Dracula (1973/I) (TV)

Director:

Dan Curtis

Writers:

Richard Matheson (writer)
Bram Stoker (novel)

Release Date:

8 February 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Tense | Stalking | Fate | Fear | Reincarnation

Cast

Jack Palance	...	Count Dracula
Simon Ward	...	Arthur Holmwood
Nigel Davenport	...	Dr. Van Helsing
Pamela Brown	...	Mrs. Westenra
Fiona Lewis	...	Lucy Westenra
Penelope Horner	...	Mina Murray
Murray Brown	...	Jonathan Harker
Virginia Wetherell	...	Dracula's wife (as Virginia Wetherall)
Barbara Lindley	...	Dracula's wife
Sarah Douglas	...	Dracula's wife
George Pravda	...	Innkeeper
Hana Maria Pravda	...	Innkeeper's wife (as Hanna-Maria Pravda)
Reg Lye	...	Zookeeper
Fred Stone	...	Priest
Roy Spencer	...	Whitby Inn clerk

Also Known As:

Bram Stoker's Dracula (USA)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | UK:15 (video rating) (1994) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Dan Curtis Productions

Trivia:

Jack Palance admitted to being glad once the film was completed. A method actor, he felt that he was "becoming" Dracula more than he wanted.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Dracula flips over Lucy's coffin, the supposedly dead actress inside can clearly be seen to quickly raise her arms to cover her chest and face, presumably to shield herself from the fall.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook (1991)

A great version of the classic tale.

Leave it to a film class student to come up with a ridiculous, negative review (see below)! The Dan Curtis _Dracula_ was the first version to add the variation of the long-lost love angle to the traditional vampire story. Curtis's variation seems to have worked; it's showed up in several other later versions. What's more, the adaptation of Stoker's novel "feels" right and is very faithful to the original. Jack Palance, far from looking constipated (see review below), brings an eerie ambiguity to the film with his odd expressions--is he in pain? Is he sad about what he does? We don't know, and that makes the film worth seeing again and again. As in Curtis's well-known series _Dark Shadows_, the suspenseful music (by the marvelous Robert Cobert) is made to tell a great deal of the story. And as always, the music fits the images like a glove. The supporting actors are _all_ fabulous--I'm a big fan of Nigel Davenport. And now that the film is available on DVD, one has a greater sense for Curtis's grand visual style. In short, this _Dracula_'s a keeper, one of the really great versions of Bram Stoker's wonderful novel.