COMMENT: looking back at this I realize that I, somehow, messed up the format of these posts. Oh well. If I had noticed this right away, I'd fix it. But now that it's days later and there are commenst and everything, I'm just gonna note it and apologize. Sorry.
Session: Paul Naschy: Monster Man of Spain, Week 1
Movie: Count Dracula's Great Love (1972)
Directed by Javier Aguirre
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL
Plot:
Paul Naschy is one of those names that keeps coming up when we talk about horror film history. He's not quite a Bela Lugosi or Boris Karlof. But he's up there. Enough that he's known as the Spanish Lon Chaney. In the years that Keith has run this class, he's shown a few Naschy films, but this time he's spending a month showcasing the man.
Reflecting on this first movie, I have to withhold judgement. I can't help having the nagging feeling that the starring role was tailor made for Vincent Price. Naschy seemed kind of...bland. In this role, anyway. Price, I think, would have been more memorable.
That said, there are some things to like about this movie. The opening scene before the credits was really good and set the mood nicely. Plus, well, let's just say that I hope I never get a splitting headache like that poor delivery man. But I didn't think that the movie was well served by having that one scene repeated multiple times during the credits. Joe's opinion notwithstanding.
I enjoyed the humor in the ending. Dracula's victims are chained up in the sunlight, terrified. He tells them, "You have served Dracula well. Now you can return to your original form. Dracula needs you no longer." And we think that somehow the chains will come undone so these women, devampirized, can return to their lives. Then, as they scream in agony and smoke pours off their bodies, we realize that that's not exactly what he meant. Watching Dracula commit suicide is also quite a nice touch for the ending.
But despite the scenes I liked, I have to face the facts. Sometimes Keith shows us movies that stick with me afterwards. Movies that I liked better as time went on. I Spit on Your Grave and Cannibal Holocaust are notable examples. This, however, is the opposite. I kind of liked it when we saw it. At least there were things to like, even though I was kind of lukewarm on the movie when we saw it. But nearly a week later, I find that it really didn't stay in my mind. If I were rating it at this point, with the knowledge of how I feel about it now, I would give it a lower grade. Probably a 4.95
Reaction:
Keith wanted to have a Paul Naschy month
Ratings:
Me: 6.95
Dave: 9.7
Joe: 9.9
Sean: 2 out of 4
Was Paul Naschy REALLY “bland”, when compared to iconic actors like Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, and Vincent Price… whom we English-speakers can hear acting in their OWN voices?
ReplyDeleteNaschy unfairly suffers in such a comparison, simply by virtue of being dubbed! Unless we play the Spanish version audio track – AND fully understand Spanish to the same degree and level of subtlety that we do English, we’ll never really know precisely where Naschy falls on such a scale.
Where Naschy very definitely succeeds is in his overcoming of the handicap of a “disconnected stranger, presumably paid by the hour to read copy” accounting for a VERY large part of the performance we see – and, more specifically, HEAR!
And the fact is that he DOES overcome it, to whatever degree he can, with looks, gestures, facial expressions, and his general demeanor! That he was able to do this with enough success to have established a highly-regarded worldwide reputation is quite the achievement, once you view his many different horror (and even some “Giallo-type”) performances with that level of consideration!
In my verbal critique of the film, I also made the point that Naschy was “an unlikely Dracula”, standing, as he does, both shorter and stockier than Lugosi and Lee in their vampiric prime. But, through some formidable, and undefinable, ability, he WILLS HIMSELF to become Dracula – and, in so doing, takes us all along with him.
Look at the next three films through this prism, and you will likely have a greater appreciation for both the films and Naschy himself.
Marc, I agree with Joe 100% here and I'll also add that Vincent Price would not have made a good vampire, especially in the context of the way this film plays out. Price can do a vampire for the Brits or for the States, and it would really work if he had a writer who wrote for him (ex...Richard Matheson)but for the way thisd film played out, it was written for Naschy by Naschy, hence making it a Naschy film all the way. Remove Naschy for the equation and it does not work.....
ReplyDeleteInteresting points (both of you).
ReplyDeleteI guess it makes sense that Naschy can't be fully judged without hearing his actual voice. But I disagree about him overcoming this with facial expressions and general demeanor.
I'll see how the next three (two as of this writing) selections play out.