Dracula - dead but happy
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dracula - dead but happy |
| Original title | Dracula: Dead and Loving it |
| Country of production | USA , France |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1995 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mel Brooks |
| script |
Rudy De Luca Steve Haberman |
| production | Mel Brooks |
| music | Hummie man |
| camera | Michael D. O'Shea |
| cut | Adam Weiss |
| occupation | |
| |
Dracula is a comedy by American director Mel Brooks from 1995 and is based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker . The film satirizes in particular the films Dracula (1931) with Bela Lugosi and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) with Gary Oldman .
action
The lawyer Thomas Renfield travels to Transylvania to sell a house in England to Count Dracula . He simply smiles at the local landlord's warnings that Count Dracula is a vampire . After the fortune-teller Madame Ouspenskaya had talked him into a crucifix for fifteen kopecks , Renfield went to the castle, where the count was already waiting for him. The night after the real estate contract was signed, he is visited by two vampire women who are ecstatic about him. Count Dracula intervenes and, after some hypnosis-related difficulties, makes Renfield his slave and travels back to England with him.
When the ship arrives in port, the entire crew is dead, because they served Dracula as a meal. Renfield, the only survivor, is taken to the insane asylum by Dr. Seward, which adjoins the Count's newly acquired property.
In the theater, Count Dracula faces his new neighbor, Dr. Seward, whose ward Lucy, his daughter Mina and her fiancé Jonathan. Lucy in particular is taken with the Count and Count Dracula is also interested in her and even more in her blood. At night he invades her room in the form of a bat and bites her.
Dr. Worried as Lucy's condition worsened over the next few days, Seward decides to seek help from the famous Professor Abraham van Helsing, Doctor of Medicine, Metaphysics, Philosophy, and Gynecology. He immediately suspects that a vampire is the reason for Lucy's illness and, after a dispute in the Old Moldavian language, soon suspects Count Dracula as well.
In vain they try everything to prevent Lucy from being killed by the vampire. Now undead herself, Lucy tries to seduce Jonathan, who, contrary to Dr. Seward's wish to keep vigil over her grave. Van Helsing intervenes and prevents the worst. Together they stake Lucy in order to destroy her once and for all.
The count, however, has now put Mina under his spell, and Lucy's symptoms soon appear with her too. Dr. Seward, Jonathan and Prof. van Helsing decide to set a trap for the vampire and organize a ball to use the mirror test to determine whether Count Dracula is really the undead they are looking for.
When it turns out during a csárdás that he really does not have a mirror image, Count Mina abducts Mina to the old chapel on the cliff. The three men go in pursuit, and at the last moment, before Dracula can bite them again, a scuffle breaks out. The vampire seems to be triumphant when van Helsing notices that the sun is already rising. The professor pulls open the blinds of a window and floods the room with sunlight. Dracula can take refuge in the roof rafters in his bat form. Suddenly the skylight opens. Renfield wants to help his master escape, but has forgotten that sunlight is deadly for him.
Cursing like a reed sparrow, Dracula crumbles to dust. Mina is saved and is brought home by her fiancé Jonathan. Professor van Helsing sees the old Moldavian dispute decided in his favor, and Renfield is now Dr. Seward's servant.
synchronization
The German dubbing was created under the dialogue direction and the dialogue book by Arne Elsholtz on behalf of FFS Film- & Fernseh-Synchron GmbH in Munich.
| Actress | role | German speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Leslie Nielsen | Count Dracula | Horst Schön |
| Mel Brooks | Prof. Abraham Van Helsing | Wolfgang Völz |
| Amy Yasbeck | Mina Seward | Katrin Fröhlich |
| Peter MacNicol | Thomas Renfield | Arne Elsholtz |
| Steven Weber | Jonathan Harker | Randolf Kronberg |
| Lysette Anthony | Lucy Westenra | Madeleine proud |
| Harvey Korman | Dr. Jack Seward | Heinz Petruo |
| Mark Blankfield | Martin | Armin André |
| Megan Cavanagh | It she | Anita Höfer |
| Darla Haun | Brunette vampire bride | |
| Karen Roe | Blonde vampire bride | |
| Anne Bancroft | Madame Ouspenskaya | Karin Kernke |
| Avery clerk | Local | Wolfgang Müller |
| Cindy Marshall-Day | Woman having a picnic | Barbara Witow |
| Chuck McCann | Innkeeper | Thomas Rau |
| Zale Kessler | Orchestra leader | |
| Jennifer Crystal Foley | Nurse | Veronika Neugebauer |
| Matthew Porretta | Party guest | Frank Röth |
| Leslie S. Sachs | usherette | Uschi Wolff |
| Rudy De Luca | Guardian | Peter Thom |
| Gregg Binkley | Woodbridge | Christian Weygand |
| Overseer | Hartmut Neugebauer | |
| Ezio Greggio | coachman | Thomas Albus |
| Voiceover (newspaper article) |
Reviews
“In the footsteps of Bram Stoker's well-known novel about Count Dracula and his innumerable film adaptations, Mel Brooks developed his version of the bloodsucker story as a genre parody rich in allusions and quotations. But the fun of comedy and slapstick dominates more than that the role models are poked fun at, which is why the harmless follies lack the right bite. "
"Brooks parodies like" Spaceballs "were once incredibly funny, this attack on Coppola's noble horror" Bram Stoker's Dracula "from 1992 got toothless and bloodless."
“For [Mel Brooks'] standards, his current joke is surprisingly cautious, as there are unusually few of the bad taste with which the stupid master has made a name for himself. [...] In addition, Brooks keeps the gag frequency surprisingly low. The old master can score more hits than in his last films. While the enthusiasm in the USA is limited, "Mel Brooks 'Dracula" is a surefire (blood) bank after the huge success of Brooks' "Robin Hood" Heroes in Tights "(2.1 million viewers) in joke-mad Germany . "
Others
- While filming the scene in which Jonathan Harker beats a stake in Lucy's heart, Steven Weber was not told that he would be splashed with a large amount of film blood to make his reaction seem more spontaneous.
- Mel Brooks quotes a lot from the original 1931 film Dracula and Nielsen imitates Count Dracula Bela Lugosi.
- The character of Madame Ouspenskaya, the gypsy who sold Renfield a cross at the beginning of the film, was named after Maria Ouspenskaya , who portrayed Maleva in The Wolf Man from 1941 and in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man from 1943. It is played in Dracula - Dead and Loving It by Anne Bancroft , Mel Brooks's wife, who was a drama student from Ouspenskaya in their youth.
- The csárdás that is played during the ball is the Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms .
- Wolfgang Hohlbein starts his vampire novel Dunkel with a visit to the cinema by the protagonist in Dracula - Dead but Happy .
Web links
- Dracula - Dead and Loving in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Dracula - Dead and Loving at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Dracula - Dead but Happy in the online movie database
- Dracula - dead but happy in the German dubbing file
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dracula - Dead but Happy. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on October 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Dracula - Dead but Happy. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Dracula - Dead but Happy on cinema.de
- ↑ Dracula - Dead but Happy on kino.de