A remake that never was…
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Mark of the Vampire
mercutio-8 — 19 years ago(October 25, 2006 10:13 AM)
Having just seen this for the first time, it occured to me that the sets, costumes, and talent involved could have filmed a glossier (higher budgeted) remake of "Dracula". As much as I like the original 1931 film, it would have been cool to see it filmed on a grander scale.
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rcarey1979 — 18 years ago(August 21, 2007 10:32 PM)
Well, it likely couldn't have been done. Universal apparently owned the rights, so MGM certainly couldn't just do an unauthorized remake. Oddly enough the film that this a sequel of 'London after Midnight' started out as an unauthorized version of 'Dracula' until MGM told Chaney and Browning to "change it" for fear of litigation from Florence Stoker. It was later discovered that Dracula had never been copyrighted properly in the USA and was in the public domain to start with. Anyone could have made a version of it with no legal ramifications at all, but few were aware of this in the 1930s and 40s!
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Normal-Bates — 17 years ago(August 24, 2008 03:31 AM)
Well, although it is the remake of London After Midnight with Lon Chaney, I too consider it as a remake of Tod Browning's Dracula, for many striking similarities:
Count Mora looks almost nothing like Lon Chaney's vampire. Mora is likely a re-imagening figure of Lugosi's Dracula. Also, Professor Zelin is almost the same character of Edward Van Sloan's Dr. Van Helsing: giving instructions of a weed to be put in windows and doors, he orders the maid to stay watching Irena (who is likely similar to Mina).
Both here and in Dracula, there is a useless fiance to the heroine-victim. In both movies, the heroine describes the attack of the vampire, in very similar lines. Also, there is this comedic scenes between members of the household (Maria the maid with the chauffer or the butler), very similar to the scenes featuring Briggs the nurse and Martin the asylum attendant in Dracula.
Another similarity are the superstitous villagers. In both movies, there is an innkeeper warning travellers about vampires (and this innkeeper is played in both movies by Michael Vizaroff).
In both movies, the heroine attacks the fiance, under the spell of the vampire. In Dracula, the count appears as a bat in the room where Mina and John are, and commands Mina to attacks John. In Mark, Irena, while being with Fedor, looks out of the window and sees Luna Mora, (Count Mora's daughter). She commands her through hypnosis to attack Fedor.
In conclusion, Mark of the Vampire, in a way, IS a remake of Dracula, although it is already a remake of London After Midnight. An interesting point is, Lon Chaney, who played the vampire in London After Midnight, was to play the Count in Dracula. In Mark of the Vampire, Lugosi plays the character Lon Chaney played in London, and he almost looks like Dracula. The irony