#in my mind. solely in my mind. 50s-era buster keaton is mr. swales' silent friend who never says anything but is just there.

[hotvintagepoll]

How are the more recent Dracula castings affecting the movie?

When we last left off, Jimmy Stewart (Jonathan) had just beheld Mary Philbin (the agonized woman) getting eaten by wolves. (this being a vintage film we do not actually see her get eaten. we are given a haunting image that subtly conveys her getting eaten which is somehow ten times worse). He stares, shocked and bereft, out his lonely black-and-white window in Castle Dracula. The movie has gotten very solemn and a little bit artistic.

SMASH CUT to Omar Sharif (!!) and Leonard Nimoy (?????) on board the Demeter! Omar Sharif makes total sense for this role and is conveying responsibility, stoicism, nobility. Leonard Nimoy is thanking god and his agent that he finally got onto a film that doesn't have him in the pointy ears. (he is still contractually obligated to call the strange cargo they have on board "fascinating.")

Back in England, our heroines Setsuko Hara (Mina Murray) and Judy Garland (Lucy Westenra) are sitting by the seaside cemetery, enjoying the ramblings of old seaman Mr. Swales. because Mr. Swales is played by Ed Wynn, this is less "crusty old sea man giving bram stoker's idea of a British dialect" and more "the movie is suddenly produced by Disney in the 1960s and everyone is having a GRAND time because this man is Silly™." his various tales of suicides, deaths at sea, child abuse, and familial hatred are all suddenly very harmless and cute and Setsuko Hara is wondering where all the Technicolor came from.

Back in Hell on the Demeter, the movie is sliding back into black and white as the fog gets thick and the crew is picked off one by one. Omar Sharif is shooting for an Oscar with this one. He is terrified stoicism personified. Leonard Nimoy has hit his stride and is doing that brand of feverish madness the amok time fans know so well. We catch a shot or two of Gloria Holden's Count, but she is mostly veiled in mystery.

In Whitby, a plucky reporter sees a ship coming in: Ethel Waters is on the case! You know if anybody is going to book it on to a ship with a corpse tied to it (rip Omar) with 0 issues, it's going to be her. She's after a story, by god, never mind that mysterious dog!

Speaking of that mysterious dog, it's headed up the hill toward the cemetery. Boy, I hope it doesn't run into Mr. Swales. Seeing an Ed Wynn character get killed off in gruesome fashion this early in the movie would be a pretty horrifying tonal switch! I'm sure he'll be fine though, the movie seems so lighthearted and comedic now :)