Silence is creepy, and talking pictures were still pretty new when Todd Browning's film of "Dracula" came out in 1931, so a film without music was probably an innovation, and what I'm suggesting is obviously heresy... Nevertheless I've always wanted to see "Dracula" be given a proper musical score. Even the film's most ardent fans would admit once we leave Transylvania things becomes a bit slow and stagey, but what makes a film "stagey"? It's based on a stage adaptation, but the problem isn't so much a failure to open the play up perhaps, as a failure to allow the audience in. Here's a clip...
Before.
... And now here it is again, but this time I've done a Super Kool Kane Mix and plastered Michael Kamen's score for "The Dead Zone" all over it, and come on!
After.
Music helps broadcast an inner life, and that's pretty useful in a story about mind control. There's nothing "stagey" about these performances now, at least not to me. They're big, yes, but it's "Dracula"! I'm in the room now. I get it. I care. There's dread, yearning, regret, bloodshed, romance... I'm really trying to avoid using the word "stakes"... Kamen's score has it all, and it turns out so did Browning's film. Again, here's a clip without the score. And now with:
Again! Again!
It's worth forking out for the Blu-Rays if you can, next time you're in CEX, and maybe having your own fun with the soundtrack. Dwight Frye as Renfield particularly benefits from Universal's gorgeous restorations. His teeth really glisten, his eyes really gleam. Anyway now that I've touched upon "The Creature From The Black Lagoon" and completely fixed "Dracula", next Wednesday we'll (hopefully) begin this trawl through Universal's original "Dark Universe" in earnest, with a film that absolutely allows the audience in. This is what I'll be working with. And your homework is James Whale's "Frankenstein".
(If you actually want to hear something informed and enlightening about this film by the way, I can really recommend "Why is there cardboard in Dracula?")
(If you actually want to hear something informed and enlightening about this film by the way, I can really recommend "Why is there cardboard in Dracula?")
Ooh, very good.
ReplyDeleteTa.
ReplyDeleteThis is great!
ReplyDeleteHave you tried the Kronos Quartet option? I think it’s on the Blu-Ray. Dracula + nonstop Philip Glass has a curious effect. It fills all the atmospheric silence with atmospheric music, resulting in something not that different in effect but, oddly, MORE like a silent movie.
I think Kamen works nicely but is slightly too lively for playing under dialogue — I would propose a moody bit of Bernard Herrmann for your next experiment.
The other thing that really helps Dracula is seeing it on a big screen: you get a lot more access to the performances and suddenly a whole lot of detail in Lugosi’s work becomes perceptible. Thanks to Randy Cook for that observation.
Thanks, David! Yes, I feel a bit daft for not knowing about the Glass. I shall snap that up. You're right about the dialogue too, of course but a perfect fit was too much to hope for. And I sat close to the screen, but look forward to seeing it bigger. Bela shines, but the detail from Van Sloan behind those bottle-top specs was even more surprising.
ReplyDeleteUntil I enjoy the Glass though, there's still Gifaanisqatsi:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.monkeon.co.uk/gifaanisqatsi/?fbclid=IwAR1OwGVv55IYUmJ0yFfHAobfRAmXwufmgWSCax-GCh8UHB4a7XVBRnT6pSk