Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula

It has been quite a long time since the last documentary on Bela Lugosi was made. Forrest J. Ackerman made a pretty good one on Lugosi in the early 1990s.

However, Bela Lugosi historian Gary Rhodes has gone further by presenting the ultimate tribute to the horror film icon.

Released to critical acclaim, "Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula" is a well-balanced account of the actors life and career. His theatre and film work from his career in Hungary and Germany is discussed in detail, along with Lugosi's early work in America.

Naturally, once the stage production of "Dracula" is mentioned, the documentary gets down to more familiar territory.

Lugosi's decline and drug addiction isn't side- stepped by any means as it is part of the Lugosi story, sadly.

Overall, a thoroughly fascinating and professionally made documentary. Using some of the music from the 1931 "Dracula" film really adds to the occasion.

The only slightly disappointing thing for me, was that the running time is under an hour. An icon of Lugosi's calibre is deserving of a feature length documentary - nearer an hour and a half.

Even so, there are loads of special features on the DVD - additional interview footage, some trailers from various Lugosi films, along with rare footage of the man himself being interviewed. Altogether, the total running time is nearly 2 hours.

Watch this and enjoy!

Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula (1997)

*** (out of 4)

Documentary taking a look at the life and career of Bela Lugosi who would become a huge star with Dracula but pretty much fall from grace right after that. I've watched this documentary countless times and while it's very entertaining, I don't think there's any doubt that the thing is quite biased towards the actor. There's some nice interviews with those who knew Lugosi towards the end of his life including his final wife who you have to see to believe. Most of her offensive talk comes with the deleted scenes but she's certainly a rather strange woman. The one thing that didn't work for me was all the rather dirty talk regarding Lugosi. I can't remember how many times we get to hear that Lugosi was good looking and that women loved him. We know this so why this point gets beaten to death is beyond me. We hear how Lugosi had to fight eleven (or twelve) duels for sleeping with married women, we hear about his affair with Clara Bow and so on. Even with that said, this is a rather nice look at the man that I'm sure new fans will enjoy.

Though it's pretty obvious that Gary Don Rhodes is VERY biased towards his subject, viewing "Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula" is still the best experience I've ever had watching a movie star bio. Lugosi was a magnificent actor in his day. In his native Hungary he was a highly respected Shakesperian actor. In the States, a combination of extreme typecasting, poor business judgement, less than perfect English & personal problems caused his career to stagnate & nosedive in his later life.

But he was still a great actor, with a riveting, intoxicating screen presence. Gary Don Rhodes gives him the respect & recognition he so richly deserves. Interviews with co-stars & relatives of Lugosi give great insight into who he was both as a man and an actor. Stills & clips from early stage & screen roles show the magnitude and magnificence of his range. "Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula" is a lovely tribute that fans of the actor must see. It is a long overdue valentine to a great star who should have been respected by Hollywood when he was alive. Great job, Mr. Rhodes.