Does the 1931 Dracula have footage missing?

[Phillyrich]

I have an old copy of "The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers." In it the 1931 Dracula (with Lugosi) has a run time of either 76 or 84 minutes.

I have vhs and dvd copies with the run time listed at 75 minutes. Was there an 84 minute version? Was it cut posssibly in re release for later double features, or maybe censored? What eight minutes might have been cut out? The prologue?

If so, what happened to the footage?

[todmichel]

I never heard of any prologue for this movie, but the epilogue (with Edward van Sloan) is missing in the current version. Tod Browning also complained that Universal cut "drastically" his movie and re-edited it (a "fan re-cut", modeled from the original script and following the cut of the Spanish-language version also exists and is more coherent than the usual Universal editing). Incidentally, the Spanish version's running time is more or less 100 mins.
Universal's editing of Florey's "Murders in the Rue Morgue" is also inferior to the original version (according to the script). In this case also the fan cut is superior - by far - to the Universal one.

[Paul Penna]

The Blu-Ray is incredible; I've never seen it looking so good. In comparison to the DVD in the Monster Legacy set, it's almost like night and day. Frankenstein also looks exceptional.