Dracula (Spanish Version)

For this year's Countdown to Halloween, it's all-Universal Monsters, all-the-time, from Dracula (1931) to The Creature Walks Among Us (1956).  Join me daily for a fresh perspective on movies you may not have watched in a long time, if ever.  Today, a curiosity... the Spanish version of Dracula!

At the same time Dracula was filming during the day, a Spanish version was filming at night using the same sets.  With the addition of some adaptation of the script by B. Fernandez Cue, this Dracula (1931) actually improves upon some of the American version’s flaws.  However, due to Lugosi’s absence in the title role, the movie is ultimately not as good.  In fact, the sometimes-comical performance of Carlos Villar as Conde Dracula detracts from any mood that may be simmering.

The Spanish Dracula begins much the same as the American Dracula; however, director George Melford uses more blatant devices to create atmosphere: smoke comes out of his coffins and doors take an awfully long time loudly creaking open.  On the other hand, when Renfield (Pablo Alavrez Rubio) first encounters Dracula, he’s merely standing on the stairs in the castle instead of eerily descending down them.  But this Dracula is more crazed than scary.

One improvement to the plot is that, once in London, Dracula heads straight to the theater.  There is no scene of him attacking a woman on the street.  This scene seems out of place in the American version.  In the theater, we actually see a ballet being performed on stage; in the American version, we only hear it.  It’s odd the little setting choices that are different, such as this scene and the one where Van Helsing (Eduardo Arozamena) examines a woman’s body in a small room instead of a large hospital theater.

If you think it’s Lugosi’s Dracula who envelops victims in his cape, you’re wrong.  His attacks are cut short by editing while Villar’s are perhaps extended a little bit.  And we see actual bite marks in the Spanish version that we never see in the American version.  Overall, the movie is not as polished; however, it occasionally surprises with a little detail, such as Renfield stopping in the middle of a rant to catch a fly.  The American version could have benefitted from such a moment.

Speaking of Renfield, he’s much more Joker-crazy here than Dwight Frye was in the other Dracula.  Intermittent scenes between him and Van Helsing in the other Dracula play more as interrogations in the Spanish version, which both makes sense to the story and makes it drag a little less.  In fact, the total running time is nearly 30 minutes longer and doesn’t really feel like it. 

The Spanish Dracula follows the script of the American Dracula pretty closely, even though some scenes occur in a different order.  However, near the end, it takes some distinct turns of its own.  The same scenes in a different order extend the final attack on Eva (Lupita Tovar) and add a bit of excitement as orderly Martin shoots at a bat.  Dracula carries Eva down his Carfax Abbey stairs and tosses Renfield over the edge instead of down them.

The climax adds the factor of the rising sun that is absent from the American version.  There’s also an explanation for why Eva isn’t in her coffin that is never provided for Mina in the American version.  As Juan Harker (Barry Norton) and Eva go up the steps, Van Helsing stakes his vampire.  There’s no pithy speech to end the movie; it closes based on its own merit.

Truth be told, neither version of Dracula is perfect.  If Tod Browning had directed something closer to the actual script used for the Spanish version and made similar editing choices, it would come a lot closer.  But it would have to star Lugosi.  I’m a superficial guy; the look of the American version wins out for me over the story in this case.  On the other hand, there’s a reason we still hear about the Spanish Dracula when we don’t hear about the Spanish Frankenstein, if it even exists.

Tomorrow: Frankenstein!