ray_afraid said:
...but either way it's a "fix" I don't mind as I'm sure it wasn't supposed to be that way ever. Of course, if it was that way in it's original form, one could say that they are making changes. But I'd call it restoration.
I think our definition of restoration definitely differs then. To me, it's like when special effects wires or crew accidentally show up in movies. They weren't supposed to be there, but they ended up there anyway. It'd be revisionist to clean up, as it doesn't represent the original version of the films. In essence, my stance is if it's due to the wear of time, fix it, but if it was always there, leave it be.
captainsolo said:
Saw that video and pretty much flipped...there's a huge thread over at the classic horror film board that goes into detail but I noticed the "fixed" title cue is actually a different recording, as was on the Spanish edition. All they needed to do was to pull the music on the opening titles of The Mummy,which utilizes the exact same Swan Lake recording as Dracula!!!
That's an unfortunate oversight if they committed to replacing the opening music. I was concerned the Spanish version might have a different albeit contemporary recording. Still, I'd prefer to leave it untouched if it was like that back in 1931.
Out of curiosity, what horror film board? I'd be interested in opinions about the BD preview there.
captainsolo said:
It was exactly this, and delivered by Edward Van Sloan's Dr. Van Helsing, much like his intro to Frankenstein a few months later. This is why the film ends so abruptly and awkwardly cut/fades to the End card Universal globe.
They really ought to restore that ending, or make a recreation. As it is, the ending is awkward, and the film ends on an odd notes. They have at least some of the video, as shown by the documentary on the old disc. They ought to just use a sound-alike for a recreation. With all the digital audio tools available today, it should be easy to make it sound relatively fitting. It'd be like what they did for the old versions of Metropolis but better with some video.
SilverWook said:
If Universal screws it up, someone around here will probably try to fix it.
That's what I love about this site. :-)