Audio problem: In the uncensored version (certain scenes were thought too graphic, and thus a lot of copies of the movie are edited), Dracula picks Renfield up and strangles him, and Renfield is screaming. Okay, how can someone scream if they're being strangled? (The censored version, however, works because you can't hear Renfield).
Dracula (1931)
1 audio problem - chronological order
Directed by: Tod Browning
Starring: Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Dwight Frye, Helen Chandler
Visible crew/equipment: Right after Dracula says "My blood now flows through her veins", he then walks across the room. As he does this, watch the lower right corner of the frame and you'll see revealed for a moment a big glaring light "hidden" on the floor behind the couch. (00:58:45)
Maid: He's crazy.
Martin: They're all crazy. They're all crazy except you and me. Sometimes I have my doubts about you.
Maid: Yes.
Trivia: To accommodate all sorts of viewers, the studio also made a silent version of the film (for cinemas without sound equipment) and a Spanish-speaking version (to be shown in Latin America). The Spanish version is considered a better film, because it was filmed after the English takes each day, so the Spanish director and actors would watch the English takes and decide how to improve on them.
Question: Does anyone know why there are armadillos running around inside Dracula's castle?
Chosen answer: If memory serves, that version was filmed in Mexico and they used the same sets to film the Spanish version AT THE SAME TIME. English crew on days, Mexican crew at night. Being the desert there would be armadillos and I'm sure the crew thought they'd make good rats or something. Wouldn't you find some sort of exotic wildlife living in Castle Dracula?
Answer: Actually, in that time period, rats were deemed too "gross" to show so armadillos were substituted. I got this answer straight from David Skal, the noted horror film historian.
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Answer: Pretty sure this qualifies as a mistake, just like the llamas in Troy. Armadillos only live in the Americas. Later on, they have opossums too! So the story about not wanting to show rats could very well be true. Nevetheless, if this isn't a mistake, I don't know what is.
Spiny Norman