The Road to Dracula (1999 Video) User Reviews

Informative, but short

[jluis1984 · 7/10 · 24 September 2006]

This small documentary was produced by Universal Studios in order to celebrate the edition of their classic horror film, "Dracula", in DVD 68 years after its initial theatrical release. Hosted by Carla Laemmle, niece of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle, the film gives the story behind the myth of Dracula and how it went from being a popular horror novel to be one of the most important cultural icons in humanity thanks to the many films he has appeared.

The documentary is also a celebration to the members of the cast that made the 1931 version, as they have become the prototype of those characters for many generations, specially Bela Lugosi, the Hungarian actor who played Dracula. Along Laemmle, film historians and relatives of the cast members are interviewed in an interesting way that gives a lot of insight on how the movie came to be. Bela Lugosi Jr and Dwight David Frye (son of Dwight Frye) talk extensively about their respective fathers, and Lupita Tovar gives some light about her participation in the Spanish version of "Dracula".

Besides the historic figures and historians, people in the modern film industry talk about how "Dracula"'s influence is still recognizable in the current horror genre. Horror writer and film director Clive Barker as well as make-up artist Rick Baker speak about the impact "Dracula" had in their respective areas. Among the many interviews, probably the one that is the most important is the one with Ivan Butler, who in his youth was a member of the theatrical company that made "Dracula" for the first time.

Along with the interviews many clips of the many incarnations of "Dracula" made by Universal appear. It's a shame (although it's understandable)that the documentary only focused on Universal's versions, because the character of Dracula has been portrayed in so many ways that it would be interesting a more complete history about the character. In fact, that would be my only criticism, that it focuses in the events before the 1931 version and lacks information about what happened next and its impact in other media.

Still, despite being short, it's quite informative, specially for enthusiasts of horror and the history of Universal Studios in general. It may not be the best documentary about Dracula the character, but it's a very good one about "Dracula", the film. Very recommended is also "Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'", a similar documentary but about "The Wolf Man" (1941). 7/10

Good but lacking

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 15 November 2014]

Very short documentary made in 1999 by Universal to celebrate their re release of the Dracula films. It mostly covers how Dracula was adapted to stage numerous times and in various productions. It also covers a lost silent film dealing with Dracula and "Nosferatu" the silent German classic dealing with him. You see people talking about Lugosi and the making of the movie. It's all somewhat interesting but there's nothing really new or exciting here. Also there are some questionable talkers--what exactly does Clive Barker have to do with Dracula? Also it ends very abruptly without even mentioning all the sequels Universal did and only a mention of the 1979 version. Still, all in all, it's OK.

"There ARE such things."

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 15 February 2014]

Wonderful Dracula retrospective that was a featurette on the initial Dracula DVD release and has been included on subsequent releases. It's hosted by the delightfully charming Carla Laemmle, niece of the founder of Universal and an actress in her own right. She appears in the opening scene of Dracula as one of the coach passengers and actually says the first lines of the film. This featurette covers the history of Dracula from Bram Stoker to the stage play on to the classic 1931 film. It also oddly covers the Frank Langella '70s version of the film. While the inclusion of this seems strange, it does lead to one of the more amusing moments in the short where the elderly Laemmle swoons over Langella's "sexy" Dracula.

There's lots of interviews with the likes of Rick Baker, Clive Barker, Lupita Tovar, and the sons of Bela Lugosi, Dwight Frye, and John Balderston. It also features film historian and author David J. Skal, who wrote and directed this short. The only real complaint I have is that it doesn't cover the sequels to Dracula or any of the other versions, like Hammer's enjoyable series of Dracula films. But the focus is on Universal's Dracula film and the history of the character leading up to that, which is fine. It's a fun featurette with lots of information and history, especially for those new to Dracula or the Universal horror films.

Dracula Documentary

[Thosle · 24 January 2003]

Carla Laemmle, niece of director Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal pictures, introduces and narrates this documentary produced by film historian David Skal. Filmmakers, writers, and film historians discuss the timelessness of the Bram Stoker character and Universal's three adaptations, among others. Included on Universal's excellent Dracula (1931) DVD.

Needs More But Good

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 6 August 2013]

This short documentary was produced by Universal Studios in order to celebrate the edition of their classic horror film, "Dracula", in DVD 68 years after its initial theatrical release. Hosted by Carla Laemmle, niece of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle, the film gives the story behind the myth of Dracula and how it went from being a popular horror novel to be one of the most important cultural icons in humanity thanks to the many films he has appeared.

I feel like more needed to be here. This is on the Legacy Collection DVD, and while it has some great interviews -- sons of those from the film, Rick Baker, Clive Barker -- it could have been so much more. At a mere 35 minutes, it never really gets into the meat and potatoes. We hear the same stuff any Dracula fan might already know, but hardly touch on the bigger stories.

OK Look at 1931 "Dracula," but Better to Read Books

[Cineanalyst · 6/10 · 28 November 2017]

This video documentary presented in home-video collections of "Dracula" (1931) is a decent and brief overview of the "Dracula" story from Bram Stoker's novel to stage and screen adaptations. Besides the 1931 classic, a lost 1921 Hungarian film, "Dracula's Death" (Drakula halála) (1921), "Nosferatu" (1922), the 1979 "Dracula" and the Spanish- language "Dracula" (1931), which was produced at nights while the more-famous English-language version was made during the days, are mentioned. There's also a brief re-creation of a scene for the lost 1931 silent version of the same script. The doc ends with lots of praise for Bela Lugosi, and there's a recitation of the lost fourth-wall- breaking epilogue to the film. There are the usual talking heads and lots of moving stills to present "The Road to Dracula." The movie's maker, David J. Skal, author of "Hollywood Gothic" and related books, also does a good share of the talking here.

Interestingly, another of those talking heads, Gary Don Rhodes agrees with Skal here on the supposedly superior and more artistic camera- work in the Spanish "Dracula" as opposed to the English one, and he says there are far more camera movements in the Spanish version. In his later book, "Tod Browning's Dracula," however, Rhodes claims, "the many critics who have claimed that the Melford version (my edit: i.e. the Spanish one) of 'Dracula' employs more moving camera are wrong. They are, without doubt, mathematically incorrect." Seems he changed his mind. Indeed, Rhodes is right in his book, and it's more interesting and informative than a short documentary of nodding heads could ever be to read Skal's "Hollywood Gothic" and the counterarguments to it in Rhodes's book.

Solid Dracula documentary

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 25 April 2016]

"The Road to Dracula" is an American 35-minute documentary from almost 20 years ago. It was written and directed by David J. Skal, a man who made his living off making several other documentaries about film. Here he focuses on world's most famous vampire and it may also be his most famous documentary. There are a whole bunch of interesting interview partners in here and even if I am not the greatest Dracula or vampire movie lover in general, I still had a decent time watching. Plus this one has a pretty interesting host, even if she does not really have that much screen time. I do not want to go into detail about any of the specific contents here, but I liked one quote early, which basically said Dracula is so popular that everybody knows him, even all the people who have never watched a movie with him or read a book about him and that is certainly true. Which superhero can say that about themselves. Apart from that, they aren't close to having Dracula's history in terms of how far he goes back. Solid documentary and maybe even a must-see for Dracula fans, but also a good watch for everybody else. Thumbs up.

This is one of the more complete classic movie retrospectives . . .

[pixrox1 · 10/10 · 17 July 2013]

. . . as it covers everything from the remembrances of cast members who survived the 1931 release of DRACVLA by at least 68 years (Carla Laemmle and the Spanish version's Lupita Tovar) to the views of such diverse people as the author of OUR VAMPIRES, OURSELVES (Nina Auerbach) and the director of HELLRAISER (1987), Clive Barker. The result of hearing from folks such as the aforementioned, as well as All-Things-Dracula collector Ronald V. Borst, Universal Studios archivist Jan-Christopher Horak, DRACVLA title role player Bela Lugosi's son Bela G. Lugosi, "Renfield" actor Dwight Frye's son Dwight D. Frye, and make-up artist Rick Baker is that viewers of this 35 minute, 1.99-second short will end up with a great sense of DRACVLA's place in film history (especially if they watch it twice, as I did, to let all of the fascinating details really sink in). How is Dracula related to Vlad the Impaler? What qualified film newcomer Lugosi to play the title role? What is the "holy grail" of Dracula memorabilia collectors? If you watch THE ROAD TO DRACVLA, you'll learn the answer to these questions and recover some of the brain cells you lost to TWILIGHT (if you are a younger viewer).

A must see for classic movie fans...for horror movie fans...for film students, writers and historians.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 31 October 2016]

A great companion piece to either the original 1931 English language version if "Bram Stoker's Dracula" or the Spanish version filmed at the same time on the "graveyard" shift, or even one of the many remakes or sequels. For me this Halloween night years have gone by since I have sat down and watched the original Bela Lugosi film from start to finish, mainly because it is just so iconic that it feels like I just watched it last year. I know it has been years since I saw the Spanish version, but that will change soon. The documentary, made as the millennium was creeping up on us, deals half with the novel, a quarter of early stage and film productions (one sadly lost) and these two versions, made by Universal, which got the ball rolling for Universal's horror series and turned an obscure but respected Hungarian actor into a legend.

Carla Laemmle, the niece of Universal's founder (Carl), lively presents the history, a tie-in, because she has a minor role in the Lugosi version. Interviews with historians, offspring of a few of the stars, and even the still living Lupita Tovar (106 as I write this!) from the Spanish version. Like Julius Caesar, they aren't here to praise Dracula, but (pardon the pun) aren't here to bury it either. It's a simple reflection of a fun movie that was ground breaking for its time, has managed a cult following in spite of creaky photography in spots as well as long pauses. Those who put the original version down for not holding up should see this just as a historical outline of how wonderful it is and what an impact it made on even today's young filmmakers. Dracula may be dead end loving it, but the legend is very much alive.

A beautiful little making of film!

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 13 June 2017]

This is a making of featurette that debuted in 1999 when Universal released its Legacy Collection--classic Universal films like "The Mummy", "Frankenstein" and "Dracula". In fact, they made several making ofs and they were included as special features on the DVDs...and I strongly recommend you find them.

The film is introduced and narrated by Carla Laemmle, niece of the studio chief and who had a small part in the 1931 "Dracula". My wife in particular LOVED her, as she was an adorable 90 year-old lady (she passed away at 104!) and had a sweet style we both enjoyed. In addition to her, various experts appeared, such as Oscar-winning make-up effects man Rick Baker, Bela Lugosi Jr. (who looks amazingly like his famous father) and many others. They did a great job of breathing insight into the making of the film as well as setting the context for it and its major success.

For any fan of Universal horror films, this is an absolute must-- well made, nostalgic and quite complete and enjoyable.

Nice Documentary on Universal's Dracula

[Michael_Elliott · 20 October 2010]

Road to Dracula, The (1999)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Pretty good documentary that was originally released when Dracula (1931) was first put on DVD. The documentary talks about the original Bram Stoker novel and then moves onto the plays and then we get to the movies. We of course get a lot of information about the Tod Browning film but there's also talk about the Spanish version, which was shot at the same time and we get some small talk about the silent version that was made of the Browning one. Carla Laemmle hosts the documentary and we get interviews from Clive Barker, Bob Madison, Bela Lugosi, Jr., Rick Baker, Scott MacQueen, Dwight David Frye and Gary Rhodes among others. I don't think the film is as good as many of the others released with their movies but there's still plenty of nice information to make it worth watching for fans. Of course all of the interviews are a major plus because you can't help enjoying seeing these people comment on the films and perhaps see things in them that you might have overlooked. I think some of the talk deserved more, like the stuff dealing with who actually directed the film but this is only a minor issue. There's some interesting debate on the performances in the film and many of the comments on Lugosi are quite interesting. Of course we get plenty of great clips from the movies and we even get talk about the sequels including Dracula'S DAUGHTER and SON OF Dracula.