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fandomaniaWARNER BROS. TO RELEASE ACCLAIMED BBC MINI-SERIES 'COUNT DRACULA'
1977 adaptation starring Louis Jourdan coming September 25
By BRIAN THOMAS , News Editor
LOCATION: Transylvania/London
THE SKINNY: On September 25, Warner Home Video will release on DVD one of the most requested adaptations of Bram Stoker’s novel DRACULA.
In response to the hit Broadway stage revival, many Dracula movies went into production during the late 1970s. One of the best received was this three-part BBC mini-series COUNT DRACULA, which was shown in the USA on the PBS series GREAT PERFORMANCES....
COUNT DRACULA, has been acclaimed ever since as one of the most faithful adaptations of the novel, though the film strays quite a bit from the text. Louis Jourdan plays the vampire as a romantic and tragic figure and is rarely frightening, but much of the book’s structure is kept intact.
The cast also includes Frank Finlay (LIFEFORCE) as Van Helsing, Susan Penhaligon (THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT), Judi Bowker (CLASH OF THE TITANS), and Jack Shepherd (WYCLIFFE) as Renfield.
Many scenes shot on location - such as the Gothic graveyard of London's Highgate Cemetery - add extra atmosphere to the production.
http://www.ifmagazine.com/new.asp?article=4504
Amazon.com
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
http://www.amazon.com/Count-Dracula-Mini-Louis-Jourdan/dp/B000R7I48G/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1195301834&sr=1-1
1977 adaptation starring Louis Jourdan coming September 25
By BRIAN THOMAS , News Editor
LOCATION: Transylvania/London
THE SKINNY: On September 25, Warner Home Video will release on DVD one of the most requested adaptations of Bram Stoker’s novel DRACULA.
In response to the hit Broadway stage revival, many Dracula movies went into production during the late 1970s. One of the best received was this three-part BBC mini-series COUNT DRACULA, which was shown in the USA on the PBS series GREAT PERFORMANCES....
COUNT DRACULA, has been acclaimed ever since as one of the most faithful adaptations of the novel, though the film strays quite a bit from the text. Louis Jourdan plays the vampire as a romantic and tragic figure and is rarely frightening, but much of the book’s structure is kept intact.
The cast also includes Frank Finlay (LIFEFORCE) as Van Helsing, Susan Penhaligon (THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT), Judi Bowker (CLASH OF THE TITANS), and Jack Shepherd (WYCLIFFE) as Renfield.
Many scenes shot on location - such as the Gothic graveyard of London's Highgate Cemetery - add extra atmosphere to the production.
http://www.ifmagazine.com/new.asp?article=4504
Amazon.com
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
http://www.amazon.com/Count-Dracula-Mini-Louis-Jourdan/dp/B000R7I48G/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1195301834&sr=1-1
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