DRACULA (1931) - My Astounding Discovery - sort of

[bobfells]

I may be the last person on this planet to notice this, but after watching the 1931 DRACULA at least a gazillion times since I was about 10 - that's 55 years ago - I just noticed a mistake on the main title card. For this screening I was watching an HD download on my laptop. Perhaps the stunning clarity made the difference but the error popped out right at me.

Here's the main title that we all know and love:


Now look closer at Uncle Carl's title:


Presient - really? Of all the words to misspell on that card! Do studio files document what became of that employee who handled the lettering?

[rudyfan]

But Jr. was in charge of production by this time. Uncle Carl had retired, if I am not mistaken.

[Jack Theakston]

That's a pretty well-known error. The opening title was replaced at the eleventh hour, and obviously the typo wasn't caught.

[bobfells]

That's a pretty well-known error. The opening title was replaced at the eleventh hour, and obviously the typo wasn't caught.

I knew somebody would say that.

[boblipton]

I've been looking at this poster and the inset for some time. What error?
Bob

[bobfells]

I've been looking at this poster and the inset for some time. What error?
Bob

Bob,

It's the very last line at the bottom of the card. It's suppose to read: Carl Laemmle, President.
Instead, it reads: Carl Laemmle, Presient.

[entredeuxguerres]

Don't you get it, Bob?

It was supposed to be Prescient.

[Great Hierophant]

It was supposed to be Prescient.

An apt description for Junior Laemmle. Perhaps the title card designer had a Freudian Slip?

[wich2]

It's actually so well known, that:

When the recent digital restoration was done, they actually had CORRECTED the problem... but when the purists heard of such sacrilege -

- they insisted that the mistake be restored!

-Craig

[colbyco82]

That's a pretty well-known error. The opening title was replaced at the eleventh hour, and obviously the typo wasn't caught.

What was the reason for the late replacement?

[Paul Penna]

That's a pretty well-known error. The opening title was replaced at the eleventh hour, and obviously the typo wasn't caught.

What was the reason for the late replacement?

The version I heard is that the screenplay writers had screen credit rights that weren't in the original credit cards so the main title card was revamped with their names replacing Lugosi's. They supposedly found out because the Spanish-language version was released before the English-language Lugosi and had seen that their names weren't in the credits.

I haven't seen anything actually authoritative about the latest restoration supposedly correcting the "presient" and being changed back because of some outrage by purists. Maybe such exists, but If so it hasn't come to my attention. Doesn't sound quite plausible that something like that would have leaked out. Certainly the Blu-Ray was released with the misspelling.

[Brent]

According to the ever reliable IMDb, the Spanish language Drácula was released a month after the English version.

[35MM]

Apparently Presient Obama gets this fairly often as well.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Presien ... ama&nfpr=1" target="_blank

[wich2]

I haven't seen anything actually authoritative about the latest restoration supposedly correcting the "presient" and being changed back because of some outrage by purists. Maybe such exists, but If so it hasn't come to my attention. Doesn't sound quite plausible that something like that would have leaked out.

Ah, skeptics...

Would you believe David J. Skal, Paul? See post #4:

http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuk ... CREENGRABS" target="_blank" target="_blank

-Craig

[entredeuxguerres]

I haven't seen anything actually authoritative about the latest restoration supposedly correcting the "presient" and being changed back because of some outrage by purists. Maybe such exists, but If so it hasn't come to my attention. Doesn't sound quite plausible that something like that would have leaked out.

Ah, skeptics...

Would you believe David J. Skal, Paul? See post #4:

http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuk ... CREENGRABS" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

-Craig

I believe you, but what makes the story sound somewhat apocryphal is the idea that anyone claiming to be qualified in restoration techniques would even CONSIDER making such a change from the original; whoever did it needs emergency retraining.

[Scoundrel]

A different " discovery " of the Dracula title card that was fixed on the blu ray:

http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuk ... iZYmG7fDGg

[Rick Lanham]

Just a note to say that:

1. Tonight is the Fathom Events presentation of the two Draculas, English and Spanish.
http://www.fathomevents.com/event/dracu ... wing#close" target="_blank

Where you can read the title cards unless someone with popcorn passes in front of you.

2. Here's a newspaper column about how the Spanish version came to be.
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainmen ... ign=buffer" target="_blank

"Halloween may still be a few days away, but on Wednesday night, moviegoers at hundreds of theaters across America — including four in the Miami area — will get a chance to experience one of the great spooky moments in movie history, when Count Dracula is offered a glass of wine by a naive young Englishman and replies with sinister hauteur: “Yo nunca bebo... vino.”"



Rick

[bobfells]

I saw this DRACULA double bill at my local multiplex on Sunday. Picture and sound were terrific. The films look like new, maybe better than new. Having seen the Lugosi version a few hundred times since childhood, I have to say that on Sunday the experience was like seeing it for the first time.

[entredeuxguerres]

Where you can read the title cards unless someone with popcorn passes in front of you...
Rick

Why I wasn't there.

I was, however, hoping TCM might broadcast them after the theater event, but it's apparent that ain't happening any time soon.

[greta de groat]

My husband and i went to the pair this afternoon at our local theater, we were two of the four people in the audience. Thought we were seeing the silent Dracula there for a while as the theatre didn't turn the sound on until the "Children of the Night" line--i supplied Bela's lines up to that point. Once the the sound issue was settled it was more enjoyable, though i'm always surprised at how much more i notice the grain in digital projection than i do when it's actual film projection.

I'm surprised at the bad rap that Browning gets for his direction on the English version, i think it's quite nice. The camera work and editing seem fine to me, and what camera movement there is is expressive. I also like the lack of a score, i think the eery quiet suits it quite well. The direction of the Spanish version is fine as well, but i didn't find it superior, just a bit different. I noticed a few scenes in the Spanish that weren't in the English (making me wonder if they had been shot but edited out), and at least one in the English not in the Spanish. I thought the staging of Dracula reacting to Renfield's cut and smashing the mirror to be superior in the English version. We may smirk at the familiar eccentricities of Lugosi and Frye, but comparing them to their Spanish counterparts shows how great they really were in their roles. I thought all the men in the English version were superior to the Spanish cast. Frances Dade has been terrible in everything i've seen her in so almost anyone would have been an improvement. Lupita and Helen are a more interesting contrast, i like both and they have completely different conceptions of the role. I know, fellas, that you love Lupita's visible charms, but aside from that i found the scene of her attempted attack on Harker to be the only scene in the Spanish version that i thought was a major improvement on the English. But overall i like Helen's ethereal quality. And for my part, a nice thing about seeing the English version on the big screen is to appreciate how good looking David Manners is.

So personally i'd give the edge to the English version. But what do i know; halfway through the Spanish version my husband leaned over and said "this one is better!"

greta

[Wm. Charles Morrow]

So personally i'd give the edge to the English version. But what do i know; halfway through the Spanish version my husband leaned over and said "this one is better!"

greta

Perhaps your husband responded like Lupita's grandson, who told her while watching the movie: "Now I know why Grandpa married you!"

[entredeuxguerres]

...But overall i like Helen's ethereal quality...
greta

Not remarkably pretty by H'wood standards, but for "ethereal," or "detached," she was unmatched...and thus perfect in this part.

Was fascinated, however, to learn from Wiki that, rather than Mina, she'd wanted to play Alice in the '33 Alice in Wonderland. I wish she'd done so, as that surprisingly (considering the charm of the story) charmless production desperately needed an injection of her sweet ethereality. I can't get enough of it.

[Harlett O'Dowd]

My husband and i went to the pair this afternoon at our local theater, we were two of the four people in the audience. Thought we were seeing the silent Dracula there for a while as the theatre didn't turn the sound on until the "Children of the Night" line--i supplied Bela's lines up to that point.

greta

Curiously, we had sound but no picture during the preshow (ads for the HD Met production with sound and no visual was odd.) It *did* make the hall seem eerier. Luckily, I thought enough to complain to the manager early enough in the pre-show that both sound and visual came on *exactly* when ben came onscreen to do his first wrap-around.

And we had 10 people in the house - 8 for the Spanish version (and I think they were native Spanish speakers too, which seemed odd. maybe they though Lugosi would try his hand in Spanish and were disappointed to see Villar appear on the screen.)

[mwalls]

I watched the afternoon showing yesterday of the two films. The theater I went to did not experience any picture or sound quality. In fact the picture looked very sharp.

I had seen the Spanish version before and thought it certainly held its own, but seeing it for the second time yesterday actually increased my appreciation for the Spanish film. There were parts of the Spanish version which were superior in terms of story telling, and I believe the actresses in the Spanish version were better than the English counterparts. Both Reinfeld's were terrific (even though it is hard to believe that anyone could have equaled Dwight Frye's playing of the part). But the two factors that make the English version superior are Lugosi and van Sloan. There is no better Dracula than Lugosi. Now in the Spanish version the Count is played more monstrous and aggressive than Lugosi plays it in his very dignified manner, but Lugosi does it so well. And Edward van Sloan nails his part.

I enjoyed seeing both very much. I wish there had been more people at my showing (four including me). And of the four, two left 10 minutes into the Spanish version.

[Harlett O'Dowd]

I wish there had been more people at my showing (four including me). And of the four, two left 10 minutes into the Spanish version.

Sad that so few people turned out for this nationwide. I wonder if the Sunday showings fared better. I wonder what the numbers looked like for DRACULA vs. their other screenings (PSYCHO last month, ROMAN HOLIDAY next month, etc.)

[Mark Zimmer]

i'm always surprised at how much more i notice the grain in digital projection than i do when it's actual film projection.

Typically digital presentations include added 'sharpness' either in the digital processing itself, or in the display equipment. One of the HD formats, I think AVC, automatically adds sharpness. This is an unwelcome development that artificially makes edges look sharper by adding haloes around them. A side effect is it makes grain much more noticeable to the point the picture is sparkly. I've been complaining about that for fifteen years but since it looks more sharp at first glance it makes it easier to sell the equipment and the discs. Alas, the side effect is introducing into the picture artifacts that aren't there on the film.

[Great Hierophant]

Fortunately, the "PRESIENT" mistake is still present on the Blu-ray.