him make every

450
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:34,960
Speaker 1: little enunciation to the Dracula dialogue, and it all adds

451
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,960
Speaker 1: up to what, especially for the time period, is like

452
00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 1: a very erotically charged performance. Like there is a hypnotic

453
00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:46,720
Speaker 1: charisma to him, and there is I think a strong

454
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,840
Speaker 1: like pan sexual eroticism to him as he you know,

455
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 1: because he doesn't see gender or anything. He sees blood.

456
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,439
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter if you're a if you're a male, female

457
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,439
Speaker 1: or what have you. Dracula is going to come for you.

458
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,399
Speaker 3: There Dracula's embrace. Yeah, I would say that that is

459
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:06,440
Speaker 3: implicit in the film. It's not explicit like it is

460
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 3: in a lot of the later Dracula adaptations which make

461
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 3: him overtly sexual and stuff. But it's a strong subtext here.

462
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:18,159
Speaker 3: And to emphasize again what we said earlier that like

463
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,159
Speaker 3: whatever sexual themes about Dracula are there in the novel

464
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,720
Speaker 3: or whatever, I do not think there's really much about

465
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:29,320
Speaker 3: him being potentially like alluring in any way. I mean, dude,

466
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,360
Speaker 3: whatever's there is just purely predatory.

467
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:36,440
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, again nineteen twenty two, nos Faratu not really sexy.

468
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:40,480
Speaker 1: And as we were discussing off Mic earlier twenty twenty four,

469
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: nos Faratu maybe perhaps sexy. I haven't seen it yet,

470
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:48,160
Speaker 1: but if that Nosparatu is sexy, it's because that Nosparatu

471
00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 1: stands in the long shadow of Bella Lugosi's Dracula, because.

472
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:56,160
Speaker 3: That one is remixing different themes that have come through

473
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,520
Speaker 3: in all the different interpretations of Dracula over the years. Yes,

474
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,520
Speaker 3: I would argue that the new Robert Eggers knows Ferrautu,

475
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:06,320
Speaker 3: which I have seen and I greatly enjoyed. In fact,

476
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:07,919
Speaker 3: I was talking about this with Rachel and we were

477
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 3: trying to say, like, is Dracula sexy in that? I

478
00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 3: think the goal, actually, the specific thing they were trying

479
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:19,080
Speaker 3: to accomplish was to go for maximally disgusting and revolting

480
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 3: and sexy at the same time. It is kind of

481
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,439
Speaker 3: an oxymoron. They were trying to accomplish something that should

482
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:30,399
Speaker 3: be impossible to do. Is like polar opposite kind of

483
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 3: qualities to the character. But I think they did a

484
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:33,960
Speaker 3: pretty good job.

485
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, I look forward to seeing it at some

486
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:36,800
Speaker 1: point here.

487
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,400
Speaker 3: And if you look up fan reception on the internet,

488
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:41,920
Speaker 3: definitely there are a lot of people who find this

489
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:48,760
Speaker 3: this rotting, decomposing plague corpse somewhat somewhat exciting for some reason, right,

490
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:49,919
Speaker 3: I'm not knocking to you know.

491
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:55,120
Speaker 1: Well, back to Legosi again, an immortal performance, no two

492
00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:57,440
Speaker 1: ways about it. Now. We've talked about Lagosi twice on

493
00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,960
Speaker 1: the show before, in our episodes on The Devil Bat

494
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 1: and Son of Frankenstein. He's wonderful and Son of Frankenstein,

495
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 1: and even in Devil of Bat, as with many of

496
00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:08,520
Speaker 1: his other, like later lesser roles, he still finds a

497
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,199
Speaker 1: way to shine through it all. But here he is

498
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:12,919
Speaker 1: at the height of his powers, and it is a

499
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:18,440
Speaker 1: thing to behold, richly charismatic, frightening, erotic, and above all hypnotic.

500
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:21,960
Speaker 1: I was asking my kid about how this one stacked

501
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: up to Son of Frankenstein, and they told me that

502
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:26,960
Speaker 1: Dracula was definitely the scarier of the two, and the

503
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,800
Speaker 1: scariest moments were Dracula's gaze. Oh he's looking right at

504
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 1: the camera.

505
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 3: But they do, and actually I meant to bring this

506
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,920
Speaker 3: up in the plot section. If you know anything about

507
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:40,959
Speaker 3: this shot they do. It's a recurring visual theme where

508
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,160
Speaker 3: we come in on Dracula's face. Maybe the camera is moving,

509
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 3: zooming in on him, or it's just still on Dracula's face,

510
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 3: but the most of the shot is dark and there's

511
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 3: sort of a beam of light falling over his eyes.

512
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 3: It's just the eyes and it's just there scowling with

513
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,280
Speaker 3: the eyes wide. I don't know if you knew why

514
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,920
Speaker 3: they selected that, like the beam on the eyes only,

515
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:06,640
Speaker 3: but I always thought that was interesting.

516
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:11,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really adds to this like otherworldly hypnotizing power

517
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,760
Speaker 1: of the character. And Yeah, on top of that, Legosi's

518
00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 1: performance is just one thing that's pointed out by by

519
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,000
Speaker 1: some of the Dracula experts is that there are no

520
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:26,640
Speaker 1: small moments at all in it. Every annunciation, but every

521
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 1: even like subtle movement feels very calculated and essential. Some

522
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:36,400
Speaker 1: have chalked this up to the possibility that Legosi memorized

523
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 1: his parts phonetically, at least at the stage of his career,

524
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure where the truth falls and all

525
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,920
Speaker 1: of that at any rate, the finished product, the actual performance,

526
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:52,440
Speaker 1: like the way that he stresses words in each line,

527
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:57,000
Speaker 1: like it seems to bring across like cryptic meaning to things,

528
00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:58,479
Speaker 1: like even some of the lines you think, you know,

529
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,360
Speaker 1: like like children of the Night, what music they make?

530
00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,280
Speaker 1: You know, it's what music they make, you know, like

531
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:11,320
Speaker 1: the choices there are so absolutely cryptic, and it feels

532
00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:17,240
Speaker 1: like perfectly the perfectly calculated way that this cold, immortal

533
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,920
Speaker 1: being would be, you know, cutting through to our fear

534
00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,360
Speaker 1: and desire with every word and every movement.

535
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,520
Speaker 3: I couldn't agree more. I've really loved that. Yeah, the

536
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:31,160
Speaker 3: enunciation of the lines does add this mystery to the

537
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 3: intended meaning of them, which lends itself well to something

538
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 3: that is here in Legosi's performance. And actually I noticed

539
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,680
Speaker 3: in all three of the movies we've covered of his,

540
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 3: two of them much better than the other one. I mean,

541
00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 3: I really enjoyed all three. But Son of frank and

542
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:46,720
Speaker 3: Dracula are much better movies than Devil Back. But in

543
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:51,160
Speaker 3: all three, the thing that's common is bell Leegosi has

544
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 3: this way of delivering lines that he understands in a

545
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,440
Speaker 3: different way than the person he's talking to, you know,

546
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,640
Speaker 3: like double meaning, kind of sinister irony lines. There's a

547
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 3: lot of that in Dracula. There's a lot of that.

548
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 3: There was a lot of that in Son of Frankenstein,

549
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 3: you know, and they're what's that part where you know

550
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:14,440
Speaker 3: they're talking about like bringing the creature back, healing him up,

551
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,560
Speaker 3: and the other you know, the son of Frank is like, well,

552
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 3: I don't know if he's if he's well enough yet,

553
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:25,440
Speaker 3: and and Igor is like, well enough for me. Oh,

554
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:27,920
Speaker 3: And it's just he has a lot of that kind

555
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:33,920
Speaker 3: of thing, these dry, threatening, humorous little ironies in that

556
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:38,320
Speaker 3: are often expressed exquisitely in the way he inflects words

557
00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 3: in an unexpected way.

558
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:44,440
Speaker 1: Absolutely so. As we discussed in the previous lego see episodes,

559
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 1: he started out in Hungarian theater in silent films before

560
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:49,959
Speaker 1: making his way to Germany and finally America via New Orleans.

561
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:52,120
Speaker 1: He's made his way to New York. He became very

562
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:55,040
Speaker 1: active in the theater scene there. He did some silent

563
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 1: films and eventually lands that lead role in the Broadway

564
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,680
Speaker 1: played Dracula twenty seven, ends up moving to la in

565
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:07,520
Speaker 1: twenty eight part of the tour, and this kicks off

566
00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:09,960
Speaker 1: his Hollywood career. The next year, he appeared in Todd

567
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:13,880
Speaker 1: Browning's The Thirteenth Chair, and the Interesting thing is Bella

568
00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 1: was clearly the obvious choice for the film adaptation of

569
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 1: the play. He'd been performing it to rave reviews, and

570
00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 1: yet he was not the first pick for the film.

571
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,200
Speaker 1: The producers considered the likes of Laon Cheney, who ended

572
00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:29,480
Speaker 1: up dying before the film could be produced. Conrad Vitt,

573
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:34,240
Speaker 1: the Man who Laughs, was also considered, but he had

574
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,520
Speaker 1: moved back to Europe, and I think the idea is

575
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 1: like he wasn't He didn't really, it wasn't as comfortable

576
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 1: with English language, and so eventually they're like, Okay, well

577
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,520
Speaker 1: Legosi's there, will hire Legosi. And they got him somewhat

578
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,040
Speaker 1: on the cheap. It's a role that made him an

579
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:52,520
Speaker 1: undying legend, obviously, but as has been covered in many

580
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:56,400
Speaker 1: a biography, it also typecast him. It was the high

581
00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:59,160
Speaker 1: point of a life and career that didn't always maintain

582
00:32:59,200 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 1: an even trueject.

583
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,320
Speaker 3: But I want to be clear again, not his only

584
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,760
Speaker 3: great performance. I mean his turn as Igor and son

585
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,640
Speaker 3: of Frankenstein is fantastic, hilarious, is so good in that.

586
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there are a number of other ones that

587
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:17,240
Speaker 1: are often cited. Is like strong Legosi performances, So we

588
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,160
Speaker 1: may have to come back to more Legosi in the future.

589
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,280
Speaker 1: All right, getting into the rest of the cast here,

590
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,680
Speaker 1: I'm gonna spend less time with the remainders here. But

591
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:29,760
Speaker 1: Helen Chandler plays Mina. She lived nineteen oh six through

592
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five, American actress of stage and screen, best

593
00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:36,600
Speaker 1: remembered for Dracula. David Manners plays Jonathan Harker. He lived

594
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 1: nineteen one hundred through nineteen ninety eight, Canadian born leading

595
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:45,080
Speaker 1: man here, completely overshadowed by stronger character performances and also,

596
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 1: as we'll discuss in a very reduced Jonathan Harker.

597
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, just as shadowed by the script.

598
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:55,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he's just he's overshadowed by yeah, other

599
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 1: performances and also the writings. He's not sent to the

600
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:02,440
Speaker 1: castle in the he does not have the Keanu Reeves

601
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 1: version of Jonathan Harker here.

602
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:07,000
Speaker 3: No, we need to talk about this later in the plot.

603
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 3: But it's almost like, why is this character even in

604
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:10,880
Speaker 3: the story exactly?

605
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:14,359
Speaker 1: He's best remembered for his roles in Dracula nineteen thirty

606
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 1: two is the Mummy and nineteen thirty four is the

607
00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:16,799
Speaker 1: Black Cat.

608
00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 3: Now Rob again. I was surprised to find out that

609
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:23,360
Speaker 3: you'd never seen Dracula in its entirety before, but it

610
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,479
Speaker 3: caused me to remember back back to the first time

611
00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:29,640
Speaker 3: I saw Dracula. Like you, I grew up, you know,

612
00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:31,839
Speaker 3: knowing bits of it, seeing bits of it on TV

613
00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:34,959
Speaker 3: and things like that, especially in clip show type things.

614
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,719
Speaker 3: But when I finally saw it in full, honestly, one

615
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:41,920
Speaker 3: of the things that made the biggest impression on me

616
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 3: was Dwight Frye as Renfield.

617
00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:51,000
Speaker 1: Absolutely, this is a just bonker's performance by the great

618
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 1: Dwight fry lived eighteen ninety nine through nineteen forty three,

619
00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:58,600
Speaker 1: American character actor of stage and screen with broad range,

620
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,400
Speaker 1: but be member for his outlandish horror roles and certainly

621
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,200
Speaker 1: typecast to those. After a while, he went on to

622
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 1: play Fritz in thirty ones Frankenstein, Carl in thirty five's

623
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:13,120
Speaker 1: Bride of Frankenstein, and smaller often uncredited roles and subsequent

624
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,719
Speaker 1: Frankenstein films. He was also in nineteen thirty one's The

625
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:16,600
Speaker 1: Maltese Falcon.

626
00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:20,040
Speaker 3: Renfield is really a highlight of the movie apart from

627
00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:23,960
Speaker 3: Lagosi here because in multiple ways, like the way the

628
00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:30,080
Speaker 3: character is written is both intentionally and unintentionally funny, the

629
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:34,200
Speaker 3: unintentional part being like the fourth time he escapes from

630
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,120
Speaker 3: the sanitarium and just wanders into a scene in the house,

631
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:39,799
Speaker 3: It's like, how does this guy keep getting out of

632
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:40,200
Speaker 3: his cell.

633
00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:42,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's kind of like the Kramer of the picture,

634
00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:47,399
Speaker 1: just randomly busts in whenever they need a little need

635
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:48,399
Speaker 1: a little Renfield action.

636
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:51,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, he slides in and he's got the crazy

637
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:54,120
Speaker 3: hair and he's like, oh, the Master is gonna give

638
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:59,279
Speaker 3: me blood this time. Oh. It's but also just he

639
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:03,600
Speaker 3: has the deranged monologues about needing lives and blood and

640
00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:06,600
Speaker 3: wanting to eat spiders, and then also has kind of

641
00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 3: a you know, he's mostly a heel after being turned

642
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 3: by the Count, but he has a face turn at

643
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 3: one point that doesn't quite stick. It's yeah, it's just great.

644
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,640
Speaker 3: I love Dwight Fry here it thumbs up, thumbs up.

645
00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:22,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, if not for Legosi, he would be the most

646
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:26,960
Speaker 1: memorable performer in the piece. Yeah, totally all right. It's

647
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,440
Speaker 1: a Dracula movie. Who also have to have a Van helsing,

648
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:31,839
Speaker 1: you have to have a Dracula slayer, and that's Edward

649
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:34,759
Speaker 1: Van Sloan, who lived eighteen eighty two through nineteen sixty four,

650
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 1: American character actor, here reprising the role that he played

651
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,440
Speaker 1: in the stage adaptation. This was only his second film,

652
00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:45,799
Speaker 1: followed by the role of doctor Waldman in nineteen thirty one.

653
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:48,520
Speaker 1: S Frankenstein doctor Mueller in thirty two's The Mummy, and

654
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:51,800
Speaker 1: he played Professor van Helsing in nineteen thirty six is

655
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:53,480
Speaker 1: Dracula's daughter, So he.

656
00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:56,160
Speaker 3: Was just always the professor who shows up too to

657
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:57,440
Speaker 3: know about the monster.

658
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,359
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, probably a little bit of typecasting going

659
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:03,360
Speaker 1: on here as well, but it's another strong performance. I

660
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:04,880
Speaker 1: really like him in this part of it is the

661
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 1: haircut in the glasses.

662
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:08,439
Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't know if he's ever made as huge

663
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:12,400
Speaker 3: an impression on me, but he does certainly drive the

664
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,200
Speaker 3: scenes in the middle of the movie that would, I

665
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:17,600
Speaker 3: think otherwise be the weakest links in the film, basically,

666
00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:20,680
Speaker 3: the investigation scenes where the heroes are trying to figure

667
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,120
Speaker 3: out what's going on. They're the scenes that either don't

668
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 3: have Legosi or don't have a Dwight Fry in them

669
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:29,640
Speaker 3: yet until he bursts in later in the scene. Those

670
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,759
Speaker 3: would be the dullest parts. But he does pretty well there.

671
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:36,360
Speaker 1: He feels a little unhinged in a great way, you know,

672
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:39,160
Speaker 1: like one of the first people to believe that we're

673
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:42,279
Speaker 1: actually dealing with vampires. You know, it's probably somebody who

674
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 1: lives their life a little bit on the edge.

675
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:48,360
Speaker 3: And later adaptations would generally take this principle a lot further,

676
00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:53,560
Speaker 3: I'd say, compared to later Van Helsing portrayals, Edward Van

677
00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,640
Speaker 3: Sloan is a pretty straight shooter. I mean, thinking about

678
00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:01,200
Speaker 3: Anthony Hopkins and Copola's Dracula, where Van Helsing borderline insane

679
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 3: thinking about Willem Dafoe in the in the New nos Ferratu.

680
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 3: I mean they later really embraced the idea that the

681
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 3: professor who knows how to fight evil is himself an

682
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 3: extremely eccentric figure.

683
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:19,319
Speaker 1: All right. The other principal investigator here is, of course,

684
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:23,160
Speaker 1: doctor Seward, played by Herbert Bunston, who lived eighteen seventy

685
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:26,160
Speaker 1: four through nineteen thirty five, British actor best remembered for

686
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:28,640
Speaker 1: this film. He also had a supporting role in nineteen

687
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,360
Speaker 1: thirty as the Lady of Scandal in nineteen thirty three's

688
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:36,239
Speaker 1: The Monkeys Paw again somewhat reduced here, he's essentially in

689
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 1: a lot of these older pictures, you really need like

690
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,439
Speaker 1: a supporting cast of two to three old white guy

691
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:45,600
Speaker 1: experts to help you fight your alien invasion or monster attacks.

692
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:46,799
Speaker 1: And this is what this guy is.

693
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:49,560
Speaker 3: His role in this movie is, I say, could it

694
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:50,600
Speaker 3: be true.

695
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:53,400
Speaker 1: All right, you can't have a Mina unless you have

696
00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:57,000
Speaker 1: a Lucy. And that's where Francis Dad comes in. She

697
00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 1: lived nineteen ten through nineteen sixty eight, American actress, only

698
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,320
Speaker 1: active in the late twenties and early thirties. This was

699
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:05,160
Speaker 1: her most memorable role, but she has a supporting role

700
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,920
Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirty one Anime Wong film Daughter of

701
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 1: the Dragon.

702
00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:12,480
Speaker 3: Like many characters in this version, Lucy's role is greatly

703
00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:14,719
Speaker 3: reduced from what it is in the novel. You know,

704
00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:17,080
Speaker 3: a big part of the investigation in the middle of

705
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:20,200
Speaker 3: the novel is like the characters trying to figure out

706
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:24,000
Speaker 3: what the cause of Lucy's wasting disease is. You know,

707
00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:27,560
Speaker 3: why is she losing blood? What's going on? In this movie?

708
00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 3: They just like acts all that. It's done in like

709
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:32,320
Speaker 3: ninety seconds of screen time.

710
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,759
Speaker 1: We of course have the brides. We'll talk more about

711
00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:41,320
Speaker 1: the brides later, but Geraldine Devoric, Dorothy Tree, and Cornelia

712
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:45,960
Speaker 1: Thaw those are your brides. Let's see getting behind the

713
00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 1: scenes here a bit. Carl Fround, of course, did the cinematography,

714
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:55,120
Speaker 1: rather famous for his work on this picture and subsequent films.

715
00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 1: Lived eighteen ninety through nineteen sixty nine legendary Austrian Hungarian

716
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:04,320
Speaker 1: born cinematographer and director, two time Oscar winner, four time nominee.

717
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 1: Much of the visual splendor of this film is often

718
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 1: attributed to frend and many have have also said that

719
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:15,920
Speaker 1: he probably directed parts of it as well. He was

720
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,440
Speaker 1: reportedly like a very strong presence on the set sometimes

721
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,600
Speaker 1: when Browning wasn't. He went on to direct nineteen thirty

722
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:23,480
Speaker 1: two's The Money, as well as nineteen thirty five is

723
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:26,600
Speaker 1: Mad Love, which we talked about in one of, if

724
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:30,600
Speaker 1: not our first episodes, and he did several other pictures

725
00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:31,480
Speaker 1: as well.

726
00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:36,120
Speaker 3: Freud did the cinematography on most of the movies that

727
00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:39,080
Speaker 3: from the nineteen thirties that I think look the best,

728
00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,000
Speaker 3: Like a lot of the thirties movies that I see,

729
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,360
Speaker 3: I'm like, wow, this is gorgeous. It's like, oh, that

730
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:48,359
Speaker 3: was Carl Freud, so yeah, he in the movie does

731
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:53,359
Speaker 3: look great. There are typically like the scenes in it

732
00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:56,200
Speaker 3: that look the best tend to be the ones that

733
00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,680
Speaker 3: film historians say this is like a signature Carl Freun

734
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:03,080
Speaker 3: type shot. And I think this has led some people

735
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:08,000
Speaker 3: to speculate that for the less interesting cinematography in the

736
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,000
Speaker 3: movie that he was kind of he was kind of

737
00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:14,120
Speaker 3: on leash, like he was not necessarily being allowed to

738
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:17,359
Speaker 3: do all he could do. I don't know if that's

739
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:19,439
Speaker 3: true or not, but that's what some people have said.

740
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:23,640
Speaker 1: It's often pointed out that the also nineteen thirty one

741
00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:26,920
Speaker 1: Mexican Dracula film that they shot at night on the

742
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:32,840
Speaker 1: same sets, is more technically proficient and maybe more daring.

743
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:36,160
Speaker 1: And for part of that is that apparently they could

744
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:39,719
Speaker 1: look back at what the day crew was doing and

745
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:41,319
Speaker 1: figure out how to one up it, right.

746
00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:44,399
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the English language production would shoot and then

747
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:46,719
Speaker 3: they would shoot afterwards, and so they could look at

748
00:41:46,719 --> 00:41:48,960
Speaker 3: all the mistakes made in the earlier shoots and like

749
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,359
Speaker 3: figure out ways to correct them before they before they

750
00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:51,879
Speaker 3: set up.

751
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:55,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, spice things up sometimes and so forth. All right.

752
00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:58,560
Speaker 1: Set decoration. Russell A Gossman who lived eighteen ninety two

753
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:00,880
Speaker 1: through nineteen sixty three. Oscar winner for his work on

754
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:03,840
Speaker 1: forty fourth Phantom of the Opera and sixty one Spartacus.

755
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:08,000
Speaker 1: He also worked on other major and minor universal horror films.

756
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:11,799
Speaker 1: Jack P. Pierce did the makeup eighteen eighty nine through

757
00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:15,479
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight. Monster Makeup Master of the day who

758
00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:20,680
Speaker 1: worked on like Frankenstein, the Man who Laughs, the Invisible Man,

759
00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:24,200
Speaker 1: the Wolfman, and so many others. I guess on the

760
00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:26,880
Speaker 1: surface it might seem like he had less to do here.

761
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:30,400
Speaker 1: There's not. There's no monster makeup on the level of

762
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:34,520
Speaker 1: Frankenstein in this picture, but clearly makeup is a part

763
00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:38,200
Speaker 1: of bringing Count Dracula and the brides to their to

764
00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:43,239
Speaker 1: undead life on the screen. And finally, Heinz Roemheld has

765
00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:46,800
Speaker 1: a conductor musical arrangement credit of nineteen one through nineteen

766
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:49,080
Speaker 1: eighty five, but again this is a needle drop score,

767
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:52,920
Speaker 1: owing in part to budgetary issues. Again, sometimes there's no

768
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:56,520
Speaker 1: music at all, but music used in the picture includes

769
00:42:56,560 --> 00:43:02,279
Speaker 1: Schaikowski Swan Lake, Opus twenty, Franz Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, and

770
00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:07,640
Speaker 1: a selection from Wagner's The Meister Singer von Nunberg.

771
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:11,520
Speaker 3: I mainly associate Dracula with Swan Lake due to this movie,

772
00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:15,280
Speaker 3: but I have actually seen it with the Philip Glass

773
00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:17,400
Speaker 3: score that was done later. I don't know when, was

774
00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:18,520
Speaker 3: that in the nineteen nineties.

775
00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:23,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was ninety eight legendary Philip Glass composed. It

776
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:27,120
Speaker 1: was performed by the Kronos Quartet. I've never seen it,

777
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:29,000
Speaker 1: but I did listen to part of that while I

778
00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:31,160
Speaker 1: was researching and writing up notes here, and it sounds

779
00:43:31,239 --> 00:43:35,680
Speaker 1: quite good.

780
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:42,440
Speaker 3: Oh hey, mentioning Swan Lake. By the way, that is

781
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:44,480
Speaker 3: what plays over the opening credits, at least in the

782
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:48,319
Speaker 3: version I watched. And another thing I wanted to call

783
00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 3: attention to in the opening credits I don't recall if

784
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:55,800
Speaker 3: I've ever really noticed this before, is the stylized bat

785
00:43:55,920 --> 00:44:00,319
Speaker 3: in the background of the title card here. You know,

786
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:03,480
Speaker 3: it works fine if you're not paying very close attention,

787
00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:06,440
Speaker 3: but when you really look at it, this illustration does

788
00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:09,200
Speaker 3: seem kind of odd. Looks like something that would be

789
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:12,200
Speaker 3: on like the Adam West Batman TV show. There's a

790
00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:15,880
Speaker 3: whimsical comic bookiness to it. It does not look super gothic.

791
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:19,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it looks a little art deco, I guess.

792
00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:21,640
Speaker 1: But it interesting that you would bring up Batman because

793
00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:24,480
Speaker 1: Batman wouldn't be invented till nineteen thirty nine and first

794
00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:27,319
Speaker 1: committed to the screen in forty three, So I don't know.

795
00:44:27,600 --> 00:44:30,880
Speaker 1: It's not impossible that this had an influence on the

796
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:31,640
Speaker 1: Cape Crusader.

797
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:33,560
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I can see that, But like, do you

798
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:36,080
Speaker 3: see that the shape of the ears on the head

799
00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:39,080
Speaker 3: looks exactly like the Batman logo or not the logo

800
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:40,440
Speaker 3: like the costume.

801
00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:42,520
Speaker 1: M it looks like Batman. Yeah.

802
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:45,480
Speaker 3: Also, speaking of bats, you know, there's so many things

803
00:44:45,560 --> 00:44:50,520
Speaker 3: that the like in the Dracula movie tradition that are

804
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:53,000
Speaker 3: different from how they are in the book. When I

805
00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:56,160
Speaker 3: was watching this, I genuinely could not remember if Dracula

806
00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:58,239
Speaker 3: transforms into a bat in the book, and I had

807
00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:00,759
Speaker 3: to look it up and oh, yeah, he definitely does.

808
00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:03,000
Speaker 3: That's there in the novel. The book is in fact

809
00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:06,359
Speaker 3: full of talk about bats. There's this whole section where

810
00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:08,560
Speaker 3: they're trying to figure out what's happening to Lucy, and

811
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:11,320
Speaker 3: they talk about these bats in South America that swoop

812
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:14,160
Speaker 3: down from the trees and drink the blood of sailors

813
00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:16,480
Speaker 3: as they sleep at night, leaving them without a single

814
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:22,359
Speaker 3: drop left in the morning. That's not true, but anyway, Yeah,

815
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:27,319
Speaker 3: so the book definitely is all about bats. That's originally there.

816
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:30,440
Speaker 3: But from here after the credits, we come on to

817
00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:34,880
Speaker 3: the opening shot, and wow, what a strong opening shot.

818
00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:39,800
Speaker 3: We start on this deep landscape shot with a tremendous

819
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:43,400
Speaker 3: sense of vertical reach. In the foreground, there is a

820
00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:46,879
Speaker 3: horse drawn carriage. It's clattering over a dirt road toward

821
00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:49,600
Speaker 3: the camera, and in the background we see the road

822
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:55,120
Speaker 3: is surrounded by gargantuan mountains, appearing as these shards of bare,

823
00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:59,960
Speaker 3: unforested rock reaching up toward the clouds. And this made

824
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:02,839
Speaker 3: me think about how while there are a lot of

825
00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:06,560
Speaker 3: there are lots of reasons for preferring the modern widescreen

826
00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:11,480
Speaker 3: aspect ratio and film. This shot shows one cinematic benefit

827
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:14,399
Speaker 3: of the roughly one point two or one point three

828
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:18,360
Speaker 3: by one format, which is the ability to create this

829
00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:22,520
Speaker 3: sense of towering height and depth, like a tiny subject

830
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:26,480
Speaker 3: in a desolate valley in the middle, encircled by these

831
00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:27,920
Speaker 3: skyscrapers of rock.

832
00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:29,080
Speaker 4: Yeah.

833
00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:31,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, And we get this feeling a few different points

834
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:33,360
Speaker 1: at a few different points in the picture, So this

835
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:34,480
Speaker 1: is a great point. Yeah.

836
00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:37,120
Speaker 3: Apparently this shot was accomplished by a kind of composite

837
00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:41,080
Speaker 3: effect where you can bine a real, live moving photography

838
00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:43,600
Speaker 3: shot of a carriage and road in the foreground and

839
00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:46,360
Speaker 3: then the mountains in the background or a painted backdrop.

840
00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:48,279
Speaker 3: I think I believe it was painted on a piece

841
00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:51,200
Speaker 3: of glass that may actually have been done in the

842
00:46:51,239 --> 00:46:54,200
Speaker 3: camera with the painted glass positioned over the camera lens.

843
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:57,880
Speaker 3: I'm not sure about that in this shot, but Skyll

844
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,000
Speaker 3: talks about that for at least some of these extra

845
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:03,440
Speaker 3: ear shots in the commentary track. But I'd also like

846
00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:08,560
Speaker 3: to point out something about the feeling of these painted mountains,

847
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:12,920
Speaker 3: a kind of art history resonance. Actually, to me, these

848
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:18,160
Speaker 3: mountains resemble things you see in paintings from the Romantic

849
00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:23,479
Speaker 3: movement of the late eighteenth early nineteenth century. So one

850
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:25,560
Speaker 3: very well known example if you want to look it

851
00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:28,280
Speaker 3: up and see this kind of artistic sensibility in painting

852
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:31,960
Speaker 3: is A Wanderer above Sea and Fog from eighteen eighteen

853
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:35,560
Speaker 3: by Casper David Friedrich Robert. Have you seen this painting before?

854
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:38,680
Speaker 1: Oh? Not only have I seen it, I like a

855
00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:42,520
Speaker 1: lot of liberal arts majors had this on my dormitory wall. Okay,

856
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:45,960
Speaker 1: n as a post or form, because I guess a

857
00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:49,480
Speaker 1: lot of liberal arts majors probably see themselves like this. Sure,

858
00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:53,920
Speaker 1: A lone figure standing atop a mysterious, you know, craggy

859
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:56,960
Speaker 1: environment above the mists, surveying everything. That's kind of like

860
00:47:57,000 --> 00:47:58,400
Speaker 1: a gentleman scholar vibe.

861
00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:01,759
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean, but so how would you describe

862
00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:04,719
Speaker 3: the like the the landscape here, it's it's like very

863
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:08,440
Speaker 3: active and emotional and dramatic, right you mentioned the crags.

864
00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:12,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely very emotionally charged. There's a sense of

865
00:48:12,040 --> 00:48:16,319
Speaker 1: wonder and possibility here, and it's maybe inverted to a

866
00:48:16,320 --> 00:48:18,960
Speaker 1: certain extent, or at least there's a darker sense of

867
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,719
Speaker 1: wonder and possibility in Dracula. But yeah, similar vibes in

868
00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:23,799
Speaker 1: a way, similar.

869
00:48:23,480 --> 00:48:28,320
Speaker 3: Frequency exactly and realized through these like very jagged edged

870
00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:32,400
Speaker 3: depictions of nature, you know, like the it's just like

871
00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:36,600
Speaker 3: the rocks are infused with drama. A lot of Romantic

872
00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:40,960
Speaker 3: landscape paintings, I think, have this feeling depicting natural objects

873
00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:44,480
Speaker 3: like mountains in particular, mountains are very popular subject of

874
00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:49,520
Speaker 3: you know, painters of this style from this era, but

875
00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:53,080
Speaker 3: also of rocks, bodies of water, trees, et cetera. There

876
00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:57,120
Speaker 3: was a convention at this time of kind of showing

877
00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:02,080
Speaker 3: these things as overwhelming, almost magical in some way, epic, dramatic,

878
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:07,960
Speaker 3: bursting with irrepressible emotion. And I would say that modern

879
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:12,759
Speaker 3: genres of horror, especially Gothic horror, have strong roots in

880
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:16,960
Speaker 3: the nineteenth century European Romantic movements in the arts, in

881
00:49:17,120 --> 00:49:21,000
Speaker 3: arts and literature. Dracula itself as a novel was not

882
00:49:21,239 --> 00:49:23,919
Speaker 3: born of this period, as we've said, it came much later.

883
00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:27,799
Speaker 3: It was in the eighteen nineties. But Frankenstein was from

884
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:31,840
Speaker 3: this period. Frankenstein is a Romantic novel in many ways,

885
00:49:31,840 --> 00:49:34,319
Speaker 3: and if you go back and read Frankenstein you might

886
00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:38,600
Speaker 3: be shocked how much mountains and epic landscapes play a

887
00:49:38,680 --> 00:49:41,560
Speaker 3: role in the story. For example, when Victor first meets

888
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:44,880
Speaker 3: the creature again after their initial separation, it's while he

889
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:48,680
Speaker 3: is out hiking alone in the Alps. And so even

890
00:49:48,719 --> 00:49:52,000
Speaker 3: though Dracula was not a novel from the Romantic period,

891
00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:56,399
Speaker 3: I think Romantic artistic and literary conventions have influenced how

892
00:49:56,440 --> 00:50:00,399
Speaker 3: it was later brought to life on film. You see

893
00:50:00,400 --> 00:50:03,680
Speaker 3: this kind of in themes that want to come out

894
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:06,680
Speaker 3: in different versions of the telling of the vampire story,

895
00:50:06,719 --> 00:50:08,640
Speaker 3: and in this kind of visual imagery of like the

896
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:13,640
Speaker 3: great Romantic emotional mountains. So these common Romantic literary tropes. Again,

897
00:50:13,840 --> 00:50:16,640
Speaker 3: this is my take, and I'm sure i'm oversimplifying. You know,

898
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:18,640
Speaker 3: literature scholars might get mad at me, but this is

899
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:20,359
Speaker 3: what I think. I think you see a lot of

900
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:24,960
Speaker 3: like themes of the awe inspiring power of nature and instinct,

901
00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:30,240
Speaker 3: a preference for emotion and passion over cold blooded reason,

902
00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:34,040
Speaker 3: a kind of a sensibility of rebellion, a desire to

903
00:50:34,080 --> 00:50:39,600
Speaker 3: rebel against authority and institutions, and themes of the ways

904
00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:43,279
Speaker 3: in which personal experiences are kind of unique and precious

905
00:50:43,440 --> 00:50:47,719
Speaker 3: and difficult to share or express, and beyond all that,

906
00:50:48,040 --> 00:50:51,759
Speaker 3: just kind of a general attraction to mystery and amazement.

907
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:56,920
Speaker 3: I do not think that these themes are especially present

908
00:50:56,960 --> 00:50:59,680
Speaker 3: in my reading of the novel Dracula, but I do

909
00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:03,880
Speaker 3: think these themes really come out in movie adaptations of Dracula.

910
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:07,239
Speaker 1: Yes, and really even in the opening here in a sense,

911
00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:10,840
Speaker 1: a stranger in a strange land. What's going to happen?

912
00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:15,360
Speaker 3: So anyway, we're down with the people now in the carriage,

913
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:17,640
Speaker 3: and this is the part what I think this is

914
00:51:17,719 --> 00:51:20,840
Speaker 3: Carla Limley, isn't it who's reading reading from like a

915
00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:23,280
Speaker 3: travel book? Here there are like five or six people.

916
00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:26,240
Speaker 3: One of them is Dwight Fry. They're in this carriage.

917
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:28,759
Speaker 3: Dwight Fry is dressed in a tidy suit and tie

918
00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:31,839
Speaker 3: with a white fedora. And I was just thinking, dude, you're

919
00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:33,680
Speaker 3: going to go in a full three piece suit to

920
00:51:33,719 --> 00:51:34,680
Speaker 3: the Borgo Pass.

921
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:36,920
Speaker 1: It's just how you traveled back then.

922
00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:39,640
Speaker 3: So the other woman in the carriage, she's reading from

923
00:51:39,640 --> 00:51:42,240
Speaker 3: the travel book, and she says, among the rugged peaks

924
00:51:42,239 --> 00:51:45,840
Speaker 3: that frowned down upon the Borgo Pass are found crumbling

925
00:51:45,960 --> 00:51:51,200
Speaker 3: castles of a bygone age, and a little real world.

926
00:51:51,239 --> 00:51:54,560
Speaker 3: Note this is a real mountain pass. The Borgo Pass exists.

927
00:51:54,560 --> 00:51:57,640
Speaker 3: It's called some different today, but it is located in

928
00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:01,359
Speaker 3: modern day Romania. At the time then was written, this

929
00:52:01,600 --> 00:52:04,440
Speaker 3: was part of the region of Transylvania, which I believe

930
00:52:04,520 --> 00:52:08,480
Speaker 3: at the time was part of Hungary. Bramstoker almost certainly

931
00:52:08,520 --> 00:52:11,120
Speaker 3: never went there. He probably just found the name on

932
00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:15,440
Speaker 3: a map and it sounded cool, And according to experts,

933
00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:17,839
Speaker 3: like the way he describes it is not really how

934
00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:18,560
Speaker 3: this place.

935
00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:21,360
Speaker 1: Is right right. I've often heard it pointed out that

936
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:25,200
Speaker 1: there's really more Irish mythology than Eastern European mythology. I mean,

937
00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:27,640
Speaker 1: there's a bit of it. The vampire does have Eastern

938
00:52:27,680 --> 00:52:31,000
Speaker 1: European origins, but there's a lot of Irish mythology bound

939
00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:33,160
Speaker 1: up in what bram Stoker is creating here.

940
00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:37,800
Speaker 3: That's right. So Dwight Fry looks bored and annoyed. Everybody

941
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:40,759
Speaker 3: in the carriage is getting tossed around by the bumpy road,

942
00:52:41,239 --> 00:52:43,319
Speaker 3: and he calls out to the driver to slow down,

943
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:46,480
Speaker 3: but another man in the carriage, a local with a mustache,

944
00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:50,319
Speaker 3: leans over to sharply rebuke him, and he says, we

945
00:52:50,400 --> 00:52:53,600
Speaker 3: must reach the inn before sundown. So ain't no slowing

946
00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:56,239
Speaker 3: down this carriage. That is the wrong choice. We've got

947
00:52:56,280 --> 00:52:58,520
Speaker 3: to go as fast as we can to get to shelter.

948
00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:01,960
Speaker 3: Now why would it be to get there before sundown? Well,

949
00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:05,120
Speaker 3: he says, it is well, Purgas night, the night of evil.

950
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:09,440
Speaker 3: That's April thirtieth, by the way, everyone, for those who

951
00:53:09,480 --> 00:53:12,560
Speaker 3: don't celebrate, And then he goes on to shout nos

952
00:53:12,600 --> 00:53:15,440
Speaker 3: Feratu before the woman in the carriage next to him.

953
00:53:15,440 --> 00:53:17,279
Speaker 3: I think this must be his wife. She tries to

954
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:19,560
Speaker 3: cover up his mouth, but he will not be silent.

955
00:53:19,680 --> 00:53:23,160
Speaker 3: He says, on this night, madame, the doors they are barred,

956
00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:27,000
Speaker 3: and to the Virgin we pray. So the carriage does

957
00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:29,960
Speaker 3: make it to the end before sundown, and we see,

958
00:53:30,239 --> 00:53:33,799
Speaker 3: you know, the locals going about their business praying in Hungarian.

959
00:53:34,840 --> 00:53:37,319
Speaker 3: And here we get a scene versions of which are

960
00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:40,279
Speaker 3: in many adaptations of Dracula where the locals try to

961
00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:43,600
Speaker 3: warn the visiting real estate agent about the evils that

962
00:53:43,680 --> 00:53:46,560
Speaker 3: lurk at Castle Dracula. You know, No, it's a bad place,

963
00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:49,919
Speaker 3: don't go there, and they eventually will usually give him

964
00:53:50,080 --> 00:53:53,759
Speaker 3: some form of talismanic protection, usually a crucifix. Here it

965
00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:54,680
Speaker 3: is a crucifix.

966
00:53:55,360 --> 00:53:55,600
Speaker 1: Now.

967
00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:59,320
Speaker 3: One thing that makes this adaptation unlike both the novel

968
00:53:59,520 --> 00:54:04,640
Speaker 3: and most later movie adaptations is the identity of the

969
00:54:04,719 --> 00:54:09,359
Speaker 3: agent making the visit. Usually, the agent that comes here

970
00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:13,600
Speaker 3: to Transylvania is one of our main young protagonists. It's

971
00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:17,280
Speaker 3: Jonathan Harker, or, in the German adaptations like nos Feraratu,

972
00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:23,520
Speaker 3: Thomas Hutter. In this version, the character is Wrenfield. Now,

973
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:28,719
Speaker 3: for those not familiar with the story, Harker is the young, handsome,

974
00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:33,600
Speaker 3: ambitious fiance of Mina, who Mina will become, by the

975
00:54:33,719 --> 00:54:37,200
Speaker 3: end of the story the ultimate target of Dracula's predations,

976
00:54:37,560 --> 00:54:41,600
Speaker 3: Whereas Wrenfield in the novel is a former colleague of

977
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:46,560
Speaker 3: Harker's who I believe had also previously traveled to Transylvania,

978
00:54:46,560 --> 00:54:48,680
Speaker 3: but that's not part of the narrative. It's the background.

979
00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:51,880
Speaker 3: He had gone there to conduct business with Count Dracula.

980
00:54:52,200 --> 00:54:55,719
Speaker 3: He ends up coming back having been driven mad, and

981
00:54:55,840 --> 00:54:59,919
Speaker 3: he is turned into Dracula's loyal servant and familiar spins

982
00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:03,160
Speaker 3: the rest of the story housed in doctor Seward's sanitarium

983
00:55:03,239 --> 00:55:07,080
Speaker 3: near Carfax, eating flies and pining to serve his master.

984
00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:09,880
Speaker 3: I do about right with that, Rob, Yes, that's correct.

985
00:55:10,160 --> 00:55:13,200
Speaker 3: So in the novel, Harker, the character who's our real

986
00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:16,399
Speaker 3: like protagonist, has to pick up where Renfield left off.

987
00:55:16,480 --> 00:55:19,239
Speaker 3: So he goes to Dracula's castle and we go with

988
00:55:19,360 --> 00:55:21,960
Speaker 3: him because we read his letters. He's going there to

989
00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:25,440
Speaker 3: bring signing papers for the purchase of an estate in England,

990
00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:30,000
Speaker 3: and we learn about Dracula first through Harker's letters here.

991
00:55:30,360 --> 00:55:34,800
Speaker 3: Harker will later escape the castle and be reunited with Mina,

992
00:55:35,239 --> 00:55:38,000
Speaker 3: and he is part of the posse of heroes who

993
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:40,440
Speaker 3: chase down Dracula at the end of the novel to

994
00:55:40,600 --> 00:55:43,879
Speaker 3: free Mina from his curse. But this movie has made

995
00:55:43,960 --> 00:55:48,279
Speaker 3: some executive editing decisions and they have decided instead to

996
00:55:48,480 --> 00:55:52,160
Speaker 3: just give all of the action in Transylvania to Renfield,

997
00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:55,640
Speaker 3: which is in a way an efficient storytelling choice that

998
00:55:56,239 --> 00:55:58,480
Speaker 3: I can see ways in which that's a good edit.

999
00:55:59,040 --> 00:56:03,000
Speaker 3: But I would also argue that leaves Jonathan Harker without

1000
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:05,680
Speaker 3: a very good reason to be in the story and

1001
00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:08,400
Speaker 3: without much interesting to do. It's just kind of like

1002
00:56:08,800 --> 00:56:11,600
Speaker 3: Dracula is preying on Mina. Oh and Mina's got a

1003
00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:13,200
Speaker 3: fiance somewhere. What's his deal?

1004
00:56:13,480 --> 00:56:17,200
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I mean I applaud the adaptation for

1005
00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:20,880
Speaker 1: doubling down on weird Renfield, and it makes for the

1006
00:56:20,920 --> 00:56:23,719
Speaker 1: intro to be I think, in a way more horrifying

1007
00:56:23,960 --> 00:56:27,440
Speaker 1: because it is going to meet it ended madness for him.

1008
00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:31,799
Speaker 1: He's not truly going to escape the count. But yeah,

1009
00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:33,800
Speaker 1: Harker is reduced to almost nothing in the picture.

1010
00:56:34,040 --> 00:56:36,280
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to be mean to the actor or anything,

1011
00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:38,960
Speaker 3: but it's just he he has strong, like why is

1012
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:39,880
Speaker 3: he here energy?

1013
00:56:40,040 --> 00:56:40,960
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1014
00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:44,080
Speaker 3: One note I wanted to make about Renfield and the

1015
00:56:44,800 --> 00:56:46,959
Speaker 3: actor Dwight Fry who plays him here. This is from

1016
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:51,680
Speaker 3: David Skal's commentary Scout talks about how you know, really

1017
00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:55,640
Speaker 3: Dwight Fry had the makings of a dashing leading man

1018
00:56:55,640 --> 00:56:58,040
Speaker 3: of Hollywood. He had good looks, he had you know,

1019
00:56:58,120 --> 00:57:00,520
Speaker 3: good acting skills, like he could have been that type

1020
00:57:00,560 --> 00:57:04,879
Speaker 3: of character, that kind of leading player. But his role

1021
00:57:04,960 --> 00:57:07,600
Speaker 3: as Renfield and then his later role as the grave

1022
00:57:07,680 --> 00:57:11,720
Speaker 3: robbing assistant Fritz and James Wales. Frankenstein made it really

1023
00:57:11,840 --> 00:57:14,640
Speaker 3: hard for Fry to get these roles, to get the

1024
00:57:14,719 --> 00:57:17,920
Speaker 3: leading roles. He was kind of pigeonholed as the grinning

1025
00:57:18,000 --> 00:57:21,240
Speaker 3: lunatic who you catch rooting around in the hospital Morgue

1026
00:57:21,640 --> 00:57:25,120
Speaker 3: and they're just like it in a way. It was

1027
00:57:25,240 --> 00:57:29,520
Speaker 3: like a very successful acting turn that proved to be

1028
00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:30,640
Speaker 3: a curse for his career.

1029
00:57:31,160 --> 00:57:33,000
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I mean you can make some comparisons to

1030
00:57:33,120 --> 00:57:36,080
Speaker 1: Lugosi there as well, but yeah, a shame. It's also

1031
00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:39,400
Speaker 1: shame that he died rather young heart attack or heart condition,

1032
00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:43,880
Speaker 1: and yeah, it's you know, what could we have gotten

1033
00:57:43,880 --> 00:57:46,000
Speaker 1: out of him had we had ten or twenty more

1034
00:57:46,080 --> 00:57:57,080
Speaker 1: years of him as an active actor. Yeah yeah.

1035
00:57:57,160 --> 00:57:59,680
Speaker 3: Anyway, so back to the scene that the locals try

1036
00:57:59,680 --> 00:58:02,240
Speaker 3: to warn Renfield away, but he insists that he has

1037
00:58:02,280 --> 00:58:04,840
Speaker 3: to meet the Count because he's made it. He's got

1038
00:58:04,840 --> 00:58:07,000
Speaker 3: an appointment with Count Dracula's carriage and they've got to

1039
00:58:07,040 --> 00:58:09,880
Speaker 3: meet at the Borgo Pass at midnight. It sounds like fun.

1040
00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:12,360
Speaker 3: By the way. One of the people who tries to

1041
00:58:12,400 --> 00:58:15,920
Speaker 3: warn him off is this innkeeper here who is the

1042
00:58:15,960 --> 00:58:18,560
Speaker 3: actor is great. I love this scene where he's he's

1043
00:58:18,600 --> 00:58:21,840
Speaker 3: like telling him all of the vampire lore. He's telling him, like, listen,

1044
00:58:21,920 --> 00:58:24,240
Speaker 3: no vampires are at the castle. You can't go there.

1045
00:58:24,360 --> 00:58:27,400
Speaker 3: Vampires drink blood, they sleep in coffins, they change into

1046
00:58:27,440 --> 00:58:30,120
Speaker 3: bats and wolves, they can be repelled by the cross.

1047
00:58:30,240 --> 00:58:32,200
Speaker 3: This is all the stuff you need to know. But

1048
00:58:32,280 --> 00:58:36,000
Speaker 3: it doesn't feel like the kind of tight lore dump

1049
00:58:36,080 --> 00:58:38,960
Speaker 3: that it is. Instead, it's like this innkeeper is ranting

1050
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:40,360
Speaker 3: at me and I want him to stop.

1051
00:58:41,000 --> 00:58:43,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I had to look this guy at. Michael Visarov,

1052
00:58:43,960 --> 00:58:46,800
Speaker 1: Russian born actor most mostly active in did parts in

1053
00:58:46,800 --> 00:58:47,800
Speaker 1: the thirties and forties.

1054
00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:50,480
Speaker 3: Anyway, after this, Renfield does take off in the carriage

1055
00:58:50,480 --> 00:58:53,560
Speaker 3: again to meet Dracula's carriage at the Borgo Pass at midnight,

1056
00:58:53,600 --> 00:58:57,160
Speaker 3: and we get another great dramatic landscape shot. This was

1057
00:58:57,160 --> 00:59:00,560
Speaker 3: once again by combining real photography and painting. It's the

1058
00:59:00,840 --> 00:59:05,680
Speaker 3: perilous rock bridge crossing to the vampire's castle. Now, before

1059
00:59:05,720 --> 00:59:08,560
Speaker 3: Renfield arrives, we actually get what I think is one

1060
00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:10,560
Speaker 3: of the best shots in the film, which is a

1061
00:59:10,680 --> 00:59:15,760
Speaker 3: dolly shot, a moving camera shot through the filthy catacombs

1062
00:59:15,800 --> 00:59:19,760
Speaker 3: and the bowels of Dracula's castle, and we're approaching this

1063
00:59:19,920 --> 00:59:23,680
Speaker 3: brood of coffins that lie nestled in the dust, and

1064
00:59:23,800 --> 00:59:27,680
Speaker 3: there's this great effect where mist is pouring eerily across

1065
00:59:27,720 --> 00:59:30,160
Speaker 3: the surface of the earth, and we get closer and

1066
00:59:30,200 --> 00:59:33,080
Speaker 3: closer to the coffin, and finally the lid creaks open

1067
00:59:33,320 --> 00:59:35,400
Speaker 3: and out comes a pale hand.

1068
00:59:36,040 --> 00:59:38,920
Speaker 1: This, I believe is one of a few shots that

1069
00:59:39,160 --> 00:59:42,680
Speaker 1: is pointed out as being clearly inspired by twenty two's Nosferatu.

1070
00:59:43,080 --> 00:59:45,240
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, okay, I don't think I would have made

1071
00:59:45,280 --> 00:59:49,200
Speaker 3: that connection, but that sounds right to me. Now. Interesting note,

1072
00:59:49,640 --> 00:59:52,480
Speaker 3: we don't see Draculu's face in this moment where the

1073
00:59:52,520 --> 00:59:55,360
Speaker 3: hand is coming out of the coffin. In fact, before

1074
00:59:55,400 --> 00:59:57,640
Speaker 3: we see his face, we see the face of one

1075
00:59:57,640 --> 01:00:02,120
Speaker 3: of his wives. So, despite some movie trivia, sources say

1076
01:00:02,160 --> 01:00:05,480
Speaker 3: the first on screen vampire in a talkie was not

1077
01:00:05,680 --> 01:00:09,160
Speaker 3: bela Lagosi, but one of his three demon brides. I'm

1078
01:00:09,200 --> 01:00:12,000
Speaker 3: almost certain this is the one played by Geraldine de Vorak.

1079
01:00:12,200 --> 01:00:13,960
Speaker 3: She beats him by a few seconds.

1080
01:00:14,320 --> 01:00:16,280
Speaker 1: However, she does not talkie herself.

1081
01:00:16,640 --> 01:00:17,200
Speaker 3: That's true.

1082
01:00:17,360 --> 01:00:17,920
Speaker 1: Very quiet.

1083
01:00:18,960 --> 01:00:22,880
Speaker 3: Also in the scene possums, you know, yes, but Dracula's castles.

1084
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:25,640
Speaker 3: It's full of possums. They're crawling around in the bones,

1085
01:00:25,640 --> 01:00:27,960
Speaker 3: they're getting up all in all the cracks and crevices.

1086
01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:29,520
Speaker 3: They've got a real possum issue.

1087
01:00:29,760 --> 01:00:32,640
Speaker 1: Oh man. When I started watching Dracula the other day

1088
01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:35,120
Speaker 1: with my kid, I wasn't fully considering it for this

1089
01:00:35,120 --> 01:00:38,800
Speaker 1: week's Weird House Cinema until the possums and the armadillos

1090
01:00:38,960 --> 01:00:43,800
Speaker 1: showed up, rooting around caskets and generally just infesting Dracula's castle.

1091
01:00:45,440 --> 01:00:47,920
Speaker 1: So the possums show up first, and I was like, okay,

1092
01:00:47,960 --> 01:00:51,080
Speaker 1: fair enough, possums look like big gross rats. I'll allow it.

1093
01:00:51,240 --> 01:00:53,959
Speaker 1: But then there are armadillas as well, armadillos as well.

1094
01:00:54,360 --> 01:00:57,880
Speaker 1: And to be clear, possums and armadillo's are both endemic

1095
01:00:57,920 --> 01:01:01,680
Speaker 1: to the Americas. They absolutely don't live in Transylvania or

1096
01:01:01,680 --> 01:01:04,600
Speaker 1: Eastern Europe. And yet at the same time, you know

1097
01:01:04,640 --> 01:01:06,840
Speaker 1: you have to acknowledge they do look creepy rooting around

1098
01:01:06,880 --> 01:01:10,360
Speaker 1: in a Gothic castle. So what's going on here? Well,

1099
01:01:10,720 --> 01:01:13,600
Speaker 1: the most obvious interpretations are, of course, this was shot

1100
01:01:13,640 --> 01:01:18,480
Speaker 1: in California and on a depression trunken budget, so you know,

1101
01:01:18,520 --> 01:01:21,480
Speaker 1: you use what you can get your hands on, and

1102
01:01:21,520 --> 01:01:23,760
Speaker 1: if you didn't know any better, these animals again look

1103
01:01:23,800 --> 01:01:27,640
Speaker 1: creepy in a Gothic castle setting. A deeper answer, however,

1104
01:01:27,720 --> 01:01:31,240
Speaker 1: seems to exist in attitudes concerning these two species, especially

1105
01:01:31,240 --> 01:01:34,640
Speaker 1: at the time I was reading Dale Hudson's Of Course

1106
01:01:34,680 --> 01:01:38,240
Speaker 1: there are werewolves and vampires from the American Quarterly twenty thirteen,

1107
01:01:38,520 --> 01:01:42,080
Speaker 1: and this author argues that the presence of these creatures

1108
01:01:42,080 --> 01:01:47,400
Speaker 1: serve to animalize Dracula himself. Additionally, the contagion aspects of

1109
01:01:47,400 --> 01:01:50,560
Speaker 1: Stoker's novel are perhaps summoned here in the presence of

1110
01:01:50,600 --> 01:01:55,000
Speaker 1: two creatures often associated with diseases possums. I look this up.

1111
01:01:55,040 --> 01:01:57,320
Speaker 1: They can carry a number of diseases that are transferable

1112
01:01:57,320 --> 01:02:02,520
Speaker 1: to humans, and Armatilla's, of course, can carry Furthermore, there

1113
01:02:02,600 --> 01:02:07,000
Speaker 1: are slash were apparently tall tales of Armadillo's digging up

1114
01:02:07,040 --> 01:02:08,440
Speaker 1: graves and eating corpses.

1115
01:02:08,680 --> 01:02:09,880
Speaker 3: What I've never heard that.

1116
01:02:10,120 --> 01:02:11,760
Speaker 1: I mean, they do root around, and I think the

1117
01:02:11,840 --> 01:02:16,400
Speaker 1: idea is that this led to, you know, tall tails

1118
01:02:16,640 --> 01:02:18,880
Speaker 1: of them digging up and eating corpses, and you know,

1119
01:02:18,920 --> 01:02:21,400
Speaker 1: there may be some accounts of them, you know, eating

1120
01:02:22,000 --> 01:02:25,520
Speaker 1: non insect meat, scavenging it if the availability is there.

1121
01:02:25,560 --> 01:02:28,160
Speaker 1: I mean, we've seen that in other animals, but it

1122
01:02:28,400 --> 01:02:31,280
Speaker 1: seems to be yeah, just you know, a myth and

1123
01:02:31,600 --> 01:02:34,880
Speaker 1: a legend. But yeah, despite all the other aspects of

1124
01:02:34,920 --> 01:02:38,480
Speaker 1: this adaptation of Dracula that becomes set in Stone, the

1125
01:02:38,520 --> 01:02:41,600
Speaker 1: inclusion of possums and Armadilla's doesn't seem to be like

1126
01:02:41,680 --> 01:02:44,600
Speaker 1: something that really stuck. I don't think cope Wi used

1127
01:02:44,600 --> 01:02:45,160
Speaker 1: this at all.

1128
01:02:45,720 --> 01:02:49,040
Speaker 3: I do not recall it. But anyway, so after that,

1129
01:02:49,480 --> 01:02:52,080
Speaker 3: we finally get to the iconic shot where we first

1130
01:02:52,120 --> 01:02:55,640
Speaker 3: see Bella Legosi in full standing tall in a black

1131
01:02:55,680 --> 01:02:59,400
Speaker 3: cloak with the tall collar, and the dark catacombs under

1132
01:02:59,440 --> 01:03:02,880
Speaker 3: the stone arches and the cobwebs, with the light curiously

1133
01:03:02,920 --> 01:03:04,840
Speaker 3: falling on his face in a way that makes him

1134
01:03:04,840 --> 01:03:08,320
Speaker 3: look unnaturally pale, and the camera closes in and it

1135
01:03:08,360 --> 01:03:11,520
Speaker 3: brings us closer and closer to him, and it's almost

1136
01:03:11,520 --> 01:03:14,520
Speaker 3: like he's floating through the air toward us as the

1137
01:03:14,520 --> 01:03:18,320
Speaker 3: camera zooms in. Just great, great shot. It's one of

1138
01:03:18,320 --> 01:03:21,720
Speaker 3: those all time epic movie introductions. It's like, when you

1139
01:03:21,760 --> 01:03:23,560
Speaker 3: see a guy for the first time like this, you'll

1140
01:03:23,600 --> 01:03:24,400
Speaker 3: never forget him.

1141
01:03:24,720 --> 01:03:26,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like he is floating towards us. We are

1142
01:03:26,760 --> 01:03:30,800
Speaker 1: being drawn towards him. Yeah, we are already captivated.

1143
01:03:31,440 --> 01:03:33,840
Speaker 3: We also see Dracula's brides for the first time in

1144
01:03:33,880 --> 01:03:36,480
Speaker 3: this scene. They're like creeping along through the catacombs, also

1145
01:03:36,600 --> 01:03:41,000
Speaker 3: under these arches, and very very unsettling as well. So

1146
01:03:41,240 --> 01:03:43,320
Speaker 3: the next scene is the one where Dracula picks up

1147
01:03:43,360 --> 01:03:46,800
Speaker 3: Rinfield at the Borgo Pass at midnight. Dracula is supposed

1148
01:03:46,840 --> 01:03:50,240
Speaker 3: to be in disguise as the coachman here in the novel.

1149
01:03:50,960 --> 01:03:53,520
Speaker 3: I think he doesn't want Harker to realize that he's

1150
01:03:53,560 --> 01:03:56,400
Speaker 3: doing everything himself and that he doesn't actually have any

1151
01:03:56,440 --> 01:03:59,640
Speaker 3: living servants inside his castle, so he you know, he's

1152
01:03:59,680 --> 01:04:01,680
Speaker 3: into guys. But this is not a good disguise.

1153
01:04:01,720 --> 01:04:05,200
Speaker 1: It's bel Legosi, okay, basically just as a scarf and

1154
01:04:05,240 --> 01:04:05,680
Speaker 1: a hat.

1155
01:04:06,000 --> 01:04:09,680
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, but yeah, maybe if you've never seen Belli

1156
01:04:09,720 --> 01:04:14,200
Speaker 3: Lagosi before, just like, okay, it's another guy. Renfield meets

1157
01:04:14,240 --> 01:04:18,040
Speaker 3: the carriage in a haunted, misty landscape filled with crooked trees,

1158
01:04:18,120 --> 01:04:20,880
Speaker 3: and then he gets aboard. The driver does not speak.

1159
01:04:21,240 --> 01:04:23,320
Speaker 3: At one point along the way, Renfield looks out the

1160
01:04:23,320 --> 01:04:25,800
Speaker 3: window and sees the team of horses being led by

1161
01:04:25,840 --> 01:04:28,680
Speaker 3: a bat in flight. Good. Good, little moment.

1162
01:04:29,240 --> 01:04:31,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to add a note here about the

1163
01:04:31,720 --> 01:04:34,400
Speaker 1: you know, their rubber bats on yeah, on the strings essentially.

1164
01:04:34,400 --> 01:04:37,880
Speaker 1: We've seen so many flapping rubber bats on strings and

1165
01:04:37,960 --> 01:04:41,160
Speaker 1: various films, but here they do look really good. I

1166
01:04:41,160 --> 01:04:45,040
Speaker 1: mean there's never any doubt that you're watching an effect

1167
01:04:45,080 --> 01:04:47,720
Speaker 1: and not a real animal, but it looks really good.

1168
01:04:47,800 --> 01:04:50,200
Speaker 1: I absolute props.

1169
01:04:50,240 --> 01:04:52,960
Speaker 3: It's a rubber bat. But I like this rubber bat. Yeah,

1170
01:04:53,000 --> 01:04:55,240
Speaker 3: the rubber bat is better than the rubber spider that

1171
01:04:55,320 --> 01:04:57,280
Speaker 3: climbs the wall in a few minutes.

1172
01:04:57,400 --> 01:05:00,200
Speaker 1: Oh, it's true. Yeah, they couldn't keep live spider. Try

1173
01:05:00,240 --> 01:05:02,960
Speaker 1: to use live spiders. There are some. There are some

1174
01:05:03,000 --> 01:05:07,200
Speaker 1: live crickets as well, but yeah, live spiders. That's got

1175
01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:08,200
Speaker 1: eaten up pretty quickly.

1176
01:05:08,760 --> 01:05:13,600
Speaker 3: Okay, some notes about the scene where where Renfield arrives

1177
01:05:13,640 --> 01:05:15,640
Speaker 3: at the castle. It's great. You know, the door creaks

1178
01:05:15,680 --> 01:05:18,560
Speaker 3: open by itself. Again, most people have probably seen some

1179
01:05:18,640 --> 01:05:21,280
Speaker 3: kind of adaptation of Dracula, so you know this scene,

1180
01:05:21,920 --> 01:05:25,280
Speaker 3: Renfield cautiously steps into the main hall, which looks as

1181
01:05:25,280 --> 01:05:28,440
Speaker 3: if it had been deserted for centuries. Everything's covered in

1182
01:05:28,520 --> 01:05:31,920
Speaker 3: just ages worth of dust, giant spider webs. You got

1183
01:05:31,960 --> 01:05:35,600
Speaker 3: bats bobbing and cheapen outside the window. Uh are here,

1184
01:05:35,600 --> 01:05:37,600
Speaker 3: Here's where we meet the Armadillos for the first time.

1185
01:05:37,640 --> 01:05:42,280
Speaker 3: They're just crawling out of the furniture. Another beautiful set,

1186
01:05:42,640 --> 01:05:45,400
Speaker 3: once again a composite shot made by I think it's

1187
01:05:45,480 --> 01:05:51,160
Speaker 3: a real photograph, real photography of a stage, a sound

1188
01:05:51,200 --> 01:05:53,560
Speaker 3: stage made up set on the bottom, and then I

1189
01:05:53,560 --> 01:05:56,080
Speaker 3: think the painted editions are higher up in the frame.

1190
01:05:56,960 --> 01:05:59,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's absolutely gorgeous. The depth is amazing and is

1191
01:05:59,880 --> 01:06:06,440
Speaker 1: nov in the Road to Dracula documentary. This look, this set,

1192
01:06:06,600 --> 01:06:09,640
Speaker 1: like this really sets the tone for the look of

1193
01:06:09,720 --> 01:06:12,960
Speaker 1: horror films, all the horror films that come afterwards, particularly

1194
01:06:13,040 --> 01:06:17,440
Speaker 1: gothic horror films to come. This cathedral of the macabre.

1195
01:06:18,440 --> 01:06:21,320
Speaker 1: It just yeah, you know what you're looking at here,

1196
01:06:21,360 --> 01:06:26,480
Speaker 1: and it just resonates through horror cinema and things adjacent

1197
01:06:26,480 --> 01:06:28,480
Speaker 1: to horror cinema, Like this is like your basic Scooby

1198
01:06:28,480 --> 01:06:31,000
Speaker 1: Doo haunted house as well. So it does get deluded

1199
01:06:31,240 --> 01:06:34,040
Speaker 1: to a certain extent, but here in its original form,

1200
01:06:34,120 --> 01:06:35,400
Speaker 1: I mean, it's still astounding.

1201
01:06:35,880 --> 01:06:37,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. I mean it is beautiful, and it's

1202
01:06:38,000 --> 01:06:42,360
Speaker 3: the mother of all movie haunted castles. So we get

1203
01:06:42,400 --> 01:06:45,600
Speaker 3: the introductory scene he Dracula comes down the stairs with

1204
01:06:45,600 --> 01:06:49,520
Speaker 3: the candelabra. He says, I am Dracula. He says to Renfield,

1205
01:06:49,520 --> 01:06:52,720
Speaker 3: I bid you welcome. Renfield says, is just kind of

1206
01:06:52,760 --> 01:06:55,840
Speaker 3: nervously stammering and you know, saying a bunch of stuff

1207
01:06:55,880 --> 01:06:59,680
Speaker 3: that's not necessary. And as they start to go up

1208
01:06:59,680 --> 01:07:03,240
Speaker 3: the stairs, we get the great moment where Count Dracula says,

1209
01:07:03,720 --> 01:07:07,120
Speaker 3: they hear wolves howling outside, and Dracula says, listen to them,

1210
01:07:07,680 --> 01:07:11,680
Speaker 3: chill the rain of the night. What music they make?

1211
01:07:12,600 --> 01:07:15,320
Speaker 3: I'm sorry if I didn't deliver that right, but it's

1212
01:07:16,200 --> 01:07:19,440
Speaker 3: it's I think Skull points out that actually, in a

1213
01:07:19,480 --> 01:07:22,680
Speaker 3: lot of later adaptations of the Dracula story, this line

1214
01:07:22,680 --> 01:07:26,840
Speaker 3: gets embellished. They start adding other words to it, where

1215
01:07:26,880 --> 01:07:30,600
Speaker 3: it's like what beautiful music they make or what sweet

1216
01:07:30,760 --> 01:07:35,000
Speaker 3: music they make? And the simplicity of what music they

1217
01:07:35,040 --> 01:07:38,240
Speaker 3: make is so much better. I like that this Dracula

1218
01:07:38,360 --> 01:07:39,440
Speaker 3: is understated.

1219
01:07:40,240 --> 01:07:42,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and again yeah, the cryptic nature of it

1220
01:07:42,680 --> 01:07:45,600
Speaker 1: and the fact that Lugosi makes every syllable count. And

1221
01:07:45,720 --> 01:07:47,920
Speaker 1: I think it was Joe Dante who made the point

1222
01:07:47,920 --> 01:07:50,280
Speaker 1: in the Road to Dracula that that Legosi also had

1223
01:07:50,320 --> 01:07:53,000
Speaker 1: a great ability to find every possible syllable in a

1224
01:07:53,040 --> 01:07:56,160
Speaker 1: word yes and bring it to full life.

1225
01:07:56,960 --> 01:07:59,040
Speaker 3: The scene also has the moment where Dracula is going

1226
01:07:59,120 --> 01:08:01,760
Speaker 3: up the stairs and he passes through the spider web

1227
01:08:01,840 --> 01:08:05,560
Speaker 3: without parting it, and then Renfield going through. You know,

1228
01:08:05,600 --> 01:08:07,880
Speaker 3: there's a spider web across the Dracula is already gone

1229
01:08:07,920 --> 01:08:09,800
Speaker 3: and he has to split the web and go through,

1230
01:08:10,080 --> 01:08:13,000
Speaker 3: which is eerie, but there are actually no special effects needed.

1231
01:08:13,000 --> 01:08:14,880
Speaker 3: It's just a no ominous cut. You see him walking

1232
01:08:14,960 --> 01:08:17,120
Speaker 3: up toward it and it cuts away and suddenly he's

1233
01:08:17,160 --> 01:08:19,040
Speaker 3: on the other side of it, but it's still intact.

1234
01:08:20,040 --> 01:08:25,000
Speaker 3: And then a rubber spider scuttles up the wall. So

1235
01:08:25,120 --> 01:08:27,320
Speaker 3: Renfield is brought up to a more hospitable room with

1236
01:08:27,400 --> 01:08:30,519
Speaker 3: a roaring fireplace and supper set out for him. This

1237
01:08:30,720 --> 01:08:33,840
Speaker 3: drag hospitality scene also appears in some form in most

1238
01:08:34,080 --> 01:08:37,160
Speaker 3: versions of the story. As usual, they discuss business here,

1239
01:08:37,200 --> 01:08:39,639
Speaker 3: you know, Dracula signs the lease on the property he's

1240
01:08:39,640 --> 01:08:45,080
Speaker 3: acquiring in England. He works out shipping arrangements. He explains

1241
01:08:45,120 --> 01:08:50,120
Speaker 3: that he's taking three boxes on the ship that he's

1242
01:08:50,200 --> 01:08:53,760
Speaker 3: chartered for England, which is leaving tomorrow evening. Wow, that's

1243
01:08:53,760 --> 01:08:57,400
Speaker 3: soon three boxes. I think he takes more boxes in

1244
01:08:57,439 --> 01:08:59,800
Speaker 3: the book, but three, I guess that. Yeah, that's right.

1245
01:09:00,040 --> 01:09:01,840
Speaker 1: It seems like you could take four, right. I must

1246
01:09:01,880 --> 01:09:04,040
Speaker 1: be missing something here because he needs one for each

1247
01:09:04,080 --> 01:09:06,679
Speaker 1: bride and then himself. But maybe there's.

1248
01:09:06,560 --> 01:09:08,639
Speaker 3: I don't know, that's a good point. Yeah.

1249
01:09:09,080 --> 01:09:13,040
Speaker 1: Even then there were carry on lints and and so forth.

1250
01:09:13,120 --> 01:09:15,280
Speaker 1: So it was like, I have four buckses and they're like, well,

1251
01:09:15,320 --> 01:09:16,760
Speaker 1: we have to charge you for the fourth, when it's

1252
01:09:16,800 --> 01:09:19,080
Speaker 1: like I can make do with three.

1253
01:09:20,520 --> 01:09:23,040
Speaker 3: So Renfield in this scene, of course, you know, he

1254
01:09:23,080 --> 01:09:25,879
Speaker 3: gets a paper cut all those documents. That's a little dangerous.

1255
01:09:26,240 --> 01:09:28,840
Speaker 3: You're gonna you're gonna cut your fingers, and he does,

1256
01:09:29,240 --> 01:09:32,280
Speaker 3: and DrAk can't help himself. He starts creeping up to him,

1257
01:09:32,960 --> 01:09:35,639
Speaker 3: but then the sign of the cross, the crucifix given

1258
01:09:35,680 --> 01:09:37,599
Speaker 3: to him by the woman at the end, makes Dracula

1259
01:09:37,640 --> 01:09:41,160
Speaker 3: recoil m And around here is where we start getting

1260
01:09:41,200 --> 01:09:45,200
Speaker 3: these great close ups on Dracula's face with the light

1261
01:09:45,320 --> 01:09:47,559
Speaker 3: just falling over his eyes where he seems to be

1262
01:09:47,640 --> 01:09:50,639
Speaker 3: hypnotizing the person in front of him. Uh. The scene

1263
01:09:50,680 --> 01:09:53,720
Speaker 3: also has the great wine exchange, you know, where he

1264
01:09:53,760 --> 01:09:56,559
Speaker 3: offers wine to Renfield. He says, this is very old wine.

1265
01:09:56,560 --> 01:09:59,280
Speaker 3: I hope you will like it. And Renfield's like, oh,

1266
01:09:59,360 --> 01:10:03,599
Speaker 3: thank you. Aren't you you having any I never drink why.

1267
01:10:05,680 --> 01:10:06,639
Speaker 1: We know what he drinks.

1268
01:10:06,960 --> 01:10:09,920
Speaker 3: So after this, Dracula leaves Renfield for the evening, but

1269
01:10:10,000 --> 01:10:13,920
Speaker 3: he's not leaving for long. Renfield, when finally alone, looks

1270
01:10:13,960 --> 01:10:19,080
Speaker 3: moderately disconcerted. But then uh h. Immediately some trouble starts

1271
01:10:19,120 --> 01:10:22,240
Speaker 3: creeping in. So we see Dracula's three demon brides approaching

1272
01:10:22,280 --> 01:10:25,240
Speaker 3: the door through a through a misty hallway, and then

1273
01:10:25,320 --> 01:10:28,000
Speaker 3: Renfield goes to the window of his room, outside of

1274
01:10:28,040 --> 01:10:31,200
Speaker 3: which there are these crooked tree branches and it's a

1275
01:10:31,680 --> 01:10:33,759
Speaker 3: I don't know, just a very creepy kind of landscape

1276
01:10:33,760 --> 01:10:37,200
Speaker 3: out there again, like mists covering the ground. And then

1277
01:10:37,240 --> 01:10:39,720
Speaker 3: a bat there's a bat. Oh, bat comes to the

1278
01:10:39,720 --> 01:10:42,200
Speaker 3: window and it sort of floats in front of him.

1279
01:10:42,439 --> 01:10:46,040
Speaker 3: Renfield collapses on the floor as if you know, hypnotized

1280
01:10:46,080 --> 01:10:49,519
Speaker 3: into unconsciousness somehow by the bat. And then the brides

1281
01:10:49,560 --> 01:10:52,960
Speaker 3: creep into the room. They're advancing on Renfield's body. They're

1282
01:10:53,520 --> 01:10:56,000
Speaker 3: obviously they're going to drink his blood, but no, no,

1283
01:10:56,479 --> 01:11:00,120
Speaker 3: Renfield is not for them. Dracula himself comes back in

1284
01:11:00,360 --> 01:11:03,280
Speaker 3: through the window into the room, and he drives away

1285
01:11:03,320 --> 01:11:06,400
Speaker 3: his wives as if to say he is mine, and

1286
01:11:06,439 --> 01:11:10,160
Speaker 3: then the Count descends on Wrinfield's unconscious body and leans

1287
01:11:10,240 --> 01:11:11,920
Speaker 3: over him to take him in his arms.

1288
01:11:12,520 --> 01:11:16,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's great, Steveuince. And we never actually see him

1289
01:11:16,479 --> 01:11:18,880
Speaker 1: like bite into Renfield. Correct me if I'm wrong, But

1290
01:11:19,680 --> 01:11:23,160
Speaker 1: do we ever see fangs in nineteen thirty one Stracula

1291
01:11:23,240 --> 01:11:23,559
Speaker 1: at all?

1292
01:11:24,960 --> 01:11:28,840
Speaker 3: That's a very good point. I'm afraid to be wrong,

1293
01:11:28,960 --> 01:11:32,080
Speaker 3: but I think you never do. Yeah, I think you

1294
01:11:32,120 --> 01:11:33,200
Speaker 3: never see them. Yeah, yeah.

1295
01:11:33,280 --> 01:11:35,559
Speaker 1: If you do see them there, it's not much as

1296
01:11:35,600 --> 01:11:38,120
Speaker 1: made out of it, And it almost seems like they

1297
01:11:38,160 --> 01:11:41,479
Speaker 1: couldn't show for things, you know, like that would be

1298
01:11:41,520 --> 01:11:45,120
Speaker 1: too much for thirty one, and therefore it's implied rather

1299
01:11:45,160 --> 01:11:48,120
Speaker 1: than shown. And I mean you don't miss them because

1300
01:11:48,120 --> 01:11:49,799
Speaker 1: your imagination takes you there already.

1301
01:11:50,000 --> 01:11:53,400
Speaker 3: That's right. So we get the standard interlude of a

1302
01:11:53,439 --> 01:11:57,120
Speaker 3: ship on route to England. A difference from most versions

1303
01:11:57,120 --> 01:12:00,120
Speaker 3: here is that because it's Wrinfield rather than Harker who

1304
01:12:00,120 --> 01:12:03,840
Speaker 3: went to the castle, Renfield is on the ship with Dracula.

1305
01:12:04,040 --> 01:12:07,040
Speaker 3: There's like there are two creeps on this journey, and

1306
01:12:07,120 --> 01:12:10,400
Speaker 3: he's a full on vampire thraw already. You know, he's

1307
01:12:10,439 --> 01:12:13,400
Speaker 3: crouching next to the to the vampire's coffin, saying, you

1308
01:12:13,439 --> 01:12:16,400
Speaker 3: will keep your promise when we get to London, won't you? Master?

1309
01:12:16,760 --> 01:12:18,480
Speaker 3: You will see that I get lives.

1310
01:12:18,960 --> 01:12:21,400
Speaker 1: I think for some reason, it's not the Demeter as well,

1311
01:12:21,439 --> 01:12:24,280
Speaker 1: like it venta Yeah, because they I guess, you know,

1312
01:12:24,560 --> 01:12:28,280
Speaker 1: they didn't give themselves enough time to make that particular ship,

1313
01:12:28,320 --> 01:12:30,559
Speaker 1: so they had to deal with the deal with another one. Yeah.

1314
01:12:30,680 --> 01:12:36,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, so, uh so Dracula is like he never answers

1315
01:12:36,200 --> 01:12:38,360
Speaker 3: the question about whether he's gonna get lives, does he. He

1316
01:12:38,479 --> 01:12:41,519
Speaker 3: just gives him this withering look like no promises, kid.

1317
01:12:41,680 --> 01:12:44,439
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've already talked about this. We're not going through

1318
01:12:44,439 --> 01:12:46,280
Speaker 1: all this again. Yeah, you get what you get. You

1319
01:12:46,280 --> 01:12:46,960
Speaker 1: don't pitch a fit.

1320
01:12:47,160 --> 01:12:51,320
Speaker 3: We've got lives at home. So of course Dracula, you know,

1321
01:12:51,360 --> 01:12:53,599
Speaker 3: he eats the crew along the way. When they arrived.

1322
01:12:53,640 --> 01:12:55,679
Speaker 3: The only sailors left on the ship are dead. There's

1323
01:12:55,720 --> 01:12:58,840
Speaker 3: one tied to the wheel, which we only see in silhouette.

1324
01:12:58,920 --> 01:13:02,599
Speaker 3: But here we start to get Dwight Fry's deranged high

1325
01:13:02,680 --> 01:13:06,120
Speaker 3: energy performance, like they throw open the doors down into

1326
01:13:06,120 --> 01:13:09,040
Speaker 3: the hold and Dwight Fry is just standing there at

1327
01:13:09,040 --> 01:13:14,240
Speaker 3: the bottom of the stairs, laughing maniacally with this unbelievably

1328
01:13:14,320 --> 01:13:16,040
Speaker 3: devilish grin. It's so good.

1329
01:13:16,520 --> 01:13:17,120
Speaker 1: Oh yes.

1330
01:13:17,520 --> 01:13:20,280
Speaker 3: We also get a newspaper clipping here to sort of

1331
01:13:20,280 --> 01:13:23,360
Speaker 3: fill us in on what's going on. It tells us

1332
01:13:23,720 --> 01:13:27,679
Speaker 3: that the soul survivor is a raving maniac, says quote.

1333
01:13:27,720 --> 01:13:31,040
Speaker 3: His craving to devour ants, flies, and other small living

1334
01:13:31,080 --> 01:13:35,320
Speaker 3: things to obtain their blood puzzles scientists. At present, he

1335
01:13:35,520 --> 01:13:39,880
Speaker 3: is under observation in doctor Seward's sanitarium near London. Now

1336
01:13:39,880 --> 01:13:41,680
Speaker 3: Here we also get a scene that say, in a

1337
01:13:41,680 --> 01:13:44,679
Speaker 3: lot of versions of this story, the sort of first

1338
01:13:44,800 --> 01:13:48,160
Speaker 3: taste of the fish out of water horror scenario, and

1339
01:13:48,200 --> 01:13:52,120
Speaker 3: it's Dracula walking the streets of modern London. The old

1340
01:13:52,240 --> 01:13:54,439
Speaker 3: curse has been taken out of the old world and

1341
01:13:54,560 --> 01:13:59,240
Speaker 3: inserted into the modern world. So he menacingly approaches a

1342
01:13:59,240 --> 01:14:02,120
Speaker 3: girl selling fla on the street corner and then slowly

1343
01:14:02,280 --> 01:14:06,120
Speaker 3: envelops her with his arms to drink her blood. And

1344
01:14:06,240 --> 01:14:08,120
Speaker 3: I wanted to take a moment to talk here about

1345
01:14:08,160 --> 01:14:11,680
Speaker 3: the staging of how Dracula descends upon a victim in

1346
01:14:11,720 --> 01:14:16,720
Speaker 3: this movie, it almost looks sort of awkward. Usually, it's

1347
01:14:16,760 --> 01:14:20,040
Speaker 3: clearly a deliberate choice to make him move like this.

1348
01:14:20,520 --> 01:14:25,719
Speaker 3: It is a stiff, extremely slow movement into the victim's

1349
01:14:25,760 --> 01:14:28,559
Speaker 3: space and around them. He did the same thing when

1350
01:14:28,600 --> 01:14:31,240
Speaker 3: he descended on Dwight Fry's unconscious body. He'll do the

1351
01:14:31,280 --> 01:14:34,080
Speaker 3: same thing later when we see him leaning down toward

1352
01:14:34,160 --> 01:14:39,960
Speaker 3: Mina's bed. It's just this slow, stiff, rigid kind of approach.

1353
01:14:40,439 --> 01:14:43,240
Speaker 3: I don't know exactly why they made that choice or

1354
01:14:43,280 --> 01:14:46,760
Speaker 3: what it means, but it's interesting and different, and I

1355
01:14:46,760 --> 01:14:48,080
Speaker 3: don't know, it looks very weird.

1356
01:14:48,439 --> 01:14:49,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes me think of some of the later

1357
01:14:49,800 --> 01:14:53,160
Speaker 1: scenes where we see him using his full power of

1358
01:14:53,280 --> 01:14:56,679
Speaker 1: enthrallment over victims. You know, he doesn't have to lunge,

1359
01:14:56,800 --> 01:14:59,719
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to move quickly because he's already snared

1360
01:14:59,760 --> 01:15:00,519
Speaker 1: you with his eyes.

1361
01:15:01,080 --> 01:15:01,320
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1362
01:15:01,400 --> 01:15:05,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good comparison. I

1363
01:15:05,920 --> 01:15:08,759
Speaker 3: don't know, I'll have to think more about that anyway.

1364
01:15:08,880 --> 01:15:11,639
Speaker 3: Dracula makes his way to an auditorium in the city

1365
01:15:11,680 --> 01:15:15,080
Speaker 3: center where a symphony performance is taking place. He eventually

1366
01:15:15,080 --> 01:15:18,520
Speaker 3: makes his way to the box bearing our main good characters.

1367
01:15:19,280 --> 01:15:22,840
Speaker 3: These are Mina Seward and Lucy Weston, two young women

1368
01:15:22,960 --> 01:15:26,120
Speaker 3: close friends since childhood who will become the targets of

1369
01:15:26,120 --> 01:15:30,120
Speaker 3: Count Dracula's blood hunt in London. Jonathan Harker again with

1370
01:15:30,280 --> 01:15:35,599
Speaker 3: big whys he here now energy Mina's fiance. He's Mina's fiance.

1371
01:15:35,880 --> 01:15:39,640
Speaker 3: There he is. There's doctor Seward, who runs the sanitarium

1372
01:15:39,640 --> 01:15:43,040
Speaker 3: where Rinfield has been committed, which also just happens to

1373
01:15:43,040 --> 01:15:45,800
Speaker 3: be right next door to Carfax Abbey, the estate that

1374
01:15:45,880 --> 01:15:50,120
Speaker 3: Dracula has leased. In this version of the story, doctor

1375
01:15:50,240 --> 01:15:54,800
Speaker 3: Seward is Mina's father in the novel, that's not the case.

1376
01:15:54,880 --> 01:15:57,680
Speaker 3: I think he is. He's younger, and I believe he

1377
01:15:57,760 --> 01:16:00,760
Speaker 3: is one of Lucy's mini suitors. That's the whole thing.

1378
01:16:00,800 --> 01:16:02,800
Speaker 3: In the novel, She's got like five different guys who

1379
01:16:02,800 --> 01:16:03,760
Speaker 3: are trying to marry her.

1380
01:16:05,320 --> 01:16:12,760
Speaker 1: Unnecessary love triangle removed. I'm in favor love Pentagon, Yeah, Pentagon.

1381
01:16:13,720 --> 01:16:17,559
Speaker 1: So Dracula uses a ploy to talk himself into the

1382
01:16:17,720 --> 01:16:20,439
Speaker 1: sort of opera box here to meet these characters. I

1383
01:16:20,520 --> 01:16:23,240
Speaker 1: think one thing I was a little unclear on is

1384
01:16:23,280 --> 01:16:25,840
Speaker 1: like why he's trying to meet them, And I think

1385
01:16:25,880 --> 01:16:31,320
Speaker 1: the issue is that he knows Renfield, his vampire Thrall,

1386
01:16:31,720 --> 01:16:35,439
Speaker 1: has been committed to the sanitarium the Doctor Seward runs,

1387
01:16:35,600 --> 01:16:39,519
Speaker 1: and so he's trying to to like influence them related

1388
01:16:39,560 --> 01:16:41,080
Speaker 1: to that, or maybe because they're neighbors.

1389
01:16:41,120 --> 01:16:42,040
Speaker 3: Now, maybe that's why.

1390
01:16:42,120 --> 01:16:43,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, their neighbors's neighborly.

1391
01:16:43,840 --> 01:16:48,160
Speaker 3: This is neighborly, that's exactly yes, So he introduces himself

1392
01:16:48,160 --> 01:16:51,040
Speaker 3: to the three younger Londoners. Doctor Seward takes a phone call,

1393
01:16:52,200 --> 01:16:54,280
Speaker 3: and you know, they bring up that he's moving into

1394
01:16:54,280 --> 01:16:57,400
Speaker 3: Carfax Abbey and Harker's like, oh, that's very old. Will

1395
01:16:57,400 --> 01:17:01,040
Speaker 3: it need repairs? And Dracula says, I shall do very

1396
01:17:01,080 --> 01:17:02,280
Speaker 3: little repairing.

1397
01:17:02,880 --> 01:17:05,840
Speaker 1: This is such a great everyone plays. The next time

1398
01:17:05,880 --> 01:17:08,960
Speaker 1: you move to a new town or new home, keep

1399
01:17:09,000 --> 01:17:11,439
Speaker 1: this one with you. When someone, when a neighbor like

1400
01:17:11,520 --> 01:17:14,040
Speaker 1: subtly brings up some sort of repair that might need

1401
01:17:14,080 --> 01:17:16,960
Speaker 1: to happen, be like, I shall do very little repair.

1402
01:17:17,640 --> 01:17:21,400
Speaker 3: Very good. Yeah. So, but he explains it's because he

1403
01:17:21,560 --> 01:17:23,439
Speaker 3: likes the way that the abbey reminds him of the

1404
01:17:23,479 --> 01:17:27,040
Speaker 3: old broken battlements of his castle in Transylvania. And then

1405
01:17:27,160 --> 01:17:29,080
Speaker 3: Lucy says, oh, you know, that reminds me of an

1406
01:17:29,120 --> 01:17:31,240
Speaker 3: old toast. I don't remember everything she says, but it

1407
01:17:31,320 --> 01:17:34,280
Speaker 3: ends with a line about dying, and then Dracula says,

1408
01:17:34,360 --> 01:17:38,280
Speaker 3: to die, to be really dead. That must be glorious.

1409
01:17:39,439 --> 01:17:42,040
Speaker 1: Oh that's so good. And there's more too. That's great

1410
01:17:42,040 --> 01:17:45,960
Speaker 1: because then Mina says, why Count Dracula, and that alone

1411
01:17:46,000 --> 01:17:49,880
Speaker 1: is excellent. I love that, Oh Dracula. But then then

1412
01:17:49,920 --> 01:17:53,360
Speaker 1: the Count says, they are far worse things awaiting men

1413
01:17:53,479 --> 01:17:56,400
Speaker 1: than death, and oh my god, this is another moment

1414
01:17:56,400 --> 01:17:58,760
Speaker 1: where I just love the ambiguity and the cryptic nature

1415
01:17:58,800 --> 01:18:02,000
Speaker 1: of it. Is he talking about is he talking about undeath?

1416
01:18:02,560 --> 01:18:05,120
Speaker 1: Or is it something else, like something so terrible that

1417
01:18:05,160 --> 01:18:07,679
Speaker 1: we morals haven't even conceived of it yet. It's only

1418
01:18:07,800 --> 01:18:09,440
Speaker 1: known to the vampires.

1419
01:18:09,880 --> 01:18:14,479
Speaker 3: Yes, that's right. So in this scene, Dracula somewhat charms them.

1420
01:18:15,680 --> 01:18:18,920
Speaker 3: I clearly he becomes fixated on Lucy, and in a

1421
01:18:18,960 --> 01:18:21,200
Speaker 3: later scene at home between Mina and Lucy, we see

1422
01:18:21,200 --> 01:18:23,639
Speaker 3: that Lucy's kind of fixated on him, like they're making

1423
01:18:23,720 --> 01:18:26,479
Speaker 3: jokes about his accent, but Lucy talks about how she's

1424
01:18:26,520 --> 01:18:27,719
Speaker 3: fascinated by the Count.

1425
01:18:28,200 --> 01:18:30,919
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're just both kind of hanging out crushing on Dracula.

1426
01:18:30,960 --> 01:18:31,320
Speaker 4: I love it.

1427
01:18:31,400 --> 01:18:34,800
Speaker 3: Yeah. But then later that night, in Lucy's bedroom while

1428
01:18:34,840 --> 01:18:37,680
Speaker 3: she sleeps, there's a bat floating out the window. You

1429
01:18:37,720 --> 01:18:41,160
Speaker 3: don't want that. And then he appears in Legosi form

1430
01:18:41,200 --> 01:18:44,280
Speaker 3: in her room, standing over her bed, and once again

1431
01:18:44,479 --> 01:18:48,280
Speaker 3: he slowly descends and we cut away right as he's

1432
01:18:48,320 --> 01:18:52,519
Speaker 3: over her. I guess here's a good part in the

1433
01:18:52,840 --> 01:18:54,599
Speaker 3: in the plot to kind of take a step back

1434
01:18:55,000 --> 01:18:58,800
Speaker 3: and acknowledge the plot falls A follows a similar structure

1435
01:18:59,240 --> 01:19:02,479
Speaker 3: to most Stracks adaptations, and we can kind of note

1436
01:19:02,520 --> 01:19:05,320
Speaker 3: some interesting things and differences. So at this point in

1437
01:19:05,360 --> 01:19:08,680
Speaker 3: the story, usually Lucy takes ill as a result of

1438
01:19:08,720 --> 01:19:12,120
Speaker 3: having her blood drained by the vampire each night. In

1439
01:19:12,200 --> 01:19:15,120
Speaker 3: the book, this illness and the mystery as to its

1440
01:19:15,160 --> 01:19:18,760
Speaker 3: cause are protracted, but in this movie we just We're

1441
01:19:18,760 --> 01:19:21,160
Speaker 3: going to cut straight to her death and the autopsy,

1442
01:19:22,200 --> 01:19:24,920
Speaker 3: and doctor Seward and colleagues note that there are two

1443
01:19:25,000 --> 01:19:26,840
Speaker 3: marks on her neck, the same as with the other

1444
01:19:26,960 --> 01:19:29,479
Speaker 3: victims in London that have been found drained of blood.

1445
01:19:30,200 --> 01:19:33,839
Speaker 3: So from here doctor Seward recruits the aid of his mentor,

1446
01:19:33,960 --> 01:19:37,839
Speaker 3: doctor Van Helsing, who deduces that they may be dealing

1447
01:19:37,840 --> 01:19:41,000
Speaker 3: not with an ordinary illness, but with a vampire. No

1448
01:19:41,160 --> 01:19:45,800
Speaker 3: s Feratu, and then Lucy dies. In this version, she

1449
01:19:45,840 --> 01:19:49,679
Speaker 3: dies quite quickly and the vampire turns his attention to Mina,

1450
01:19:49,840 --> 01:19:53,320
Speaker 3: whom he visits in the Night for blood, eventually starting

1451
01:19:53,360 --> 01:19:56,320
Speaker 3: to turn her into a vampire herself. And the heroes

1452
01:19:56,320 --> 01:19:58,799
Speaker 3: in the end have to solve the mystery and realize

1453
01:19:58,840 --> 01:20:00,720
Speaker 3: that the only way they can save Mina is to

1454
01:20:00,840 --> 01:20:04,639
Speaker 3: destroy the vampire, which they do. So things to discuss

1455
01:20:04,720 --> 01:20:06,720
Speaker 3: within the structure. As the movie goes on, we got

1456
01:20:06,760 --> 01:20:09,559
Speaker 3: scenes of Rinfield at the sanitarium raving about how he

1457
01:20:09,600 --> 01:20:13,120
Speaker 3: wants to eat spiders. He's trying to upgrade from flies,

1458
01:20:13,160 --> 01:20:15,519
Speaker 3: like he's been eating flies, but he decides they're not

1459
01:20:15,560 --> 01:20:20,040
Speaker 3: good enough now he wants spiders. Of course, we meet

1460
01:20:20,080 --> 01:20:22,360
Speaker 3: doctor van Helsing when we meet him here. I think

1461
01:20:22,479 --> 01:20:25,880
Speaker 3: he's like doing some chemistry experiments right after the death

1462
01:20:25,880 --> 01:20:29,439
Speaker 3: of Lucy, and he's like, yep, tests came back. Knows Faratu,

1463
01:20:29,640 --> 01:20:32,000
Speaker 3: that's what we're dealing with. So they I don't know.

1464
01:20:32,040 --> 01:20:34,679
Speaker 3: They cut over what, from my memory is a huge

1465
01:20:34,720 --> 01:20:37,360
Speaker 3: section in the middle of the book to get from

1466
01:20:37,400 --> 01:20:40,720
Speaker 3: like Lucy starts falling sick to they figure out that

1467
01:20:40,760 --> 01:20:45,080
Speaker 3: a vampire is involved. That's a couple minutes in this movie.

1468
01:20:45,400 --> 01:20:48,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's a quick test. But yeah,

1469
01:20:48,360 --> 01:20:50,839
Speaker 1: the van Helsing here, I guess maybe it's the chemistry

1470
01:20:50,880 --> 01:20:53,240
Speaker 1: set in the glasses kind of helps give him a

1471
01:20:53,320 --> 01:20:57,160
Speaker 1: slight mad scientist air for me, and I guess, like

1472
01:20:57,200 --> 01:21:00,640
Speaker 1: the van Helsing that I'm mostly familiar with is Peter Cushings,

1473
01:21:00,880 --> 01:21:03,599
Speaker 1: and Peter Cushing's Van Helsing, of course, is very prim

1474
01:21:03,680 --> 01:21:04,440
Speaker 1: and proper.

1475
01:21:04,680 --> 01:21:08,839
Speaker 3: Very Yeah. Yeah, this guy's weirder than Peter Cushing definitely.

1476
01:21:16,800 --> 01:21:20,400
Speaker 3: So the mystery in this is not whether it's a vampire.

1477
01:21:20,479 --> 01:21:22,320
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess some of the other like Seward

1478
01:21:22,360 --> 01:21:25,840
Speaker 3: and Harker take some convincing, but Van Helsing gets there immediately.

1479
01:21:26,760 --> 01:21:30,080
Speaker 3: So the mystery is not like what is hurting Lucy,

1480
01:21:30,200 --> 01:21:33,880
Speaker 3: but it is who is the vampire? Renfield is the

1481
01:21:33,920 --> 01:21:37,400
Speaker 3: initial subject, and this is plausible because Renfield keeps escaping

1482
01:21:37,439 --> 01:21:41,120
Speaker 3: the sanitarium. The scene where Van Helsing first meets Renfield

1483
01:21:41,160 --> 01:21:44,000
Speaker 3: is great, like he asks Renfield asked to be sent

1484
01:21:44,040 --> 01:21:47,599
Speaker 3: away from the sanitarium? Why? He says, because my cries

1485
01:21:47,640 --> 01:21:50,920
Speaker 3: at night might disturb Mina. They might give her bad dreams,

1486
01:21:51,520 --> 01:21:55,640
Speaker 3: which is this great combination of sweet and threatening. You

1487
01:21:55,640 --> 01:21:59,840
Speaker 3: can't tell which one it is, but Van Helsing drives

1488
01:22:00,160 --> 01:22:02,680
Speaker 3: Field mad with a sprig of wolf Spain. He's like, you,

1489
01:22:03,000 --> 01:22:05,880
Speaker 3: I have some of this, and how about little wolf

1490
01:22:05,920 --> 01:22:08,720
Speaker 3: Spain Renfield, and Renfield says, you know too much to

1491
01:22:08,800 --> 01:22:12,599
Speaker 3: live van Helsing, and this, of course confirms Van Helsing's

1492
01:22:12,640 --> 01:22:17,200
Speaker 3: suspicions some vamping is going on. So Dracula attacks Mina

1493
01:22:17,200 --> 01:22:20,599
Speaker 3: in the night, and after this happens, there's a haunting

1494
01:22:20,600 --> 01:22:24,240
Speaker 3: scene where she explains her experience the next morning. I

1495
01:22:24,320 --> 01:22:26,360
Speaker 3: thought this is a good monologue. She says, I heard

1496
01:22:26,400 --> 01:22:29,439
Speaker 3: dogs howling, and when the dream came, it seemed the

1497
01:22:29,479 --> 01:22:32,519
Speaker 3: whole room was filled with mist. It was so thick.

1498
01:22:32,680 --> 01:22:34,840
Speaker 3: I could just see the lamp by the bed, a

1499
01:22:34,920 --> 01:22:37,719
Speaker 3: tiny spark in the fog. And then I saw two

1500
01:22:37,800 --> 01:22:41,200
Speaker 3: red eyes glaring at me, and a white, livid face

1501
01:22:41,320 --> 01:22:44,600
Speaker 3: came down out of the mist. It came closer and closer.

1502
01:22:44,800 --> 01:22:47,799
Speaker 3: I felt its breath on my face, and then its lips.

1503
01:22:48,120 --> 01:22:48,880
Speaker 1: Oh.

1504
01:22:48,920 --> 01:22:51,600
Speaker 3: And we compare this with what we saw from the

1505
01:22:51,640 --> 01:22:54,599
Speaker 3: scene before, where Dracula is descending over her bed. And

1506
01:22:55,200 --> 01:22:59,759
Speaker 3: it's funny because Dracula is often very composed and calm

1507
01:22:59,800 --> 01:23:03,120
Speaker 3: and movie but he as he's leaning right over her.

1508
01:23:03,160 --> 01:23:06,479
Speaker 3: He makes this grimace that I don't think we've seen

1509
01:23:06,520 --> 01:23:07,280
Speaker 3: anywhere else.

1510
01:23:08,680 --> 01:23:10,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, this is like, this is the scene where

1511
01:23:10,760 --> 01:23:12,760
Speaker 1: you would see the things. I feel like if we

1512
01:23:12,760 --> 01:23:16,720
Speaker 1: were going to see things. But yeah, it's horrifying and

1513
01:23:16,760 --> 01:23:17,800
Speaker 1: he's coming right at us.

1514
01:23:18,040 --> 01:23:20,839
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. And this scene leads to doctor van Helsing

1515
01:23:20,920 --> 01:23:23,760
Speaker 3: doing a throat check on Mina. Like he takes her

1516
01:23:23,800 --> 01:23:25,960
Speaker 3: scarf off, and what do you know, She's got some

1517
01:23:26,000 --> 01:23:29,120
Speaker 3: punctures on the neck. She was hiding them behind a scarf.

1518
01:23:29,320 --> 01:23:31,639
Speaker 3: Something kind of interesting there. The movie doesn't really draw

1519
01:23:31,680 --> 01:23:33,679
Speaker 3: a lot of attention to it, but why was Mina

1520
01:23:33,760 --> 01:23:39,040
Speaker 3: hiding the wounds? Anyway, This scene is suddenly interrupted by

1521
01:23:39,080 --> 01:23:43,160
Speaker 3: a visit from Count Dracula. Mina kind of perks up

1522
01:23:43,200 --> 01:23:45,720
Speaker 3: on Dracula's arrival. I remember she didn't seem to like

1523
01:23:45,800 --> 01:23:47,559
Speaker 3: him that much when they first met, but now she's

1524
01:23:47,640 --> 01:23:49,680
Speaker 3: kind of eager to talk to him and smiles in

1525
01:23:49,720 --> 01:23:53,479
Speaker 3: his presence. Apparently Dracula has been telling Mina grim tales

1526
01:23:53,479 --> 01:23:57,439
Speaker 3: about his home country and she likes that. Another interesting

1527
01:23:57,520 --> 01:23:59,439
Speaker 3: choice in this scene. I don't recall if this is

1528
01:23:59,439 --> 01:24:01,720
Speaker 3: in the novel or not. I don't think so. But

1529
01:24:01,880 --> 01:24:06,240
Speaker 3: Dracula knows of Van Helsing. It's like, oh, yes, we're

1530
01:24:06,240 --> 01:24:08,560
Speaker 3: familiar with your work, even in Transylvania.

1531
01:24:08,960 --> 01:24:11,880
Speaker 1: Well, you know, Van Helsing probably publishes in the various

1532
01:24:11,960 --> 01:24:17,400
Speaker 1: occult journals, and you know, Dracula and his kind read up.

1533
01:24:17,760 --> 01:24:21,680
Speaker 1: They want to stay abreast of new findings in vampire sciences.

1534
01:24:21,680 --> 01:24:24,000
Speaker 3: Of course, yeah, you got to know your enemy, right,

1535
01:24:24,080 --> 01:24:27,960
Speaker 3: So read what van Helsing writes. Another great thing in

1536
01:24:28,000 --> 01:24:30,599
Speaker 3: the scene the mirror in the cigarette case. I love

1537
01:24:30,720 --> 01:24:34,840
Speaker 3: this part. So Van Helsing first notices that Dracula has

1538
01:24:34,880 --> 01:24:37,639
Speaker 3: no reflection in the mirrored lid of a cigarette case,

1539
01:24:38,160 --> 01:24:40,719
Speaker 3: and then he sets a trap for Dracula. Where before

1540
01:24:40,880 --> 01:24:43,840
Speaker 3: they're parting ways, he suddenly opens the case in front

1541
01:24:43,880 --> 01:24:47,120
Speaker 3: of him. And I love the way Legosi reacts to

1542
01:24:47,200 --> 01:24:51,200
Speaker 3: this trick. It's a you know, he reacts with surprise

1543
01:24:51,280 --> 01:24:53,559
Speaker 3: and alarm, and the slaps the case out of Van

1544
01:24:53,600 --> 01:24:57,760
Speaker 3: Helsing's hand onder the floor, steps back and glares at him.

1545
01:24:57,960 --> 01:25:01,479
Speaker 3: But then slowly the glare turns into a composed smile.

1546
01:25:02,280 --> 01:25:04,320
Speaker 3: Oh and also he turns into a wolf as he's

1547
01:25:04,360 --> 01:25:09,040
Speaker 3: running away across the lawn. So you know, as I said,

1548
01:25:09,120 --> 01:25:13,000
Speaker 3: Harker and Sewer takes some convincing by Van Helsing that

1549
01:25:13,080 --> 01:25:17,320
Speaker 3: they're definitely dealing with a vampire, but they're slowly getting there.

1550
01:25:18,320 --> 01:25:20,479
Speaker 3: This leads to another lore dump. We got a lore

1551
01:25:20,560 --> 01:25:24,479
Speaker 3: dump for Renfield earlier, but here's one from Van Helsing.

1552
01:25:24,560 --> 01:25:26,679
Speaker 3: It's like, you know, yeah, vampires have to drink blood

1553
01:25:26,680 --> 01:25:29,639
Speaker 3: to survive. They sleep in their native soil every day,

1554
01:25:29,640 --> 01:25:31,720
Speaker 3: which means he must have brought some soil with him

1555
01:25:31,760 --> 01:25:35,320
Speaker 3: from Transylvania. They're talking about this, but they get interrupted

1556
01:25:35,320 --> 01:25:39,640
Speaker 3: by maniacal laughter when Dwight Fry comes in again. Hilarious

1557
01:25:39,920 --> 01:25:41,800
Speaker 3: keeps escaping. He's here once more.

1558
01:25:42,720 --> 01:25:46,080
Speaker 1: They I guess they just have a trust policy, you know, yeah,

1559
01:25:46,280 --> 01:25:49,160
Speaker 1: the sanatorium, like stop leaving. You're not going to leave

1560
01:25:49,200 --> 01:25:50,480
Speaker 1: this time, right, Okay.

1561
01:25:50,160 --> 01:25:54,400
Speaker 3: I promise they're on the honor system. Yeah. But Renfield

1562
01:25:54,760 --> 01:25:57,080
Speaker 3: in this scene, this is the part I was talking about,

1563
01:25:57,080 --> 01:25:59,240
Speaker 3: where he does a face turn, like he explains to

1564
01:25:59,280 --> 01:26:02,880
Speaker 3: the heroes that Dracula is targeting Mina and he can't

1565
01:26:02,960 --> 01:26:06,360
Speaker 3: let Dracula take Mina. I guess maybe Renfield loves her

1566
01:26:06,520 --> 01:26:08,479
Speaker 3: or just feels protective of her in some way.

1567
01:26:09,120 --> 01:26:09,680
Speaker 1: I guess so.

1568
01:26:10,240 --> 01:26:13,240
Speaker 3: But in the scene, Dracula reappears in bat form and

1569
01:26:13,320 --> 01:26:17,280
Speaker 3: menaces Renfield, which makes him clam up and declare his

1570
01:26:17,320 --> 01:26:21,120
Speaker 3: loyalty wants more to the Master. And then suddenly everybody

1571
01:26:21,120 --> 01:26:23,760
Speaker 3: goes running because a maid calls out that Mina has

1572
01:26:23,800 --> 01:26:28,200
Speaker 3: been found dead. Oh no, which leads to this horrifying scene,

1573
01:26:28,280 --> 01:26:32,280
Speaker 3: another great Dwight Fry moment, where like the maid is

1574
01:26:32,360 --> 01:26:34,679
Speaker 3: left alone in the room with Dwight Fry and he's

1575
01:26:35,120 --> 01:26:38,879
Speaker 3: grinning maniacally and doing this horrible laughter, and she faints

1576
01:26:39,000 --> 01:26:42,519
Speaker 3: and then he's like crawling on the floor toward her body.

1577
01:26:43,040 --> 01:26:46,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, like he's an anaconda that is going to go

1578
01:26:46,120 --> 01:26:48,759
Speaker 1: to swallow her hole. It's super creepy.

1579
01:26:48,880 --> 01:26:51,800
Speaker 3: Love it. Yeah, But fortunately we find out that Mina

1580
01:26:52,000 --> 01:26:54,200
Speaker 3: is not dead, as she was near death, but they

1581
01:26:54,200 --> 01:26:57,240
Speaker 3: got there just in time. So some other stuff goes on.

1582
01:26:57,280 --> 01:27:01,000
Speaker 3: There's a side plot with Lucy being a vampire who's

1583
01:27:01,040 --> 01:27:05,320
Speaker 3: running around stealing children and stuff. But one thing that

1584
01:27:05,560 --> 01:27:08,120
Speaker 3: they do in this movie is there's no garlic for Mina.

1585
01:27:08,200 --> 01:27:10,839
Speaker 3: When they set a trap for Dracula and Mina's chambers

1586
01:27:10,840 --> 01:27:13,120
Speaker 3: with stuff to repel him. It's wolf Spain. It's just

1587
01:27:13,160 --> 01:27:13,920
Speaker 3: all wolf Spain.

1588
01:27:14,560 --> 01:27:17,439
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I can understand people being a little

1589
01:27:17,439 --> 01:27:20,840
Speaker 1: bit too familiar with garlic. And why would this scare

1590
01:27:20,840 --> 01:27:22,960
Speaker 1: away of vampires. Maybe we go with wolf Spain because

1591
01:27:22,960 --> 01:27:24,200
Speaker 1: it has a little more mistique to it.

1592
01:27:24,479 --> 01:27:27,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can see that too. Now here's

1593
01:27:27,280 --> 01:27:30,439
Speaker 3: where we get to. There's another Renfield escape scene, of course,

1594
01:27:30,439 --> 01:27:34,800
Speaker 3: and then he is describing the appeal that Dracula made

1595
01:27:34,800 --> 01:27:36,680
Speaker 3: to him. He says, he came and stood below my

1596
01:27:36,760 --> 01:27:39,400
Speaker 3: window in the moonlight, and he promised me things, not

1597
01:27:39,520 --> 01:27:42,360
Speaker 3: in words, but by doing them. He's talking to Van Helsing.

1598
01:27:42,760 --> 01:27:46,000
Speaker 3: He says, by making them happen. A red mist spread

1599
01:27:46,040 --> 01:27:48,439
Speaker 3: over the lawn, coming on like a flame of fire.

1600
01:27:48,840 --> 01:27:50,840
Speaker 3: And then he parted it, and I could see that

1601
01:27:50,880 --> 01:27:53,920
Speaker 3: there were thousands of rats with their eyes blazing red

1602
01:27:54,240 --> 01:27:57,120
Speaker 3: like his, only smaller. Then he held up his hand

1603
01:27:57,320 --> 01:27:59,439
Speaker 3: and they all stopped, and I thought he seemed to

1604
01:27:59,479 --> 01:28:03,800
Speaker 3: be saying, rats, rats, rats, thousands, millions of them, all

1605
01:28:03,880 --> 01:28:07,080
Speaker 3: red blood, all these I will give you if you

1606
01:28:07,160 --> 01:28:08,040
Speaker 3: will obey me.

1607
01:28:09,200 --> 01:28:09,439
Speaker 1: Wow.

1608
01:28:09,920 --> 01:28:13,040
Speaker 3: I love that. That's the thing that Renfield. You know,

1609
01:28:13,120 --> 01:28:15,160
Speaker 3: some people when they make a deal with the devil,

1610
01:28:15,200 --> 01:28:19,519
Speaker 3: they want riches, somewhat, you know, power. He wants rats.

1611
01:28:20,000 --> 01:28:22,880
Speaker 1: Yeah. In that line, he promised me things, not in words,

1612
01:28:22,920 --> 01:28:27,400
Speaker 1: but by doing them, like oh, it's just perfect.

1613
01:28:27,520 --> 01:28:30,240
Speaker 3: But promised in return for what I think it's for.

1614
01:28:30,640 --> 01:28:35,160
Speaker 3: I believe Renfield sabotaged the protections that against Dracula that

1615
01:28:35,200 --> 01:28:36,840
Speaker 3: were in Mina's room, like he got rid of the

1616
01:28:36,840 --> 01:28:39,679
Speaker 3: wolf Spain or something. I don't know. Somehow Dracula got

1617
01:28:39,680 --> 01:28:43,360
Speaker 3: into Mina's room and I think Renfield was involved. And whoops,

1618
01:28:43,400 --> 01:28:46,160
Speaker 3: he has turned to Mina into a vampire now, and

1619
01:28:46,200 --> 01:28:48,640
Speaker 3: so this is going to accelerate us toward the conclusion.

1620
01:28:48,680 --> 01:28:51,200
Speaker 3: The only way to get Mina back is to destroy

1621
01:28:51,240 --> 01:28:53,960
Speaker 3: the vampire. Now, there's a scene where we have were

1622
01:28:54,000 --> 01:28:56,960
Speaker 3: like Harker is left alone with Mina here and she's

1623
01:28:56,960 --> 01:28:59,720
Speaker 3: creepy now right, Like she doesn't like the smell of

1624
01:28:59,720 --> 01:29:03,720
Speaker 3: wolf Spain. She's really interested in Harker's neck. She keeps

1625
01:29:03,760 --> 01:29:07,160
Speaker 3: staring at it. And Chandler is good in this, Like

1626
01:29:07,200 --> 01:29:10,000
Speaker 3: she puts on the creeps and she keeps him close.

1627
01:29:10,720 --> 01:29:11,360
Speaker 1: Absolutely.

1628
01:29:11,640 --> 01:29:14,040
Speaker 3: She's talking about like I love the fog. I love

1629
01:29:14,200 --> 01:29:16,960
Speaker 3: nights with the fog. And it's like you never you

1630
01:29:17,000 --> 01:29:19,200
Speaker 3: said in the past that you hated the night time

1631
01:29:19,240 --> 01:29:21,200
Speaker 3: in the fog, And she's like well, I like it now,

1632
01:29:24,240 --> 01:29:26,840
Speaker 3: But anyway, we're going on toward the conclusion. We know

1633
01:29:26,880 --> 01:29:29,240
Speaker 3: that we gotta have a final showdown where the heroes

1634
01:29:29,320 --> 01:29:33,120
Speaker 3: find Dracula's coffins and Carfax Abbey and drive the steak

1635
01:29:33,200 --> 01:29:36,080
Speaker 3: into him. Before that, one one great moment as we

1636
01:29:36,160 --> 01:29:38,240
Speaker 3: get the sort of the death of w Renfield, like

1637
01:29:38,320 --> 01:29:42,880
Speaker 3: Dracula is taking Mina back to his lair and he

1638
01:29:43,000 --> 01:29:48,040
Speaker 3: confronts w Renfield on this long, creepy staircase and Renfield says, no,

1639
01:29:48,240 --> 01:29:50,559
Speaker 3: please don't kill me, master, I can't die with all

1640
01:29:50,600 --> 01:29:54,439
Speaker 3: those lives on my conscience. And Dracula just I think,

1641
01:29:54,520 --> 01:29:56,760
Speaker 3: breaks his neck and throws him down the staircase and

1642
01:29:56,760 --> 01:29:58,320
Speaker 3: Renfield tumbles like a doll.

1643
01:29:58,800 --> 01:30:01,240
Speaker 1: Great saint, Great Saint again. Like this said, the set

1644
01:30:01,320 --> 01:30:04,559
Speaker 1: is amazing that there's real tension in minutes there.

1645
01:30:05,000 --> 01:30:08,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's wonderful. And then of course we get

1646
01:30:08,280 --> 01:30:11,799
Speaker 3: the final staking, the final staking of Dracula in his coffin,

1647
01:30:12,640 --> 01:30:15,640
Speaker 3: and Mina is rescued from from her demonic fate and

1648
01:30:15,680 --> 01:30:18,479
Speaker 3: reunited with John. So there is a happy ending. But

1649
01:30:19,320 --> 01:30:23,160
Speaker 3: like many adaptations of Dracula, I thought we would mention

1650
01:30:23,240 --> 01:30:26,519
Speaker 3: this the final staking of Dracula in his coffin has

1651
01:30:26,560 --> 01:30:29,559
Speaker 3: always felt a bit anti climactic. You know, in this case,

1652
01:30:29,600 --> 01:30:32,320
Speaker 3: it's not even done by the young hero who's to

1653
01:30:32,320 --> 01:30:35,559
Speaker 3: be reunited with his love. Is done by Van helsing Uh.

1654
01:30:35,840 --> 01:30:38,759
Speaker 3: And I don't know, it's like it happens off screen.

1655
01:30:38,800 --> 01:30:41,200
Speaker 3: You just hear Dracula yell and then you know it's

1656
01:30:41,280 --> 01:30:43,280
Speaker 3: kind of a hammering and a yelling and that's it.

1657
01:30:44,160 --> 01:30:46,559
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of like what happens to the villain. Well,

1658
01:30:46,600 --> 01:30:48,479
Speaker 1: we hunted him down and killed him in his sleep,

1659
01:30:48,840 --> 01:30:53,799
Speaker 1: like it's you know, it's it doesn't feel as heroic.

1660
01:30:54,280 --> 01:30:58,160
Speaker 1: I still love it, but but you know, it makes

1661
01:30:58,160 --> 01:31:00,080
Speaker 1: you in a way. Maybe it's the thing that make

1662
01:31:00,200 --> 01:31:03,519
Speaker 1: people love Dracula so much though, because like a lot

1663
01:31:03,520 --> 01:31:07,360
Speaker 1: of these universal horror films, we identify with the monster

1664
01:31:07,520 --> 01:31:10,600
Speaker 1: so much, and subsequent generations identify with the monster, you know,

1665
01:31:10,640 --> 01:31:14,800
Speaker 1: the creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein's Monster, and Dracula, like,

1666
01:31:14,880 --> 01:31:17,200
Speaker 1: we feel a certain amount of sympathy for him at

1667
01:31:17,200 --> 01:31:21,759
Speaker 1: the end because he is this outsider character who cannot

1668
01:31:21,800 --> 01:31:24,599
Speaker 1: quite make a life for himself in this new place,

1669
01:31:24,960 --> 01:31:29,599
Speaker 1: and then he's hunted down and killed by the local inhabitants, Like, yes,

1670
01:31:29,720 --> 01:31:33,080
Speaker 1: they were eradicating because he's a bloodsucking demon, but still

1671
01:31:33,720 --> 01:31:37,040
Speaker 1: feel you feel for him in a way because he

1672
01:31:37,160 --> 01:31:38,799
Speaker 1: is killed in his sleep.

1673
01:31:39,240 --> 01:31:41,719
Speaker 3: I absolutely see what you're saying. And of course Bella

1674
01:31:41,800 --> 01:31:45,439
Speaker 3: Lagosi makes the character more interesting and fun and likable

1675
01:31:46,040 --> 01:31:49,160
Speaker 3: than he would be otherwise. I still think the universal

1676
01:31:49,240 --> 01:31:52,920
Speaker 3: Dracula in this movie is a less sympathetathetic character than

1677
01:31:52,920 --> 01:31:55,400
Speaker 3: the other monster. As you mentioned, he's less sympathetic than

1678
01:31:55,400 --> 01:31:59,400
Speaker 3: Frankenstein's creature certainly. I would also say less sympathetic than

1679
01:31:59,400 --> 01:32:01,880
Speaker 3: the creature from Black Lagoon who's just hanging out at home.

1680
01:32:01,960 --> 01:32:04,800
Speaker 3: People go to where he is and bother him. Yeah, uh,

1681
01:32:05,120 --> 01:32:09,960
Speaker 3: and certainly less sympathetic than some Dracula adaptations that would

1682
01:32:09,960 --> 01:32:13,120
Speaker 3: come later. That it make him a more explicitly like, tragic,

1683
01:32:13,720 --> 01:32:17,519
Speaker 3: wronged and romantic figure. I mean, in this movie, there's

1684
01:32:17,560 --> 01:32:20,519
Speaker 3: no mistaken he's the bad guy. Like he yes, he's

1685
01:32:20,520 --> 01:32:22,840
Speaker 3: going out of his way to hurt other people.

1686
01:32:23,000 --> 01:32:25,280
Speaker 1: And I think that's ultimately the way I like my

1687
01:32:25,520 --> 01:32:27,879
Speaker 1: I mean, I like some romantic Draculas, and Gary Oldman's

1688
01:32:27,920 --> 01:32:32,080
Speaker 1: Dracula is terrific. Yeah, and that in Coppola's version, and

1689
01:32:32,120 --> 01:32:35,280
Speaker 1: you know that plays up the tragic aspects of the character.

1690
01:32:35,760 --> 01:32:38,479
Speaker 1: But you know, I love it when when you have

1691
01:32:38,560 --> 01:32:41,080
Speaker 1: like a Christopher Lee Dracula or the bell Legosti Dracula

1692
01:32:41,120 --> 01:32:44,120
Speaker 1: that is that is more just absolutely evil, or even

1693
01:32:44,160 --> 01:32:46,720
Speaker 1: the Dracula in Blacula that we previously talked about in

1694
01:32:46,760 --> 01:32:49,320
Speaker 1: the show, where that is a really evil Dracula.

1695
01:32:50,400 --> 01:32:53,320
Speaker 3: Oh oh, you're talking about Dracula himself, not not the

1696
01:32:53,479 --> 01:32:54,560
Speaker 3: not Mama Walde.

1697
01:32:54,680 --> 01:32:57,559
Speaker 1: No, yeah, yeah, yeah, the racist Dracula from the film.

1698
01:32:57,600 --> 01:33:01,120
Speaker 3: Evil racist Dracula, who's like I I love drinking blood

1699
01:33:01,160 --> 01:33:02,160
Speaker 3: and I approve.

1700
01:33:01,840 --> 01:33:03,879
Speaker 1: Of the slave trade. Yes, that Dracula.

1701
01:33:04,400 --> 01:33:06,519
Speaker 3: But anyway, coming back to this thing about the anti

1702
01:33:06,520 --> 01:33:09,360
Speaker 3: climactic ending of staking the Dracula in his coffin, I

1703
01:33:09,360 --> 01:33:12,639
Speaker 3: feel like this is actually a change from the nineteen

1704
01:33:12,680 --> 01:33:15,400
Speaker 3: twenty two nos Feratu that was like a good a

1705
01:33:15,439 --> 01:33:19,400
Speaker 3: good change to you know, to invert the ending where

1706
01:33:19,560 --> 01:33:23,400
Speaker 3: instead of attacking the vampire in his sleep, you force

1707
01:33:23,479 --> 01:33:25,640
Speaker 3: him to stay out too late. That is more like

1708
01:33:26,040 --> 01:33:30,040
Speaker 3: the vampire is undone or is destroyed by being trapped

1709
01:33:30,240 --> 01:33:32,320
Speaker 3: by his own greed and violence.

1710
01:33:32,920 --> 01:33:34,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.

1711
01:33:34,680 --> 01:33:36,879
Speaker 3: Anyway, that's the universal Dracula.

1712
01:33:37,520 --> 01:33:40,360
Speaker 1: Love it absolutely. I mean, it's a classic. It's an

1713
01:33:40,560 --> 01:33:42,920
Speaker 1: icon for a reason. And if you haven't seen it,

1714
01:33:42,960 --> 01:33:44,760
Speaker 1: if you haven't seen it in a long time, it's

1715
01:33:44,800 --> 01:33:47,920
Speaker 1: well worth looking up. I mean, maybe save it for Halloween,

1716
01:33:47,920 --> 01:33:50,160
Speaker 1: but you know why deprive yourself. Go ahead and watch

1717
01:33:50,160 --> 01:33:52,560
Speaker 1: it now. All right, We're going to go ahead and

1718
01:33:52,560 --> 01:33:56,320
Speaker 1: close the book on nineteen thirty one's Dracula. Just a

1719
01:33:56,320 --> 01:33:58,800
Speaker 1: reminder that Stuffed to Bow Your Mind is primarily a

1720
01:33:58,800 --> 01:34:02,800
Speaker 1: science and culture podcast with core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

1721
01:34:02,920 --> 01:34:05,280
Speaker 1: Dracula has come up in a number of them. He

1722
01:34:05,320 --> 01:34:08,000
Speaker 1: even came up in our episodes on Dust from last year.

1723
01:34:08,240 --> 01:34:10,880
Speaker 1: But for the most part, we don't talk about Dracula

1724
01:34:10,960 --> 01:34:13,240
Speaker 1: in every Stuff to Blow Your Mind episode, but he

1725
01:34:13,280 --> 01:34:16,479
Speaker 1: does come up generally, though. We set aside most serious

1726
01:34:16,479 --> 01:34:19,800
Speaker 1: concerns on Fridays when we have a Weird House Cinema

1727
01:34:19,880 --> 01:34:22,000
Speaker 1: episode and we just talk about a nice weird movie.

1728
01:34:22,080 --> 01:34:24,280
Speaker 1: If you want to keep up with the various weird movies.

1729
01:34:24,280 --> 01:34:26,680
Speaker 1: So we've discussed on Weird House Cinema. We have an

1730
01:34:26,680 --> 01:34:30,320
Speaker 1: account on a letterboxed that's Weird House. You can find

1731
01:34:30,400 --> 01:34:31,559
Speaker 1: us there, and we have a list of all the

1732
01:34:31,600 --> 01:34:34,360
Speaker 1: films that we've covered so far, and sometimes there's a

1733
01:34:34,360 --> 01:34:35,920
Speaker 1: peek ahead at what comes next.

1734
01:34:36,360 --> 01:34:40,240
Speaker 3: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway.

1735
01:34:40,680 --> 01:34:42,240
Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

1736
01:34:42,240 --> 01:34:44,599
Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

1737
01:34:44,680 --> 01:34:46,960
Speaker 3: topic for the future, or just to say hello, you

1738
01:34:47,000 --> 01:34:49,559
Speaker 3: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your

1739
01:34:49,600 --> 01:34:57,080
Speaker 3: Mind dot com.

1740
01:34:57,240 --> 01:35:00,200
Speaker 2: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

1741
01:35:00,280 --> 01:35:04,080
Speaker 2: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

1742
01:35:04,160 --> 01:35:05,960
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.