Count Dracula (1977)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Count Dracula |
| Original title | Count Dracula |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1977 |
| length | 150 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Philip Saville |
| script | Gerald Savory |
| production | Morris Barry |
| music | Kenyon Emrys-Roberts |
| camera | Peter Hall |
| cut | Richard Bedford |
| occupation | |
| |
Count Dracula is a 1977 British television film directed by Philip Saville and starring Louis Jourdan and Frank Finlay . It is a film adaptation of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker , produced by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC 2 on December 22, 1977.
action
The film begins in England in the 19th century: Lucy Westenra's sister Mina says goodbye to her fiancé Jonathan Harker, who is going on a business trip. Harker goes to Transylvania to sell real estate in England to a certain Count Dracula. When he mentions the name Dracula to locals in Transylvania, they turn pale and ask him to turn back. The superstitious locals abandon him and Harker has to take an anonymous coachman to Dracula's castle. At the gate of the castle, Jonathan Harker is greeted and received by Dracula personally.
Jonathan Harker is supposed to stay a month to teach the Count English . Dracula is polite and gallant, but also mysterious and sinister. Harker thinks he is hallucinating when he cannot see Dracula in the mirror once. One of the next nights he sees Dracula climbing around the facade of the castle like a bat. Again he doesn't believe his senses. On another evening, Dracula's brides suddenly appear. They only let go of Harker when Dracula appears and gives them a baby. When Harker explores the castle, he finds the women and Dracula asleep in a coffin and wants to kill him with a shovel - but without success.
In England , Mina and Lucy visit the seaside town of Whitby . Among her friends are Quincey Holmwood (Lucy's fiancé) and Dr. John Seward, head of a mental hospital. Among Seward's patients is the madman Renfield, who fears and worships Dracula. Mina and Lucy witness a storm that blows the foreign ship " Demeter ". Dracula traveled to England on this ship. Mina later follows a sleepwalking Lucy to the cemetery, where she lies in Dracula's arms. Lucy herself is visited by Dracula at night, who drinks her blood, and she becomes pale and weak. Jonathan comes to himself weak and pale in a monastery in Budapest .
Seward contacts his friend Abraham Van Helsing, who is supposed to examine Lucy. Van Helsing recognizes the danger posed by the vampire and protects her bedroom with garlic.
Seward and Holmwood eventually kill Lucy, who had turned into a vampire. Van Helsing stuffs the body's mouth with garlic and chops off its head.
Harker, Van Helsing, Seward and Holmwood go to Carfax Abbey to make Dracula's coffins unusable. Renfield realizes that Dracula is visiting Mina and tries this and Dr. Warn Seward. Dracula kills Renfield. Van Helsing and Seaward find Mina drinking Dracula's blood from his chest. Dracula disappears.
The count flees back to his castle by having his coffin transported by gypsies, followed by Van Helsing and Mina. In the forests of Transylvania, Van Helsing and Mina are attacked by Dracula's brides, but van Helsing is able to destroy them. Harker, Seward and Holmwood have to fight with gypsies who want to protect Dracula. Shortly before sunset, Van Helsing manages to drive a wooden stake into Dracula's heart and kill him with it.
reception
The reactions of the critics were mostly positive. Film historian Stuart Galbraith IV called Count Dracula one of the best film adaptations of the novel. The cast is excellent. He particularly praised the portrayal of Frank Finlay and Louis Jourdan. Critic Steve Calvert called the film one of the best, if not the best, film adaptations of the subject. In his book Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen , David J. Skal calls Count Dracula “the most successful and meticulous adaptation of the novel”. DVD Verdict's Brett Cullum criticized the film's special effects, which he described as a failure. However, he praised the acting performances. In the Guardian criticism , Nancy Banks-Smith was not satisfied. The portrayal of Jordan, who values the lover more than the demon, was not successful.
Web links
- Count Dracula in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Online review on baharna.com
- Online review on talkingpix.co.uk
Individual evidence
- ↑ Count Dracula : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video
- ↑ DVD Review: Count Dracula (1977)
- ↑ Skal, David J. (2004). Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen. Paperback ed. New York: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-21158-5 - page 275
- ↑ DVD Verdict Review - Count Dracula : BBC Mini-Series ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Nancy Banks-Smith: Television: Dracula . In: The Guardian , December 23, 1977. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
