Tod Browning and Bela Lugosi’s iconic adaptation of Dracula celebrated its 90th anniversary recently. But most people don’t even know that another version of Dracula also celebrated its 90th anniversary. In the 1920s, American film studios started to sell their films to international markets. The silent film could be translated to the foreign market, but the rise of the sound film era in the 1920s became far more complex. At that time, there were no overdubbing and major audio modifications. So, studios came with seemed like an ingenious solution. George Melford was the director of the Spanish-language Dracula.
How did the film shoot
Universal wanted to save the cost. So, they used the same sets that Browning used for his film. Browning did his shoot in the daytime, and Melford and the company started their shooting in the evening. Universal began to make the same movie twice for multiple markets. Carlos Villarias played the famous Dracula role in Melford’s film. Carlos brought a different energy to the movie. In the Spanish version, the part of Mina was reworked as Eva. Lupita Tovar played the role very well. Apart from Dracula, Lupita also made her appearances in the entire sound Mexican film production, Santa. The Spanish-language film had more elaborate cinematography and effects. The whole movie was like a stage play as there were fewer tracking shots.
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People have forgotten the film
The film Dracula was released on 11th March in 1931 in Havana, Cuba. At that time, the reception was weak, so people soon forgot about the film. Later, Count resurfaced the movie in 1977 and screened it at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Eventually, Universal also released the entire film to the home media in the early 90s. At that time, the movie gained appreciation. The Spanish-language Dracula film reached the pop-culture heights of the Browning adaptation. It has its right as an exclusive adaptation of the same source material.
