i was sitting down watching the 1922 movie on the tv (not my laptop) and my roommate comes in to check it out for a minute. "is this new?" they ask. "no it's from the 1920s. it's got those dialogue cards," i say. "oh, well. i thought it was a new movie made to look like an old one. it looks good though." "yeah."
anyway i really enjoyed watching this old movie. it's cool to see how people understood the capabilities of the medium of black and white movies and used it to make scenes that worked with its strengths, not just making a movie that happened to be black and white. the shadows and silhouettes. compared to other dracula-based movies i found it really interesting how the vampire is associated with disease and plague moving into the city (in contrast with Coppola's movie where sexy sexy vampirism becomes fear of promiscuity and sexually transmitted infection!)
i watched the 1979 movie (the english version), basically a remake, a couple days later so i could compare them. what a movie! wow! beautiful filming, beautiful music. it's not an exaggeration to say this is one of the most classically gothic movies i've ever seen and Isabelle Adjani is the perfect heroine. some of the shots were exactly remade from the original but not necessarily more impactful. where i think this version stands out is in the utter pathos of the Count, how pitiful and horrible and trapped in his fate he is. at this point i don't think there were many vampire movies depicting them as sad and sympathetic yet? even though now this trope is normal and even expected. the scene of Jonathan's dinner with Dracula was SO uncomfortable i was trapped in there with this freaky little man myself. great film.
p.s. where did they get all those rats? and they must have dyed their fur?? should i ask these questions knowing i probably won't like the answers?