Too many Draculas? NAH!

DRACULA (1931) ***1/2

Tod Browning's Dracula is adapted from the then-popular stage-play, and the influence is quite obvious upon viewing, as the film eventually becomes quite stagey and static. A lot of the camera-work is pedestrian, and the scene transitions are often short and somewhat jarring. Too much exposition also slows down the film, and when compared to its contemporary, James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN, it simply doesn't fare as well. As some critics have remarked, its essentially a stylistic holdover from the silent-film era. And, as a last critique, this film doesn't end so much as simply STOP, and there's a big difference between these two concepts.

However, for all its flaws, this movie definitely deserves its classic status. Even without a pair of fangs, Bela Lugosi set a standard as Count Dracula against which all others would be measured to this very day. His Dracula is stiff and formal, yet prone to sudden bursts of quick-fury. He's quite obviously a product of a bygone age, and his deliberate movements go a long way towards convincing us that this guy isn't truly alive. Sadly, Lugosi would be forever typecast as Dracula, and it cast a long shadow over the remainder of the actor's career. 

Along with Lugosi, Dwight Frye embodies the unhinged Renfield with disturbing aplomb, and comes very close to stealing the entire film, and Edward Van Sloan approaches the role of Abraham Van Helsing with dignity and restrained wisdom. The rest of the cast essentially just takes up space, and fills up time. This movie simply belongs to Lugosi, Frye, and, to a lesser extent, Van Sloan. 

In the WTF? department, there's a scene set in the tombs of castle Dracula early in the film where we see North American Opossums and also Armadillos, none of which exist in Europe. Definitely odd.

DRACULA (1958) *****

This one departs rather strongly from the original novel, even more so than Universal's 1931 version. Here we have no trip to London, no nutty, scenery-chewing Renfield, no vampiric shape-shifting into a bat, and the 3-sisters are distilled down into a single, sultry bride.

But that scarcely matters when the results are THIS damn good. This film absolutely thunders onto the screen with all the vivid color, gorgeous set-pieces, excellent period costumes, and pulse-pounding musical-scoring that one would come to expect from the very best work of Hammer Studios, along with a pace that makes the Tod Browning version look like its attempting to wade through knee-deep molasses in the frigid month of January. 

Christopher Lee is, IMHO, the best Dracula to ever grace the silver screen. Tall and lean, imposing, charismatic, seductive, and absolutely disturbing: his full-on, feral, vampire-visage with red-eyes and long, sharp fangs is a hard one to top. In a sharp contrast to the slow, deliberate, and downright stagnant, undead Lugosi, Lee's Count is full of vigor, thanks no doubt to the stolen life's-blood of his hapless victims. And the contrast between the suave Count who greets his guests with flawless manners, versus the snarling vampire roused to bestial fury couldn't be more stark, a true study in personality contrasts. In Lee, one can see Count Dracula as he must have been centuries before, a ruthless warlord and fierce defender of his native Carpathian lands, traits that would be hard to spot in Lugosi's version.

And as good as he is, this film wouldn't be the classic it is without Lee's partner in cinema and real-life friend, Peter Cushing, as Doctor Abraham Van Helsing, who infuses the role of the erstwhile scholar of the black-arts with a great deal of class and gravitas. His Van Helsing is no frail old man or stuffy academic, but rather a man of wisdom AND action, who is perfectly willing to dirty his hands when there's an ageless evil that needs stopping. Armed with knowledge of both science and the supernatural, and a host of holy-crosses, Cushing's Van Helsing becomes the Count's one, true nemesis, as determined to end Dracula's evil as Dracula himself is determined to live on.

Their final showdown in the film's climax is truly one for the ages: a showcase of will, faith, and quick-thinking overcoming darkness, power, and arrogance, and a triumph of good over evil. They don't come much better than this!

COUNT DRACULA (1970) **1/2

Famous (some would say infamous) for his work in unapologetic exploitation cinema, director Jess Franco decides to play it straight in his adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, but ultimately, even the great Christopher Lee himself, playing the count with a mustache this time, and the genuinely-nuts Klaus Kinsky, who is essentially wasted as Renfield, cannot save this rather sterile film.

The movie starts off strong, and adheres very closely to the novel, at least for the first half. Dracula himself starts off as an old man, and grows younger as the film goes on and he drinks more blood. However, it starts to drift at the halfway mark and plods its way to disappointing, unexciting climax. 

One nitpicky item is, to me, somewhat telling. That the 1931 Universal version managed to do a better job with the bat-effects than this 1970 film is, frankly, ridiculous. There's also a segment where Harker, Morris, and Dr. Seward are menaced by a small menagerie of taxidermy specimens, from a blurry owl, to a boar, a fox, an ostrich, and more. All stiff and dead, yet turned and shifted into positions accompanied by animal sound-effects. I shit you not, its very, very silly. 

Equally absurd is Renfield, who has a backstory delivered by way of exposition, that connects him to Dracula, and yet the two never really meet. The kicker is that in the final act, Renfield, who finally manages to divulge the location to which Dracula is fleeing, essentially dies from his own crazy. Oh sure, he took a dive out a window earlier on, but all that did was break an arm and wrench his neck, 

Its unfortunate, because the shooting locations around Barcelona are gorgeous, and the entire cast is very strong, from Lee and Kinsky, to Herbert Lom as Van Helsing, Jack Taylor as Quincey Morris, Fred Williams as Johnathan Harker, Soledad Miranda as Lucy Westenra, and Maria Rohm as Mina Harker, but the material and direction just aren't up to showing what they are capable of, and the horrible, repetitive musical-scoring doesn't help in the least. 

DRACULA (1979) ***1/2

When considering the plethora of adaptations to Bram Stoker's most famous work, John Badham's DRACULA is one that has been overlooked too many times for too many years. Starring a magnetic Frank Langella, who had enjoyed a very successful run in Eugene Wolsk and John Wulp's Broadway adaptation of the stage-play (featuring unique set-designs by Edward Gorey), the film boasts a large budget, excellent sets and location-shooting, a superb John Williams score, and top-tier co-stars in the incomparable Laurence Olivier, and the always-fun Donald Pleasence.  

This film goes a long way towards cementing the more romantic and erotic aspects of Dracula, as well as vampirism in general. In a way, I strongly believe it lays the groundwork for Francis Ford Coppola's gloriously-overblown, big-budget 1992 adaptation. Set in the Edwardian era as opposed to the Victorian one, this version throws away the opening of the novel set in Transylvania, jumping instead to Dracula's journey to England on-board the doomed vessel, Demeter. From there, the events unfold in ways both familiar and new, doing so in grand style along the way.

Langella is compelling and magnetic as Dracula, and one can tell he relished the part, one he speaks fondly of to this very day. He's confident, charming, powerful, and determined, even with that 1979 disco-style hair. Whether he's the center of attention at a gathering, seducing Lucy, or crawling down an exterior wall, he's hard to take your eyes off of. 

Laurence Olivier makes for an amazing Van Helsing, at once frail and yet still strong in mind and will, and Donald Pleasence makes for an entertaining Dr. Seward, who always seems to be munching on something. This production also swaps about the characters of Lucy and Mina (now a Van Helsing), played by Kate Nelligan and Jan Francis respectively, for reasons that even the director himself can't quite explain, but it matters little, as both actors acquit themselves very well with very strong performances. The scene where Van Helsing has to destroy the now-undead Mina is wonderfully performed by Olivier and Francis, and is absolutely heartbreaking.

Rounding out the cast, Trevor Eve makes a decent Johnathan Harker (never the best of roles in the first place), and Tony Haygarth makes for a very pathetic Renfield. In fact, Renfield's death was the thing I had most vividly recalled from this movie, one I hadn't watched in at least 35 years, and once I cannot recall ever seeing in its entirety. 

However, this film is not perfect, and it has a few major knocks against it. The first is a very surreal love-scene between Lucy and Dracula. The pair are obviously standing, yet the edit places them horizontally, as if they are floating. Bathed in swirling mist and a high-contrast floodlight, the scene is tinted red because, you know, BLOOD, and director John Badham edits in a fluttering bat for good measure, as the John Williams score swells and booms the entire time. The whole thing is utterly hokey and so painfully 1979, it almost hurts to witness.

Speaking of Lucy, another problem with this film is that she ultimately comes across as duplicitous and untrustworthy, a woman who seems perfectly content with Johnathan (and his lovely roadster), until Dracula breezes into town with his fluttering cape, full lips, and the windblown feather-cut mane. Sure, the ol' Count certainly does his part in wooing Lucy, but he doesn't have to try very hard, because she's REALLY into the new hotness, and it speaks ill of her character. 

The last knock against it is an ending which comes across as somewhat baffling, and uncertain. I don't want to spoil it, but its something of an odd letdown.

Still, I found this adaptation to be quite good, and feel that its strengths overcome its weaknesses. I can confidently rank it as one of my favorites. Definitely recommended.