"Spanish" Dracula: The Superior 1931 Vampire Classic

[donovan1971]

Two comments here

1) the Spanish version, I believe, is far superior than the Lugosi one. Don't get me wrong I love the English version but after seeing the Spanish version I noticed the little details.

2) why bother keeping that other guys comment up? he's clearly disturbed and seems full of hate. Not judging just asking.

Thanks for posting this video

[FilmFanTV]

@donovan1971 - Thanks for the comments - much appreciated.

... and you have a point.

That guy's comment is gone. Thanks again and God bless.

[UlearnThenUtalk]

Lugosi sounds like he could easily speak Spanish

[SuperWillHatch]

Max Shreck beats them both.

[elgatonyc]

I liked the Spanish version better mostly because that Drac looked hungrier than Bela's aristocratic portrayal but the two biggest drawbacks are that Dwight Frye is simply awesome and the Spanish Van Helsing looks like Eugene Levy so I had to fight the urge to laugh. Still, I agree about it being technically better than Browning's version and it's cool they used the same sets.

[ShredMaster79]

AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHHAHHAHAH THE SPANISH SEEMS A MEL BROOKS' ONE!!!! Honestly, there's no comparison. Tod Bronwing's one is totally from another world.

[QuietGiantProduction]

I;ve been trying to find this film

[sidwerd1hater]

3:28

¡Se parece a Ernesto Zedillo!

[marcsmancrusader]

ughh...the spanish version is good but c'mon!

the only reason this guy would think this is superior, so that people would think that he's cool that he's into foreign old school films.

stupid

[powerofktulu]

spanish dracula is a better movie but it doesnt have the better dracula. its kind of like how the dark knight is better than batman returns but doesnt have the best batman.

[Demille40]

The Spanish version is NOT better than the Lugosi version. It is long, over acted and though it has some interesting effects, it is just overdone. Why would there be mist coming out of the coffin? In Lugosi's version, the camera moves away from the Count emerging from his lair, and the clunk from the lid closing is just creepy. The scene in which Van Sloan and Lugosi confront each other is much sharper than the Spanish version, which cuts back and forth to Mina and Harker, lessening the tension

[mariogomezg]

I'm spaniard, and precisely because of my knowlede of the language I can appreciate how goofy the spanish version is. The performaces are high-school level at best, terribly annoying at times.

[Grafwichmann]

I think it's fair to say that the american version had the better actors - but the spanish version the better director.

[RedvolverStudios]

they are from Mexico, the Spanish-like accent is to sound foreign

[007InMiami]

Lugosi was 100 times better than Villar. Villar was such a campy wierdo.

[mariaangel2003]

NEWS FLASH: all directors are campy weirdos. the acting sucked in the spanish version, but the aesthetics, mise en scene, effects, and sound surpass Lugosi.

[scarynight63]

i enjoy both. Fortunate for me,I understand both.

[competentpixie]

I think Bela Lugosi is hotter than the Spanish Dracula.

[PlusSizeAngel]

Such beautiful atmospheric films both. And I think Lupita Tovar is better in the same role than Helen Chandler, who is not bad in her role either.

[gtbob12]

Regardless of the Spanish version overall, the fact is Lugosi is arguably the greatest horror actor of the era, along with Lon Cheney, Lon Cheney Jr., and Boris Karloff. Not to mention he is a real Transylvanian, or Hungarian but born in present day Romania right near Transylvania. He makes the film so much better that you can't really compare. By the way I wonder what a Transylvanian accent sounds like in Spanish.

[RoyalKnightVII]

If only the Spanish version had Lugosi, the Spanish speaking actor isn't as good,... shame

[ysbaddaden2003]

According to Bela Lugosi Jr, his father was Transylvanian.

But of course when he was born Hungary, Transylvania and Romania were all parts of the Hungo-Austrian empire, along with Czechoslovakia where Francis Lederer was born (Return of Dracula).

[ShockDoc]

This Dracula isunbelievably dumb. Technically, it might've been filmed better, but the spanish Drac is laughable. Reminds me of Andy Kaufman...

[FilmFanTV]

I respect your view but - opinions saying the Spanish version is "dumb"... often stem from an understandable lack of understanding of the language for one. Second... spanish cinema is often more passionate and melodramatic than America cinema. The choice of to play Dracula might have been better handled... but, the other actors - especially the female lead are exceptional.

The women vampires are more menacing and sexual... than the repressed Betty Boop zombies in the Lugosi version.

[alejandra96080]

I haven't seen the spanish version...shame, would love to see both films back to back. I have to agree that the Spanish Dracula looks sillier. However, the scenes with Nina and her boyfriend look amazing. They are so lively and natural not like the wooden typical acting of the era.

[FilmFanTV]

There is a DVD available - a special edition of the Lugosi Dracula, an anniversary edition.

One of the extras is the full length Spanish Dracula... so you can see both, back to back. Check a good video store for it.

[sontosmoll]

Es una vergüenza como trataron los yankees, en aquella época, a españoles y mexicanos, hoy actores en el olvido que merecieron un mejor status, tratados con desprecio sin integrarlos en el film "oficial" y haciendo uno aparte para el público hispano con obligados diálogos y muecas artificiales, penoso. Mis mas sinceros respetos para el recuerdo del español Carlos Villarías

[RoyalKnightVI]

True, sadly

[nyctelecaster]

I wonder what that host did with his hands while speaking - the first 45 years of his life?

[lagarticus]

I must agree with adr40361. A recent DVD release contains both the Mexican version as well as a restored version of the original American version.

I must say that Lugosi has quite a bit more panache/sex appeal and villain factor than Villarias (whose gums show too much...). If there were only a version with the art direction/wardrobe/styling of the Spanish film using the American actors and their lighting. The Spanish language one starts to get boring and you are never really terrified.

[adr40361]

Although I think the Spanish 1931 Dracula is interesting and has some points in its favor I could NOT say it superior to the Lugosi/English Dracula, particularly the part of Dracula himself. Lugosi's version is the benchmark that others have been judged by and fashioned after. Carlos Villarias seems more like a rabid chipmunk that the forbidding and gothic portrayal of Lugosi.

[cha5]

I agree, I think the Spanish film does some things better than the Browning Dracula film like refering to the fact that Lucy gets staked through the heart and some other things, BUT in the end Carlos Villarias is no Bela Lugosi and just can't match his portrayal.

[psychodamned]

CARLOS VILLARIAS that was his name. I will have to get a copy of this, it looks good !

[psychodamned]

Carlos Vilaros, they never mention the Hispanic Dracula's name ! I wonder what else he starred in. I will have to get a copy of this !! Thanks for posting this !!

[joeocho88]

The Spanish version was supposed to have been so much better than the one in English. I have never seen it, sadly.

I don't think too much of the Spanish speaking actor who played Dracula. Bela Lugosi is the ONLY good thing about the English version of the film. He should have played Dracula in BOTH films! Mexicans have traditionally been better cinematographers -- what can I say?

[DeaneShafortock]

Someone please upload the spanish version in Youtube!

[HellzDelight]

I have enjoyed watching lots of classic horror movies on youtube .. but I cant understand why the full 1931 Dracula movie has never been posted on youtube ? .. anyway thanks for this, its really appreciated.

[Folkmann]

mm..bela lugosi was in my oppinion much more luring, sensuel, charming and "evil" than the spanish.. maybe the spanish version was sexier and more daring, but to me Lugosi didn't needed that to express the sensuality of the character etc.

[galactusz]

I agree. The Spanish version is in fact the better overall production, but the English one has the much superior Dracula in Bela Lugosi.

[pinkandbluefilmsllc]

... which if anything, seems to have a more pronounced idiosyncratic stamp over the passage of years. Tod Browning's Dracula may indeed be a member of the so-called slow club, but it has a stand apart, expressionistic milieu that could only have been produced from this combination of Browning,Freund,Lugosi,Frye,Va­n Sloan and Chandler. It's the unique, outcast personalities of the artists involved that places Tod Browning's Dracula well above it's merely competent Spanish counterpart.

[pinkandbluefilmsllc]

Chandler is vastly underrated.Her performance unfolds beautifully and unexpectedly. Her Mina is childishly smitten over her bland beau,but soon the invader gets under her skin and Chandler acts with eyes and body movements.The disturbed longing is conflicted and internalized in the most delicate nuances.Comparatively,Tovar is obvious. Likewise,Browning's Dracula provocatively gets under the skin and is increasingly compelling upon repeated absorption.

[pinkandbluefilmsllc]

I'd aesthetically debate this revisionist view.Browning's version is far more poetic, atmospheric and his unique personality soaks every frame.Melford was a competent assignment director and this shows in all of his films,Dracula included.

The static intercuts in Browning's Dracula are far more more disturbingly surreal than Melford's pedestrian narrative approach. Admittedly,Melford is slightly more attuned to modern audience preference in pacing but that's a sign of contemporary shortcomings.

[lillkiberals]

Dracula and all of the other residents of Transylvania speak Mexican.

Right.

[FilmFanTV]

I'm allowing the above comment to stand... to illustrate it's utter stupidity.

However - two things: One - I don't think Dracula and the other residents of Transylvania speak ENGLISH either.

Why ? Because it's Transylvania - in Romania I believe... so Romanian would be the correct language...

.... but then, none of US would be able to understand a word Bela Lugosi said.

TWO - Mexicans don't speak "Mexican".... they speak Spanish.

Ignorance truly amazes me.

[dunkelschakal]

LOL XD It amazes me too....

I didn't believe when a friend say that some americans thinks that all the world speaks english. Thank god there are people with some IQ =)

Greetings from Mexico

[SweetMeloncholy]

lillkiberals, u are offensive lol I m Mexican and I don't remember speaking Mexican! I speak Spanish you moron. And I suppose Cubans speak Cuba and Americans speak American!

[shidou7hikaru]

XD Americans do speak American.

But point taken. and understood. XD And agreed.

[RoyalKnightVII]

well no, they speak American English (U.S.) like Australians peak their version or South Afrricans, the true indigenous languages are much lower, not many speak the Americas true languages.

[charliethegent]

what's with the lame old man doing gang signs while he talks at the beginning, is he serious with that?

[FilmFanTV]

The host was part of an overall Halloween themed show... where all the on-air talent were in costume. At the time of this airing... Kevin Federline was all over the tabloids. He was trying to have fun as Federline.

The host was totally in on the joke... and happy to have some silly fun.

[charliethegent]

oh thank god, that would've been awful if he was like that all the time, never the less great story and I take back the lame old man statement.

[FilmFanTV]

LOL... yes, I was Obama this year for the show... and our cast were dressed as other players in this year's elelction. The costuming every Halloween is a show tradition.

[johnrunion]

except for bela and dwight frye (and those ar eBIG 'excepts') the spanish version is far superior.

[ToddCMorgan]

I think the English version is far superior to the Spanish one, mainly because of Bella Lugosi, Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan, they did way better than anybody in the Spanish cast, I also prefer Tod Browning's directing style over George Melford's, there are even some parts in the Spanish version where the fake bat bangs into stuff and appears so obviously fake it's funny, also, I prefer the subtlety of the English version and the lack of too much dialog, it makes the film creepier to me!

[mothgirlwings]

Totally agree - the Spanish one is interesting, and especially from an historical perspective, but without Bela Lugosi, Tod Browning and Dwight Frye, it's just not comparable at all.

[classicmoviefreak]

Actually, it's not better, mainly because Lugosi and Frye are vastly superior to their counterparts and that's a huge thing! The two leads in the Spanish version are incredibly lame. The Mina role is better and Van Helsing is about the same. Yes, there are some better shots, but most are shamelessly copied off the Browning version and how commendable is that? Yes, they improved on some visuals but they still owe to the Browning film. Plus, Browning's is underrated and misunderstood.

[FilmFanTV]

The spanish version is technically superior and includes aspects of sexuality that the mores of American society in the 30's would not allow...

whereas the Spanish version had more passion. Compare the scenes on the patio where Mina bites her fiance in neck. Browning's only hints at it - off camera. The spanish version goes further with more realism.

[classicmoviefreak]

I agree the sexuality is more pronounced and reportedly it was Browning himself that toned it down. I also read Browning first wanted Dracula to never be seen, but to be an off screen presence only. here's little doubt that Lupita Kohner is vastly superior to the anemic Helen Chandler and she makes the role of Mina more interesting than that of Lucy, when it's usually the other way around. The biggest drawback is the lack of Lugosi and Frye because the Spanish counterparts lack their charisma.

[FilmFanTV]

On all this - I totally agree. Thanks for viewing and commenting.

[classicmoviefreak]

It's a myth that Lugosi learned his lines phonetically. His performance,the static phrasing is more due to Browning's direction. Lugosi's acting in Browning's previous "The Thirteenth Chair" is closer to his acting in post Dracula films.The Spanish film is more dynamic visually and in overt eroticism.If only the 2 films were combined,placing Lugosi and Frye in the Spanish one.The Browning Dracula is a surrealist film, as opposed to a realist film and that's where it's often misunderstood.

[znamrennug]

Can someone tell me why this person dresses up and acts like a LA gang member?

[whorebitchfuckerass]

women back then were stunning, actually i prefer the original... only because he fit the bill and come from the real land...he was dracula in a sense..

[anton1990]

How I wish that Bela and the english cast worked on that one instead. Sure, it's better on a technical level, but the I would pick the Universal version any day.

[canelong]

the spanish dracula is definatly not so good looking as lugosi but i havent seen iether of the films fully so i acnt tell how they differ or not but it was a very sneeky thing to do filming the spanish vertion at the same time

[FilmFanTV]

Hopefully you'll find time to see both of the films - so you can enjoy and make an informed comment. Meantime - the spanish was in no way "sneaky". The spanish version was commissioned and filmed by Universal Studios... the studio WANTED a spanish version... and it was filmed as part of Universal's own film. This story makes that quite clear. Thanks for your comment.

[lagarticus]

It wasn't sneaky. Films are shot out of sequence so to have to rebuild the sets after they have been finished in one language would have been costly. Using the same filming schedule as the American version made it easier for the Mexican crew to film their version. It must have been tiring though being on the opposite shift as everyone...

[CinemaslaveJoe]

Just watched this film last night. What a treat! I like the original, but I love the added content from the Spanish version.

[gtpluvr]

It looks like the spanish version was made better...BUT!Lugosi was much much superior as the Prince of Darkness!

[ganondorf59]

No puedo encontrar esta versión q me an dicho es mucho mejor q la d USA y todavía en mi idioma mejor. Pero espero q algún día pueda comprarla!!

[FilmFanTV]

Podrias comprarlo por Ebay. He visto muchas cintas de VHS de esta version... y tambien hay una version de DVD que tiene ambos versiones de la pelicula Dracula - en Ingles con Lugosi y la version con los actores latinos en Espanol. Buscalo en Ebay.

[ganondorf59]

buena idea, pero aquí en Perú talvez pueda conseguirlo en alguno de los llamados "huecos" en donde es posible conseguir todo, compré la de Lugosi el miercoles sin dificultad alguna, espero conseguir esta versión también pero si no.....bueno entonces por internet será pues. Gracias por el dato.

[makydsdaddy]

The spanish version has some cool points, but Lugosi is, was, and always will be the King of Vampires.

[sirgraves]

I agree! Personally I prefer the Universal Lugosi version to the Spanish version. A lot.

[CrittermationsPictrs]

i knew nothing about dracula at the time and i thought the spanish option on the DVD was just a dub, so i didn't watch it! then i watched the bonus documentary and found out about it, but the images of nosferatu were so horrifying for me i never put the DVD in again!