The twin monster hits Frankenstein  and Dracula  made Universal Studios the home of horror in the 1930 thru the 1950s and stars of Boris Karloff and Bella Lugosi but a lesser know film of that same year that is worth viewing is the Spanish Language version of Universal’s Dracula.

While the principal cast and crew came in during the day and filmed the now classic 1931 Dracula during the evening hours an entirely different crew and cast, using the same set and script, albeit in Spanish, filmed a version for the Spanish language world. This version is often included as bonus content on Blu-rays and better collections featuring the Lugosi Dracula. Considered lost until the 1970’s when a print was discovered and fully restored.

With more daring costuming and a more sensual atmosphere this edition has fans around the world. It is interesting to compare the leads in each film. Lugosi, of course became a star, though of course his terrible drug addiction, first caused for pain treatment for wound he suffered in World War I, severely damaged his career and outside of the Spanish film world Carlos Villarias is virtually unknown. An interesting element to Villarias’ performance is that it strikes dramatically different tones as the characters shifts between charming and vampiric. When he is suave and sophisticated Villarias’ performance strikes me as superior to Lugosi’s, effortless carrying off the easy confidence and command of a person infused with his or her own sense of nobility. However when the blood lust and thirst takes the character Villarias’ performance becomes so overly expressed with his eyes bulging wide and his face contorting into strange expressions that the performance becomes comic and far inferior to Lugosi’s classic composure.