I'll end up giving in and buying them yet again if that happens and the image quality is worth the upgrade.

How long is the Universal Horror doco?

Does anyone know if there are any plans in releasing something like the Classis Monster Collection a few years ago? I only have interest in the original Universal Monster movies like Dracula, Frankenstein (and Bride of Frankenstein), The Wolf Man, The Mummy, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, and The Phantom of the Opera. I'd like to either buy the set or each individually but they're all pretty much out of print. Has anyone heard anything?

at this point I haven't heard of them doing it, and really doubt they will since hte Legacy collections seemed to do so well. I see the original set pop up in used stores and web sites from time to time....may be your best route.

Yep. http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....11#post7321711

1 hour and 35 minutes

I just want to correct a few mistakes contained in the dvdbeaver.com's comparison of the Classic Monster Collection edition of "Dracula" and the new 75th Anniversary edition (see: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...acula_1931.htm ):

The CMC edition I own has English as well as French subtitles in the English "Dracula". It does not have a French dub track and probably never had one. Furthermore, in at least the Canadian edition I own, the Spanish version was progressive scanned and not interlaced, as mentioned in this review.

Having said this, I had to double dip with the new edition. I had grown used to the too-dark CMC edition and this new cleaned-up version is a nice improvement, in spite of more aggressive cropping. The image, if anything, is even brighter than indicated by the screen captures. It also brings back a little bit of music at the end of the concert scene which was missing from the CMC. (I never even considered buying the dismal "Legacy Collection" edition.) The Spanish version is also improved and cleaned-up.

I find both versions somewhat lacking in the sound department. There is so much silence in this film, it would have been nice to clean up the tracks a little bit more to eliminate background hiss and scratches (which is still preferable, IMHO, to Philip Glass's depressing score). For comparison purposes, listen to the soundtrack of MGM's "The Ghoul" (1933) which has been "sweetened" by Sonic Solutions and is simply astounding: clear as a bell, full spectrum, no hiss, no grating. And why doesn't anyone restore Van Helsing's closing speech, which I remember seeing in a late-night showing of the film a few years back and which is excerpted in the docu "The Road to Dracula"?

Here's an excerpt of dvdreview.com's review ( http://www.dvdreview.com/reviews/pages/2423.shtml ):

I should add that the new commentary by Steve Haberman (scriptwriter of the excellent Mel Brooks' film "Dracula: Dead and Loving It") is unduly harsh to the Spanish version, in view of the fact that it certainly influenced the Mel Brooks version as much as the English one.

The Spanish version is better preserved, has more camera movement, has a modern look, better sound, better and creepier special effects, livelier actors, is 20 minutes longer, using a lot of scenes that were cut from the original (like the mysterious roadside "fire" on the way to Castle Dracula and Van Helsing and Harker coming back from Lucy/Lucia's grave) and gives a precious understanding of how the same script, art direction and concept can yield two different films. My dream version of "Dracula" would incorporate all the extra scenes from the Spanish version (some of which show Lugosi in long shots, by the way) into the existing footage of the English version.

Trust me. I read that thread before posting here. It still doesn't say anything about the individual releases or the Classis Monster Collection. I have no interest in the Legacy sets because they're packaged with a bunch of movies I don't want.

Great news about the better transfer. I too actually thought that the spanish Dracula was in some ways superior I just personally didn't like the actor who played the count and that is major.
Lugosi is damn scary.

You can't compare Lugosi to anybody else in that role but it's fun to watch the Spanish actor ham up the part. It shows us the role as it was written and it probably inspired the Hammer Films' over-the-top personification by Christopher Lee.

the monster tracks pop ups on frankenstein were great...some really good info

I got the Dracula 75th Anniversary Edition DVD. I compared the transfer to the Legacy Collection and it looks pretty much the same. I did not see any huge improvements.

This review also confirms that the improvement is minimal:
http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/dracula2.html

"This new remastered image does boast fewer film scratches and slightly better image clarity, but nothing worth the purchase price alone."