Count Dracula (BBC Mini-Series)
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Actor: Frank Finlay, Louis Jourdan, Susan PenhaligonBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 150 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-09-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Warner
DVD Reviews of Count Dracula (BBC Mini-Series)
DVD Review: At Long Last
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been trying to get a copy of this video for several years but it was unavailable in the United States for some reason. In my humble opinion it is the best updated filming of the timeless horror story. The performances are superb, especially that grand old man of the theatre, Jack Shepherd. I am delighted that I finally own a copy that I can view with deliciousness and maliciousness each Hallowe'en. Thanks.DVD Review: very fun with some fine acting
Summary: 4 Stars
My kids, who are not interested in the same entertainment as their dad, tease me that I am a Dracula scholar: this is the 4th version that I have bought. Perhaps they're right: I savor the comparisons and revel in the details that are revealed in each version.
This is really a very good version. The special effects are a bit clunky, from the mid-1970s, but the drama is very solid. Louis Jourdan is one of the best Draculas I have ever seen: he exudes this calm charisma, at once aristocratic and sexy, but also menacingly evil. His performance is worth the price of admission. The scene where he bears his chest to Mina, tempting her to share his blood as a way to initiate her into his sisterhood of the undead, is truly frightening.
The other actors are a mixed bag. Mina is also truly excellent, a strong innocent who is drawn into a danger that could last forever. I completely believed her performance. While Jonathan and van Helsing are quite good, as is Renfield, their performances are only middling. Lucy, Mina's beloved sister, is not very good, in my view, but pretty minor.
Even though I know the story, I felt the fear and suspense to the very end. That is good drama, fun to savor. And it sticks to the original story, without adding silly variations for commercial purposes.
Warmly recommended. This version is not as slick as, say, Coppola's, or as darkly horrible as Herzog's Nosferatu, but it succeeds far better than Christopher Lee's never-ending series. The standard, of course, is Bela Lugosi, but objectively that may be only because I saw it on late night TV as a child with friends. Alas, my kids just don't like any of them!
DVD Review: Louis Jourdan -- too darn debonair!
Summary: 5 Stars
I caught one episode of this series when I was a kid - I think it was Channel 11, WTTW, the public television station out of Chicago. But I hadn't seen the whole thing until I ordered the DVD through Amazon. This is one of the better attempts to put Bram Stoker's classic novel on the silver screen. It departs from the novel in several ways but this is necessary, otherwise the movie would be too long and with pacing problems. It might not be possible (or even desirable) to faithfully recreate Bram Stoker's "Dracula" on the silver screen; perhaps the novel simply doesn't lend itself well to the camera. I like the way Jourdan plays Dracula -- with the imperturbable, suave, sang-froid of a man who has been groomed for power and handles it skillfully. The historical Dracula was the Prince of Wallachia and he wanted his power, privilege, and prerogative to remain unchallenged forever. Jourdan knew that Dracula feels that he DESERVES to win because he believes that he's RIGHT. Dracula does not think of himself as evil: Those who commit the most/worst evil in this world have convinced themselves that they are good. Van Helsing: I don't remember the actor's name because it was not a memorable performance. NO ONE has got this character right yet. Mina Harker: I could do without the Victorian mellowdrama. It adds nothing to the story. I would like to see more depth in the lunatic Renfield. The others are mainly just stock characters who have little depth.
DVD Review: Probally the most faithful version of the Classic yet made.
Summary: 4 Stars
Rare made for television version of Bram Stoker's classic vampire novel,originally aired as a BBC mini-series in 1977.
Over three hours long and surely an epic,this version includes most of the details of the Stoker novel,including Dracula's ability to climb down the castle wall,and yet sticking to cliches.
An example would be that Dracula(as portrayed by Louis Jordan) has a look more modelled after Lugosi than Stoker.
It's also Van Helsing who slays Dracula in this version,as opposed to Quincy Morris in the novel.
Still,these are minor quibbles as the film sports fine performances(particularly Jordan as Dracula and an energetic Frank Finlay as Vna Helsing),beautiful on location shots and great atmosphere.
It's unfortunate that they chose to film the Mini-series on Video,and used many outdated Video effects,but luckily they do not distract strongly from the story.
For Dracula fans and Horror buffs,this DVD is a must.
Note:In a bit of irony,it appears that the two most faithful versions of the two most celebrated Horror novels were filmed at virtually the same time.
Calvin Floyd's "Terror of Frankenstein" was released less than a year before this film.
DVD Review: Louis Jourdan creates a romantic Dracula
Summary: 5 Stars
I've seen this series back in the late 70's. It always had a lasting impression on me. The series somewhat sticks to Bram Stoker's novel. The few differences I see is that this Dracula doesn't start off as an old man. He rather has the same late 40ish apppearance throughout the series. I liked the ladies that played Mina and Lucy. The gentelman who played Van Helsing was very good and very believeable. One cannot top Dwight Fry as Reinfield, but this gentleman who played him does a great job. I thought of Jourdan's Dracula as a French latin lover more than a vampyre from Transylvania. Since this film is English, it is fitting that he is a "French" outsider looking in. The scenes with Dracula's 3 women were sexy, yet horrifying (baby scene). I believe the BBC at the time banned that scene. To sum it up, this films was well written, well acted, and well photographed. I give it 5 stars.
Description of Count Dracula (BBC Mini-Series)
This fan favorite three-part series from the BBC is now available on DVD for the first time! Louis Jourdan stars as the deliciously blood-thirsty Count Dracula in this version of Bram Stoker's horror classic. Keeping close to the original novel, the series begins with Jonathan Harker visiting the Count in Transylvania to help him with preparations to move to England. It is in the Count's castle that Jonathan becomes a prisoner, and discovers Dracula's true nature. Many scenes shot on location -- such as the Gothic graveyard of London's Highgate Cemetery -- add extra atmosphere to an already powerful production.Devotees of vampire cinema have long esteemed this heretofore hard-to-see adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, made for BBC-TV in 1977. Count Dracula puts Louis Jourdan in the fangs and cape, in a version subtitled--and played as--a Gothic romance. This is one of those 1970s TV productions that use film for exteriors and video for the interiors, a tactic that increases the general sense of cheapness about the whole thing (although the location stuff is good, including scenes on the cliffs of Whitby, the port town where Dracula comes to visit England). With 150 minutes to play with, the production has more of Stoker than many film versions include, although there's still some shuffling of the original. It's all a bit slow, and surprisingly cheesy at times, even with the occasional startling image: Dracula scooting bat-like down the side of his castle, or the vampire brides preparing to devour a baby (a scene cut from some subsequent showings of the series, but restored here). Frank Finlay makes a focused Van Helsing--a minimum of camping, thankfully--and Susan Penhaligon and Judi Bowker are respectively hot and cold as Lucy and Mina. Jourdan is effective, although he's off screen a lot and really gets his good bites in toward the end. You'll need some patience, but Jourdan drinks it dry. --Robert Horton
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