1931 film 'Drácula' gets its first film score, just in time for Halloween

The 1931 Spanish-language Drácula will get its first film score. It was among the early "talkies," when filmmakers hadn't quite yet figured out how to incorporate music into their craft.

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

One of the early talkies that came out in 1931 was the Spanish-language Drácula. But just because it had sound didn't mean it had a score. After all, B.J. Leiderman, who writes our theme music, wasn't around. Now an Oscar-winning composer has written a score for the film, and he's performing it this weekend with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. Andrea Gutierrez has the story.

ANDREA GUTIERREZ, BYLINE: For composer Gustavo Santaolalla, when he scores movies and TV shows and video games, the music usually comes to him before he's seen any footage.

GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA: I like to work a lot from the story, the script and the way I relate to the characters and the story. And that's how I started writing the themes.

GUTIERREZ: This process has won him two Academy awards for his work on the films "Brokeback Mountain" and "Babel," and recent acclaim for his work on The Last of Us, the video game and the TV series.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA'S "THE LAST OF US (MAIN THEME)")

GUTIERREZ: But his latest film is almost a hundred years old, so the footage already exists, and the story is well known.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DRACULA")

CARLOS VILLARIAS: (As Count Dracula, speaking Spanish).

GUTIERREZ: The Spanish-language Drácula was released in 1931. It was filmed at night on the same Hollywood sets as the English-language version, starring Bela Lugosi, but with a different cast. And because sound technology was still in its infancy, the way music could be captured and used in movies was complicated. The actors' dialogue and music were typically recorded in the same room, and the technology wasn't good enough to capture the full spectrum of sound. So a lot of early talkies didn't have a musical score the way we know them today, including "Dracula."

SANTAOLALLA: There's long passages where there's no dialogue. There's still a lot of movements and parts of the acting that has this over-the-top feel, you know? And actually, I mean, if you watch it without any music, it becomes languid and long.

GUTIERREZ: For instance, the moment when Dracula introduces himself to a man who's entered his castle - they're standing in a vast, dark room of cobwebs, and there's total silence - no note, no drone like you'd typically find in a horror movie and no dialogue until Dracula speaks.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DRACULA")

VILLARIS: (As Count Dracula) Soy Drácula.

GUTIERREZ: For Santaolalla, it was a blank canvas to fill.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DRACULA")

VILLARIS: (As Count Dracula) Soy Drácula.

SANTAOLALLA: And then, when he starts the walking, it starts that kind of loop - (imitating beat) dun, dun. And it gets this rhythm, you know? But it was one of the difficult ones, the one that took me more time to figure it out.

GUTIERREZ: He says that watching the movie with a score fixes a lot of the pacing issues that come from those long stretches of silence.

SANTAOLALLA: The music really created all this mood, you know? Take the music out, and it's eternal.

GUTIERREZ: Without a director to consult, Santaolalla had the challenge of figuring out what to emphasize in the story. And for him, that meant honing in on what he felt was an underappreciated, more tender part of the story.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SANTAOLALLA: I always find, in Dracula's story, a big romantic component. So in the music, I tried to put together, you know, sounds and things that evoke in me old horror movies, mixed with some modern sounds, with a deep tint of romanticism and melancholy.

GUTIERREZ: Santaolalla says he didn't write this score for a 1931 audience or a 2024 audience. He wants it to appeal to audiences no matter what the year is and hopes it's enjoyed decades from now as much as it is today.

SANTAOLALLA: Good art is the one that transcends time.

GUTIERREZ: Timeless, like Dracula himself.

For NPR News, I'm Andrea Gutierrez in Los Angeles.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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