Saturday, September 21, 2019

Count Dracula (BBC)




 
Count Dracula
1977
Director- Philip Saville
Cast- Louis Jourdan, Frank Finlay, Judi Bowker, Susan Penhaligon, Jack Shepherd, Mark Burns, Bosco Hogan, Richard Barnes
           
     Made by the BBC for television, this film is the Gold Standard for faithfulness to Bram Stoker’s novel. At 2 and half hours it successfully crams in almost all the elements of the book and almost all the characters (only Arthur Holmwood is missing). More than that, it captures the feeling of the book.
   
    Some Dracula’s (I’m thinking the Frank Langella version and the Francis Ford Coppola version) portray Dracula as an attractive seducer and the relationship between he and Mina as romantic at least and perhaps even consensual. In the book however, though it is certainly sexual, Dracula is not romantic. The victims (Lucy and Mina) experience something akin to being given a date rape drug.
            

    It also captures the “epicness” of the book, beginning in Transylvania, moving to Europe, and then back to Castle Dracula, complete with shootout on horseback. It’s also a very creepy film. The soundtrack is ominous and moody. It moves at a slow but deliberate pace but never gets boring.
           
     It also sports an outstanding cast (though perhaps not as great as the Coppola version). Louis Jordan is always a good villain. The only complaint you can have is that he is much more attractive than the Count in the book. Frank Finlay as Van Helsing is probably more convincing than any other Van Helsing  (besides Peter Cushing of course). Finlay played a not dissimilar role in the space vampire flick, Lifeforce. Judi Bowker (Andromeda in Clash of the Titans) plays Mina perfectly, giving her both strength and vulnerability. Jack Shepard’s Renfield is more subtle than most others but is also more convincing, I think.
            
     Count Dracula doesn’t have the style of the Coppola version, the sheer fun of the Hammer version or the sexiness of many other versions, but if you want a well-crafted, creepy, and very faithful adaptation, this should be your first choice.

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