Count Dracula

Plot synopsis:
Jonathan Harker (Bosco Hogan) is on his way to Transylvania with some documents
concerning the purchase of a property in England for Count Dracula to
sign. When his fellow travelers find out where Harker is headed, they beg
him not to go. Count Dracula (Louis Jourdan) turns out to be handsome and cultured,
although he sleeps during the day, has hairy palms and sharp fingernails,
casts no reflection in a mirror, crawls head first down the castle walls,
does not eat, and his eyes and mouth glow red when he sees blood.Dracula requires that Harker remain at the castle for a month, during
which time fiancée Mina Westenra (Judi Bowker) worries about Harker and Harker worries
that he's going mad. Meanwhile, the Westenras -- Mina, sister Lucy (Susan Penhaligon),
and their Mother (Ann Queensberry) move to their summer home in
Whitby. Three weeks pass, and Dracula prepares for his trip to England. He
requests that Harker write a letter saying that he has already left the
castle and is on his way home. Unable to tolerate being imprisoned any
longer in the castle, Harker attempts to escape but stumbles into the
crypt where he finds the three vampiresses and Dracula lying in their
coffin. His attempt to behead the count fails.Back in London, at Dr John Seward (Mark Burns)'s sanitarium, zoophagist patient
Renfield (Jack Shepherd) is busy collecting flies and spiders while awaiting "the
Master's" arrival. In Whitby, a fierce storm is brewing. In the middle of
the lightning, thunder, torrential rain, and raging seas, a ship is
beached in Whitby harbor. The next day Skipper Swales is found dead near
the grave of a suicide. Shortly thereafter, Lucy starts sleepwalking. On
one of Lucy's sojourns into the cemetery, Mina sees her being embraced by
a man who promptly disappears when Mina calls out Lucy's name. When Mina
notices two punctures on Lucy's throat, she blames it on the brooch she
used to fasten Lucy's shawl the night that Lucy was found sleepwalking.Quincey P. Holmwood (Richard Barnes) comes to Whitby to visit Lucy, his fiancee, who is
looking pale and growing long canines. Mina learns that Jonathan is in a
hospital in Budapest and goes to join him. As Lucy is not improving,
Quincey and the Westenras return to London to consult with Dr Seward,
whose sanitarium is next to Carfax Abbey, the property purchased by and
now inhabited by Count Dracula. Unable to make a proper diagnosis, Seward
sends for Abraham Van Helsing (Frank Finlay) to travel from Amsterdam and have a look at
Lucy. Van Helsing immediately recognizes Lucy's symptoms as those of a
vampire in the making. He treats her by making a necklace of garlic and
sealing the doors and windows of her bedroom with garlic. Unfortunately,
they don't tell Mrs Westenra what they are doing, and she removes the
garlic from around Lucy's neck. When a wolf jumps through Lucy's window,
Mrs Westenra dies of shock, and Dracula enters the room.Lucy is dying. Quincey is called. As he holds her hand, Lucy
completes her transformation as a vampire and attempts to bite him.
Moments later, Lucy is dead. Of course, Van Helsing knows that this is
just the beginning.Meanwhile, Jonathan and Mina, now Mr and Mrs Harker, return to London
only to find the Westenra house in mourning and Lucy buried in her tomb.
That night, Van Helsing and Seward visit her tomb but find her coffin
empty. While walking from the cemetery, they encounter a small child who
claims to have seen a "bloofer lady" and who has puncture wounds on his
neck similar to those on Lucy's. Van Helsing and Seward collect Quincey,
and the three of them return to the cemetery where they find a snarling
Lucy with blood on her lips. After Lucy returns to her coffin, Quincey
drives a stake through her heart and Van Helsing fills her mouth with
garlic and cuts off her head.When Jonathan recognizes the new owner of Carfax Abbey as Count
Dracula, they send Mina away and make plans to search the Abbey where 50
boxes of earth were known to be delivered. With a consecrated host, Van
Helsing sterilizes the boxes, but they find only 29 of them and no Dracula
(as he is currently paying a visit to Mina's bedroom). The next day Mina comes to see Renfield, who recognizes Mina's
changed status. Renfield begs to be taken away from the sanitarium, but
Seward refuses. That night, Dracula comes to Renfield and accuses him of
thwarting the gift (Mina) that he sent. Dracula kills Renfield and then
goes to the Harkers' bedroom. While Jonathan lies in a trance, Mina
accepts Dracula's "kiss." Dracula opens a gash in his chest and makes Mina
drink. It is at that moment that Van Helsing and Seward enter the bedroom
and send the Count packing. Mina awakens covered with blood and realizes
that she is "unclean" when a consecrated host burns her forehead.Van Helsing and Harker track down two deliveries of earthboxes to
addresses in Purfleet and Mayfair. While they sterilize the boxes, Dracula
enters. He taunts them, but their crosses and bullets are useless. Dracula
leaves them speechless when he leaps from a window and escapes. After
counting the boxes they have sterilized, they realize there is one box
still missing. Mina tells them that Dracula has taken this box and is
returning to Transylvania. The fearless vampire hunters follow.Jonathan, Dr Seward, and Quincey follow the river route to the
castle, while Mina and Van Helsing camp near the castle awaiting their
arrival. During the night, Mina and Van Helsing are visited by three
vampiresses. Van Helsing draws a circle around Mina and sprinkles it with
consecrated hosts to keep the vampiresses out and Mina in. When morning comes, Van
Helsing goes to the castle and destroys the three vampiresses while Mina
sleeps in the circle.Along the river, four gypsies load Dracula's last earthbox (with him
in it) onto a wagon and race toward the castle, Jonathan, Seward, and
Quincey in hot pursuit. A gunfight breaks out. Quincey is wounded. Three
of the gypsies are shot, but the fourth manages to drive the wagon the
rest of the way to the castle, Jonathan, Seward, and Quincey again in
pursuit. They catch up to the wagon in the castle courtyard and are joined
by Van Helsing and Mina. As the sun sets, Dracula awakens. But before he
can rise, Van Helsing stakes him through the heart. A great cloud of dust
is released, leaving nothing more of Dracula than his clothes. At that
moment, the burn on Mina's forehead disappears. Dracula is destroyed.
[Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Tags: good versus evil, insanity, psychedelic, gothic

Review:
This is, without a doubt, the best and most faithful version of Bram Stoker's novel ever filmed.Anyone who went to see the 1992 Coppola version and was disappointed at it's failure to live up to its billing as a faithful rendition of the novel, then they should check out this superlative effort by the BBC.The cast is uniformly excellent.
Coming only 2 years before Langella's performance, Louis Jordan showed how sexy a middle aged man can be in this role.Thirty-five years after I first saw it, most of it sticks in my memory as the greatest adaptation of Bram Stoker's timeless novel.
From the opening scenes as Jonathan Harker makes his way through the Carpathian Mountains to the final scenes as the heroes converge on the Count, this took the approach of being presented in a mini-series format to tell the long story that Bram Stoker conceived.
Lucy's slow transformation from dying waif to lusting vampire is the most memorable scene and may actually be too intense for some viewers.Far better than Francis Ford Coppola's version of the early 90's.
There have been many great cinematic Dracula's, Lugosi perhaps being the most famous, Lee didn't speak much, but to a certain generation there is no other, Oldman camped it up nicely, Langella was a more romantic Count, so to many the choice of Jourdan as Dracula might come as a surprise and not a good one either.
The cast is way above average for such a production, there's even a nice score, but for me Jourdan and Finlay make the film, at 150 mins though it might be a little long or drawn out for some, I found it riveting, I felt like I was watching a really great stage play, the dialogue is always interesting and as such this is a great success..
Directed "Masterpiece Theater" style and featuring a mondo bizarre performance from Louis Jordan as the Count (check out those eyes!) that is so bad it's good and often just plain creepy, this is the lost "classic" of the myriad of Dracula film/TV adaptations.
Like most people on here I also thought this BBC version was the most faithful adaptation of Stoker's original novel.
Granted, they have changed a few details; for example, Mina and Lucy are sisters, the characters of Quincy and Arthur have been amalgamated and Jonathan visits the Count at his castle in Bohemia rather than Transylvania, but these minor deviations aside, I think even Stoker himself would have said this version was fairly close to what he had in mind while writing his famous novel.
While the BBC's version doesn't quite match Coppola's film for atmosphere and special effects, it certainly makes up for it with its script, the quality of the acting and its faithfulness to the original novel.
This English version of the classic Stoker novel played on PBS in the late '70's and was one of the better shows that I remember watching on public television at that time.
Like many "Dracula" versions, they have changed the story a bit, but have kept the essential feel of pieceIt might be said that Louis Jourdan is miscast here, but I would only say that from the standpoint of age (Jourdan was nearly 60).
Bowker has a few great moments where her character struggles with the pull she feels for Dracula and her love for her husband.The great, but underrated Frank Finlay does a fabulous job as Van Helsing.
The BBC's 1977 production of "Count Dracula" arguably represents for many Dracula aficionados the finest screen version of Stoker's novel ever likely to be made."Count Dracula" probably stands alone by virtue of its very faithful adherence to Stoker's plot, as well as the uniformly stunning quality of the acting performances (who, for instance, could forget Jack Shepherd's "Renfield"?).But for me, the most outstanding feature of the production is the conscious, studied, Gothic restraint of the female cast, echoing much of what was best about the early Hammer vampire movies before the regrettable advent of the "tits and fangs" genre.Without the exposure of a single breast, the trio of female vampires at Castle Dracula succeed in conveying an astonishing level of sexual allurement as they coquettishly tease Jonathan Harker with his letter to Mina.In similar vein, when the (by now un-dead) Lucy Westenra is confronted in the cemetery by the group of vampire slayers, she transforms herself almost instantaneously from a blood-stained Fury from Hell into a virginal Lady of Shalot, and then back again.How sad that this near-perfect cinematic achievement appears to have been very largely eclipsed by "Dracula" of 1978, as well as Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula"!.
This BBC production of Dracula was originally shown in the U.S. on PBS in a three part segment each 45 minutes in length.It is one of the more faithful retellings of the classic Bram Stoker novel starring Louis Jourdan as the suave count.Frank Finlay plays Van Helsing in one of his greatest roles ever and Susan Penhaligon and Judi Bowker turn in fine preformances as well.One of my favorite moments is when Van Helsing confronts Lucy in the graveyard (A chilling moment) and I also like the part where Mina discovers Dracula feasting on lucy after she follows her sleepwalking one night.Phillip Saville creates plenty of atmosphere in the direction and even comes up with some Hammer type vampire shocks.
I will first use his comments and then respond."Ironically, the only performance not so faithful to Stoker, comes from Louis Jourdan as Dracula.
I will first use his comments and then respond."Ironically, the only performance not so faithful to Stoker, comes from Louis Jourdan as Dracula.
Although this version of the Dracula story diverged a bit from the book, it is one of my favorites, because -- to me, anyhow -- it is truly scary.
Although I am more used to seeing Louis Jourdan in debonair-leading-man roles, he made a memorable Count Dracula.
The thing is it probably helped that I was watching it when it was raining outside and the wind was blowing strong, that and with it being night made it all the more enjoyable to view.At this moment in time I am listening to the "Nox Arcana" Gothic ambient album called "Transylvania" and it is giving me goose bumps as the movie is still fresh in my mind, this is because it is not long finished (about 10 minutes ago).
The BBC are damn good at making atmospheric shows (Survivors, Count Dracula).
And in saying that this Louis Jordan Dracula production, along side Hammer Films, cannot be beaten for exceptional set pieces and atmosphere.
Frank Finlay also turns in a superb performance as Dr. van Helsing, as does the lovely Judy Bowker as Mina, and Susan Penhaligan as Lucy.The deviations from the book were few and insignificant, the acting was superb, and the BBC produced an absolute masterpiece.If it is ever shown on your local television area, tape it.
This is one of my favorite versions of the Dracula story because it was the first one that closely followed the original book.
If you want to see a GOOD Dracula film from the 1970's, I recommend the 1979 version with Frank Langella..
From the Bram Stoker book, to the Lugosi version, to the Palance film, to this BBC adaptation...
After I saw the Jourdan movie I again sketched my head wondering how so many people can still think the wild westernly-paced HORROR OF Dracula -- which is possibly the LEAST Stoker-ish film of them all to date -- can be considered "THE Best Dracula Telling" !
Moreoever, despite the attempt to tell "all" of the Bram Stoker tale, the end result is bound to disappoint any fan of Dracula expecting real Gothic horror or suspense.The production has the sort of trimmings you'd expect from a BBC made-for-TV movie produced in the late '70s, but it plays more like a stuffy Victorian melodrama without a sharp focus on the heart of the tale, the count himself.
Louis Jourdan gives the best Count Dracula performance ever.
The surrealism adds a strange feel to the film that works with it to achieve near perfection......So if you are in the mood for a Dracula movie that is very well acted, yet strange and otherworldly, pick this one up!
Having been a fan of Bram Stoker's "Gothic Romance" for years, I made it a quest to collect every Dracula movie I could get my hands on.
her beauty, innocence, and powerful will makes Count Dracula the great movie it is...
Only the Badham '79 version comes close (or may be Hammer's Brides of Dracula from '60, still the most atmospheric vampire film ever made, if not actually about Drac himself) to capturing the magic of Stoker's original.
Good luck getting hold of a copy on DVD of Louis Jourdan's Count Dracula while yea may.
Television movie "Count Dracula" in the BBC production is considered to be the most faithful adaptation of Stoker's novel.
Although Louis Jourdan is not quite right for Dracula the look and feel of the movie will really give you nightmares.
When it originally was shown on TV I taped it and even now show it to my friends who are amazed at how much like Bram Stoker's Book this movie is.
It is some time since I saw this mini-series, but I will always remember it as being the best "horror" film I have seen.
Louis Jourdan gives a good performance as Dracula, although he's no match for Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee.
Originally presented on television as a sort of miniseries in three hour-long parts, this production had enough time to tell the story the way Stoker wrote it.
After All This Time..Still The Only Version Of Bram Stokers' Dracula.
This is the best version of Dracula ever made.Period.Why?...Well because the production team took the time to actually read Stokers' original story.There is some deviation it's not completely faithful but by God they come very close.There is a lot of things in Dracula the book that have been over the years missed or corrupted by Hollywood nonsense or Hammer horror over the top campness that have diluted the actual horror part of the book.Here we have Count Dracula the predator,the skillful manipulator,the tactition setting up his plan to relocate to a new hunting ground.Played by Louis Jourdan this is no over the top,shouty,snarling beast you would run a mile from.No this Dracula has charm and his scenes with Harker are the spider spinning his web to catch the fly.This has the best cast.The best version of Mina played by Judi Bowker.The best Lucy played by Susan Penhaligon.The best Jonathan Harker played by Bosco Hogan.The best Van Helsing as written in the book played by Frank Finlay.And finally the absolute best version of Renfield played by Jack Shepherd as a man desperately trying to save his soul.This may be an old BBC broadcast,with the constraints on budgets and effects of the time, but it's the only version that still has ability to unsettle helped by a fantastic eerie score that helps to create the nightmarish quality of this drama..
It is, without a doubt, one of the best researched horror stories of all time - everything we generally know about vampires comes out of it's pages, because Abraham "Bram" Stoker spent years researching it before it was written and published in 1897.
In a way this production mirrored the nearly contemporary Broadway revival of the old play that starred a young, good looking Frank Langella as a sexy Count.The story was better told than the movie versions - they included the subplot about the American Quincy Morris (Richard Barnes) who is a rival of Jonathan Harker (Bosco Hogan) for Lucy Westenra (Susan Penheligon), and while Morris's character was combined with another minor figure it retained it's importance, as well as it's sad fate (at the conclusion Dracula is able to kill Morris before he is destroyed).
The Best version of the Dracula story so far..
The 1977 BBC version of Count Dracula is without a doubt the very best version filmed so far.
Most of the actors look like the have stepped from the pages of the Bram Stoker novel with the possible exception of Louis Jordan's Count, who is suave and elegant until his blood lust is aroused.
The BBC's first attempt to make their own version of Bram Stoker's classic is not only the better one of the two (the second was made in 2006) but also one of the best adaptations of the book and also the most faithful one.
This is a relief to yours truly, for I am a big fan of Stoker and have been amazed how many versions base their plot on theater plays or simplify the story or set it in modern era or make Dracula fall in love with either Mina or Lucy.Showing that BBC already knew quality back in the 1970's, the team working on "Count Dracula" has put an effort to sets and costumes to create the feeling of the late 19'Th century Victorian era England, with its people living by high morals, yet being easily tempted by the arriving Prince of Darkness.
Judi Bowker is the best Mina I've ever seen in any film version.
Mark Burns as Dr. Seward, Susan Penhaligon as Lucy and Richard Barnes as Quincey don't bring anything new to their roles, but are decent enough not to ruin the film with their presence.Ironically, the only performance not so faithful to Stoker, comes from Louis Jourdan as Dracula.
In fact Jourdan portraits Dracula as a sort of Anti-Christ creature, who is looking for disciples and going against God. In one of the scenes Van Helsing raises his cross against Dracula and starts to enchant a prayer in Latin, only to receive an arrogant comment from the Count of how prayer always sounds more convincing in Latin.
In fact Jourdan portraits Dracula as a sort of Anti-Christ creature, who is looking for disciples and going against God. In one of the scenes Van Helsing raises his cross against Dracula and starts to enchant a prayer in Latin, only to receive an arrogant comment from the Count of how prayer always sounds more convincing in Latin.
In fact Jourdan portraits Dracula as a sort of Anti-Christ creature, who is looking for disciples and going against God. In one of the scenes Van Helsing raises his cross against Dracula and starts to enchant a prayer in Latin, only to receive an arrogant comment from the Count of how prayer always sounds more convincing in Latin.
Jourdan may not be most faithful Dracula, but certainly one of the best, making Dracula seem far superior to humans.All in all, BBC's "Count Dracula" is the closest adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel to date, and to those who loved the book it is an enjoyment to watch.
It was good, don't get me wrong - in fact this is the most accurate adaption of Stoker's narrative that has ever been made - but honestly, I found it a bit campy and it was rather slow moving.When watching this film, I had to constantly remind myself that it was made in 1977 by the BBC, so the effects weren't going to be great; the sets were going to be made of rubber and cardboard and that sort of thing, but I found that I was easily pulled out of the movie and was constantly reminded that I was watching something fictitious.When I'm reading the novel, it's extremely easy for me to get sucked in and almost believe that what I'm reading is actually going on.
It's things like this that make it hard for me to give this a full 10 out of 10 stars.Overall, a good film, though if you're looking for something with a little more action and a little more bang, I'd recommend the Coppola version of the film, especially if you're not quite as concerned about the faithfulness to Stoker's original..
The BBC version of Count Dracula has never got an official release here in the states.
All I can say is that I have never read Dracula but from what I've heard this is the best literary translation and somehow I have to believe this.There are sequences in this that I never knew existed in the novel as I grew up on Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi vampire films that either took elements and spread them across several movies or just left them out period.
This movie does such a good job of getting you to like the characters that you really do not care that Dracula or his brides have not done anything in the last 20 minutes.
Is the movie gory no the usual blood from the neck and such but it does have a sequence where Dracula (played by Louis (Swamp Thing) Jourdan) brings his 3 Vampiric Brides a baby to munch on.
In fact most of the cast does a very good job in this film throughout.All in all if you are to lazy to read the novel (as I am) you should definitely check this out as though it lacks in gore it makes up for it in set designs, story and character development.
Story-wise, this is similar to the 1990's version with Gary Oldman in the title role.Production-wise, this is more or less what you'd expect from 1970's BBC.But there is no actual way that performance-wise, any of these actors could be considered the quintisential anybody, and that very much includes Louis Jourdan as Count Dracula himself.
This 1977 BBC miniseries, written by Gerald Savory and starring Lois Jourdan, is indeed most faithful version of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel.
Besides, it seems contradictory to be faithful to a novel that's in part about the horror of Lucy and Mina being turned unfaithful to their suitors by Dracula.The best parts of this TV "Count Dracula" are ancillary to Stoker's tale.
Moreover, the best movie adaptations of "Dracula" aren't the most faithful.