Posted on 09/08/2001 5:29:03 PM PDT by dighton
COUNT Dracula, Romania's most celebrated son, is at the centre of a bitter ownership dispute between the country of his fictional birth and the Hollywood film company that made him famous.
Claim to Copyright: the classic image of Dracula, based on
Vlad the Impaler [left], is owned by Universal Studios</font color>
The bloodthirsty Transylvanian noble, the creation of the Irish novelist Bram Stoker who published Dracula in 1897, has long been one of Romania's foremost tourist attractions.
Based on the fearsome figure of Vlad the Impaler, the 15th-century ruler of Walachia, the Dracula legend annually attracts more than 50,000 visitors to the remote village of Bran, where his gothic castle is said to stand. The shops surrounding the castle regularly sell out of "vampire" wine, fangs and T-shirts.
Until recently, the trade in memorabilia has been private and small-scale, but plans by the Romanian government to cash in on the industry have led to an epic struggle with Universal Studios, the film company that made the first Dracula movies in the 1930s.
The cause of the controversy is a proposed Dracula theme park, promoted by the tourism ministry as a "horrific" alternative to Disneyland.
At a cost of £30 million and billed as "the world's first terror park", Dracula Land is due to open in Transylvania next year, allowing tourists to sample, among other ghoulish delights, blood-red candyfloss and garlic-flavoured ice cream.
The vast site will incorporate cinemas, "vampire-rides" and a special "Dracula Institute", complete with library. Government officials expect the park to draw 500,000 visitors each year, generating an annual income of £15 million.
The Romanian minister for tourism, Matei Dan, says the new venture will be a "tribute to the image of a great national figure".
Mr Dan said: "Around the world there is great interest in Dracula, and in the concept of vampires. There are over 4,000 Dracula clubs and our park will be a magnet to their members."
To the horror of all patriotic Romanians, however, Universal, which produced seven Dracula films from 1930 to 1965, is claiming US property rights over the most iconic Dracula images. Unless the Romanian government pays out expensive copyright fees, the cinema screens in Dracula Land are destined to remain blank.
A Universal spokesman said: "What we are insisting is that we are the owners of images from the seven Universal Dracula films, beginning with Dracula in 1930, and ending with The Brides of Dracula in 1960. Use of images from any of these films, whether for movie-clips, posters or other theme-park style attractions, requires our permission."
As a result, the right to produce a poster bearing the image of Bela Lugosi - the star of classics such as Dracula's Daughter and Son of Dracula, could cost the Romanian government millions.
As estimates of future Dracula Land profits were drastically revised last month, Mr Dan confirmed that "the government will soon be entering into negotiations with Universal over the use of the image of Count Dracula". Privately, officials believe that Hollywood could make as much money out of the park as the government itself.
In the small medieval town of Sigishoara, where the theme park is to be constructed, feelings are running high.
One member of the local tourist board said: "Who do these Americans think they are? Dracula is a part of our history and one of the few resources we can use to attract people from all over the world. There's more than enough money around in Hollywood as it is. Why do they need more?"
Among Dracula specialists however, opinion on the theme-park dispute is divided. Nicolae Paduraru, the president of the Bucharest section of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, said: "I don't really think that Romanians can lay claim to a figure created by an Irish author, who happened to set a vampire story in our country. In Mr Stoker's first manuscript, The Undead, he even based the tale in Austria."
Mr Paduraru believes that the Dracula industry will continue to thrive, with or without the help of Bela Lugosi.
He said: "I don't think the average tourist will be too unhappy if he doesn't see the famous old images. People come to Transylvania for an insight into the ultimate questions. They come to find out truths about the relation between the human and the supernatural. We don't need Universal Studios to give them that."
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2001.</font color>
I though Disney had that honor. Try bringing the family there during Gay Pride Month.
I guess they want this theme park to die a quick death.
If they put half of the truth about the House of Dracul into their movies they might have a reason to gripe. They did nothing but romanticize the character. That is not exactly a claim to fame.
And then there was my buddy who made the mistake of attending a conference there while wearing his favorite red polo shirt during the first week of June. He ended up buying a green Disney t-shirt just so the packers would leave him alone!
As a result, the right to produce a poster bearing the image of Bela Lugosi - the star of classics such as Dracula's Daughter and Son of Dracula, could cost the Romanian government millions.WRONG. Lugosi appeared as Dracula in only two movies: the original Dracula and in Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). In Daughter of Dracula, what appears to be Lugosi's corpse on a funeral pyre is actually a wax mold of Lugosi's face which had been made during the first Drac movie. Son of Dracula starred Lon Chaney Jr as the vampire and didn't have Lugosi (nor any class). Some of the other Dracula appearances in Universal films of the 1940s, like House of Frankenstein & House of Dracula starred John Carradine as the vampire - Carradine had appeared on stage in the original play of Dracula on the West Coast while Lugosi had done it on Broadway and Carradine had been in the running for the original movie and settled for all those sequels. The 1960s movies were not by Universal but by Hammer Films, in England, and starred Christopher Lee, over and over again. Apparently Hammer did not have an agreement with Universal, since it also remade Frankenstein but couldn't use the Universal-trademarked bolt-in-the-neck makeup.
In America, the character of Dracula is no longer copyrighted, being derived from an 1897 novel. In Europe there may be different copyright laws, but I would suspect that a deal could be struck with the heirs of Bram Stoker rather than Universal Studios. As a supposedly historical figure, it might be questioned whether anyone can monopolize the Dracula character at all.
Makes sense, doesn't it?
Or Compeller?
Here, a creative thing is happening, an invention -- like all inventions derivative to some extent on prior work and arts. Yet the "landed class" -- the barons -- of "intellectual property" are threatened, so they act viciously and forcefully to suppress competitive innovation. Like ol' Vlad himself, they want all new ideas impaled by their crack legal team and purchased legislators.
Actually I forced myself not to think about Romania because of the delicious, untimely end of Nickolae and Elena Ceausescu, by automatic weapon fire, in the palace basement, in front of a video camera, still insisting, "You don't have authority!"
It was illegal and dangerous to harbor thoughts of "the Ceausescu Solution" during the eight Clinton years.
It gets weirder. Lugosi died shortly after Wood started filming him, so instead of scrapping the project they just hired another actor to fill in for Lugosi. They had the new guy turn his head away from the camera, or wrap his cloak around his face, and utter no lines.
The only problem was that the new guy was about a foot taller and a lot skinnier than Lugosi. One of hundreds of stupid errors that constitute this movie.
If you haven't done so, rent Plan 9; it's a hoot. Then, watch Ed Wood from a few years ago, wherein Martin Landau plays Lugosi, covering the story of Plan 9 and other wacky Wood films. You'll find the experience worthwhile.
"Bevare! Bevare! Bevare, of the big green dragon that sits on your doorstep! He eats little boys! Puppy dog tails! Big fat snails! Bevare! Take care! Bevare!"
-- Lugosi in Glen or Glenda. See the Medved Brothers' Golden Turkey Awards.
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