Dracula (1974) Jack Palance as Count Dracula in black/white

[Dawnrazor]

In time for Halloween I will make an edit of one of my favorite Dracula films.
The Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows) directed adaption of Bram Stoker's Dracula.
This film was made for television and I have very fond memories of this version and I think Jack Palance is great in this role.

I will make very few changes but here's some of them.
*Make it all in black/white.
*Make a new credit/intro scene.
*Jonathan Harkers journey is faster and he arrives directly at the castle.
*Remove or replace location text.
*Add shots of the ships journey to England. (problably use long distance ship footage from Nosferatu)
*some minor trims here and there.

 

[Dawnrazor]

The first five minutes with new intro/credits.

 

[Dawnrazor]

And here's the added ship journey (long distance shot from Nosferatu the vampyre 1979)

 

[Dwight Fry]

Wonderful! Not only am I a big Dracula fan, but this particular version is the very first movie I ever remember watching in my whole life (somewhere in the early 80s). I'm sure I had seen other movies before, but this is the one that stuck.

Looking great in black and white! Maybe some brightness/contrast tweaks might make it look even better and more authentic?

Also, a few suggestions for the credits:

- It think it'd look better if the text for the technical roles was smaller than the text for the actual names. As in "Screenplay by" being smaller than "Richard Matheson", and so on.

- I'd try to avoid having credits stay over a change of shots, the way you have Fiona Lewis' credit here. Over dissolves it's usually okay, and there is indeed a small dissolve there, but still sticks out. I'd move it to a bit later and all over the shot of Harker, correspondingly moving Murray Brown's credit as well.

- And I'd try to avoid obscuring faces with the text, meaning that I'd place those two referred credits (Fiona Lewis and Murray Brown) a bit lower.

 

[Dawnrazor]

@Dwight Fry
Thanks for the feedback!
I Will work on the text and maybe try another font that looks more vintage/older as well.

This film was one of the first Horror films I saw growing up and I still like it.
Hope to get this ready before Halloween 🎃

Thanks for the suggestions 👍

 

[Last Impressions]

lso, a few suggestions for the credits:

- It think it'd look better if the text for the technical roles was smaller than the text for the actual names. As in "Screenplay by" being smaller than "Richard Matheson", and so on.

- I'd try to avoid having credits stay over a change of shots, the way you have Fiona Lewis' credit here. Over dissolves it's usually okay, and there is indeed a small dissolve there, but still sticks out. I'd move it to a bit later and all over the shot of Harker, correspondingly moving Murray Brown's credit as well.

- And I'd try to avoid obscuring faces with the text, meaning that I'd place those two referred credits (Fiona Lewis and Murray Brown) a bit lower.

I concur, all good suggestions. I am looking forward to this edit.

 

[PoorAndin]

I like the black and white. It looks very atmospheric.

 

[Dawnrazor]

Thanks! @PoorAndin

I will also try out another black/white grade

 

[Dawnrazor]

And here is another take with a different font (castellar) and another grade of black/white.

Suggestions for other "Gothic" fonts to try is welcome!

 

[Dwight Fry]

And here is another take with a different font (castellar) and another grade of black/white.

Suggestions for other "Gothic" fonts to try is welcome!

This grade is a bit too dark I think, it loses quite a bit of detail within the black areas.

For the font, I'd try something along the lines of Caslon Antique or Berylium or Aquifer (the three are pretty similar), maybe with the title card (just the title card) in Rudelsberg (the original cut of the movie also has a different font for the title).

 

[Dawnrazor]

Many Thanks! @Dwight Fry
I will check out these fonts!
and try another grade as well.

Thanks for these suggestions!

 

[Dawnrazor]

Another take on the intro!
Also added a shot of Dracula's letter into the montage.

Thanks to @Dwight Fry for font suggestions

 

[Dawnrazor]

The Look of the film?
Personally I like grade 2 more!

Grade 1.

Grade 2.