Comparing Bela Lugosi's Dracula with Spanish Dracula...Which is Better?!

Pretty much everyone on earth has heard of Dracula, and most people know of the 1931 film with Bela Lugosi, even if they haven’t seen it. But there’s another Dracula that exists, made at the very same time that so few people have ever heard of. Many people even consider it the better version of Dracula, if you can believe it. This wasn’t a competing film, it wasn’t made by another studio…just like our beloved Dracula, this version was made by my Uncle Carl Laemmle and his son Junior at Universal, even using all the same sets! Why would they do this?

Porque esta version es en Español! That’s right, we’re talking about Spanish Dracula.

In the silent film era, it was relatively simple to export films overseas because silent films were silent. Other than some cards, not much needed to change for a foreign language audience to enjoy. With sound, it wasn’t quite so simple.

The film industry went into experimentation-mode trying to figure out the best way to make a movie for all audiences to enjoy, and one version of this was making the same exact movie in multiple languages - literally called a Multiple Language Version. A studio would reuse the sets, costumes, and sometimes even director, and bring in a new cast speaking Spanish, French, Italian German, or any other language they considered marketable, really.

In February, 1930, Universal announced producer Paul Kohner would supervise a number of foreign language productions at the studio, and one of those was the horror film Dracula. Every morning, Bela Lugosi, Dwight Frye, Helen Chandler, Tod Browning and the rest of the cast and crew would show up to film their scenes in the Dracula we know and love. But when I say the Dracula we know and love, I guess I’m really just referring to the English speaking world.In the evening, they’d all head home, and the Spanish film’s cast and crew would come in for work!

Spanish Dracula (don’t get on me about the name, that’s just what it’s called) was directed by George Melford, who didn’t speak any Spanish and had to communicate to the cast and crew through a translator. The English version of Dracula had a lot of oversight from producers at Universal, and it may have been to its detriment. Some scenes were cut or left ambiguous, and lots of people had different ideas about how they wanted scenes to be shot or the script to be interpreted, so everything took longer than it should have.

The Spanish version wasn’t seen as so important, so it allowed Melford and his team to work really freely. He shot the entire shooting script, experimented more with camera movement, and still managed to wrap days earlier than their English counterpart. Melford’s version ended up about 30 minutes longer than Tod Browning’s.

Paul Kohner really wanted to make the most of Spanish Dracula, partly to prove himself at Universal, but also because he was in love with the female lead, Lupita Tovar. Lupita herself, said everyone working on Spanish Dracula wanted to make it the best … and according to the critics, it seems like it was.

Spanish Dracula had a great advantage because they could watch the dailies from the other Dracula production, and then decide what they wanted to do better. If a scene looked stiff, wasn’t lit so well, maybe dragged a little - they’d relight, shoot from a different angle…you’ll see that there’s so much more movement in Spanish Dracula, and the atmosphere, the suspense is so much better for it.

As for Dracula himself, the Spanish Dracula was played by Carlos Villarias, an actor from Cordoba, Spain. Carlos gets mixed reviews, especially when compared to Bela. It’s tough. Bela is the one we know best, and even in regards to Carlos, Bela originated the role. Carlos was the only actor on set able to watch the dailies and make decisions based on the English version. Carlos’ version is often called cheesy or over-the-top. It’s interesting because I don’t necessarily think Bela’s is not cheesy or over the top, but there’s something about Bela’s version that just hits better. The creepiness comes across a little more. Lupita Tovar said it might have been Bela’s long fingers that really sold it.

Lupita was hired in the role of Eva - Mina in the English version - a year after she wowed Carl Laemmle and George Melford in the Spanish version of the now lost film The Cat Creeps. Unlike Carlos, Lupita didn’t get to look at Helen Chandler’s performance to help guide her own interpretation. She said it wasn’t until later, watching Dracula, that she realized just how different the characters were. To start, Lupita’s costume was much more risqué than Helen Chandler’s. I’d say a little more revealing than I’m used to seeing for the time. Lupita’s interpretation was different too. Where Helen Chandler was more subdued, Lupita was emotional and lively. She really brought herself to the character and made it her own.

I would also like to recognize Pablo Alvarez Rubio in the role of Renfield. I love Dwight Frye’s Renfield as much as the next person, but I think Alvarez Rubio in the role is so fantastic too, just absolutely mad in such a fun and insane way.

One of my favorite things about this film is seeing how two different groups, making the same movie, with the same script, with the same sets can have such a different outcome. I think film historian David Skal described it as, “discovering fascinating new rooms in a familiar old house.”

Spanish Dracula was considered a lost film for many years, but in the 1970s a copy was discovered in great condition in a warehouse in New Jersey. Unfortunately, it had a missing reel. The discovery still brought about renewed interest in the film, and in the late 1980s a full print was found in Havana, which ultimately led to Universal restoring the film in full in 1992.

You can now watch Spanish Dracula as part of the Dracula Legacy Collection.