Drácula

Few people remember that Jack Palance--better known as a rough Western character and elderly machismo cologne huckster--played Dracula. For any 10-11-year-olds in 1973, who saw this TV movie, however, his performance will never be forgotten!

I got a chance to see this version of the classic tale as adult a few years ago and found that it is still a fine film. Palance brings something unique to the vampire role. Somewhere between Max Schreck's hideous rat-like Count Orlok and the debonair Lugosi/Lee/Langela Dracula, Palance may well exude some sort of animal magnetism to women, but is still a hideous fanged beast on the prowl. The scene of him trying to get into the locked hotel room of the two women still gives me shivers. Few Draculas ever barred their fangs and hissed as Palance did--although this has seemed to be a popular move for female vampires.

Jack Palance will never be the first or second (or third) name associated with film vampires. For those who saw him in the role, though, it is hard to ever forget his Dracula. Watch it if you get the chance!

Jonathan Harker (Murray Brown) arrives at Castle Dracula in the Carpathian mountains to assist Count Dracula (Jack Palance) to look for a place in Whitby in Yorkshire. Dracula's motivations are not honest, the real motivation being that Harker's fiancee (Fiona Lewis) is the reincarnation of his long lost dead lover.

A fairly faithful TV movie adaptation with a twist makes for an interesting version of Bram Stoker's classic creation with its interesting added plot device of Lucy being a reincarnation of the Count's lover from the past. On the surface Palance is an interesting choice as the title character, but the plot device of lost love and obsession give Palance's Count an added dimension.

Bistritz, Hungary, May 1897: Natives in Transylvania seem afraid when they learn solicitor Jonathan Harker (Murray Brown) is going to Castle Dracula.

Who thought that Jack Palance would make a good Dracula? Clearly director Dan Curtis, who had previously worked with Palance on "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", saw the potential. He has a very distinctive look, different from what might be called a traditional vampire look. And yet, Palance is amazing.

The rumor is that Palance turned down offers to play Dracula again. True or not, it would be no surprise if he received such offers -- his performance is incredible, and he really threw himself into the role. (He reportedly said he felt that he was "becoming" Dracula more than he wanted.)

The director? Dan Curtis. Already famous for "Dark Shadows", he would go on to become legendary. This film played no small role in that. Curtis is a horror legend that we were unfortunate to lose. Along with Bob Clark, these two directors came from a generation we cannot replicate.

"I Am Legend" novelist Richard Matheson co-wrote the script with Curtis. Matheson may be the greatest horror screenwriter ever, having done a fine job adapting Poe stories for Roger Corman, among others. While many adaptations of Dracula have been written and filmed, Curtis and Matheson still found a way to make the story fresh and new, focusing on a love interest that is not present in the source material.

All in all, this may be the best adaptation up to that point, most likely. A bold claim given the dozens of versions from Bela Lugosi to Christopher Lee and beyond, but Palance delivers and the costumes and scenery really set the tone. Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) is now the benchmark and overall superior, but even that does not match this film's tone.

MPI released the film on DVD in 2002 and again on Blu-Ray in 2014. The difference is unclear. If the picture and sound have been improved, the package makes no mention of that. The running time is decreased from 100 minutes to 98, which is probably a print clarification rather than an actual cut. The Blu-Ray adds outtakes and TV cuts, as well as a French audio track. Apparently, however, the French subtitles have been removed (or they still exist but are not worth mentioning). Both feature vintage interviews with Jack Palance and Dan Curtis.

Generally speaking, Blu-Ray releases are superior to older DVD versions. And if you own neither, the Blu-Ray is the only choice. That being said, if someone already has the DVD, an upgrade may not be in order... this is not a "special edition" and fans will gain little by buying the film again.

MORD39 RATING: *** out of ****

At first glance, Jack Palance would seem to be the wrong type for the lead in this television version of DRACULA; but once the movie is well under way, he is purely magnificent in the role. He admittedly truly got "into" the character, so much so that he sometimes feared he might never be able to get out again!

In the disastrous 1990's we were fed Coppola's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, which was a huge disappointment. It stole elements from this 1973 version, most notably the idea of Dracula as a more sympathetic character searching for the reincarnation of his old lover (here she's played by the stunning Fiona Lewis). But the 1992 version failed miserably because we grew to really like Dracula, and that should NEVER happen. But with this Dan Curtis production, we can feel sad for the Count's dilemma, yet still fear and despise him as the villain despite his tragedy. Palance's vampire comes off as a monster, but with just a hint of his past life of humanity which even he seems to miss.

The direction is sound, and the scenery is simple but atmospheric.

To this date, not one version of Stoker's novel has been adapted exactly as he intended it, including this one. There are liberties taken here, but it still remains a better choice than the Coppola film. This is a relatively unseen item that should be re-discovered.

Other fans of DARK SHADOWS will recognize the lost-love element as having come from Barnabas Collins' tragic situation in that series. It adds a magnificent new element to the Dracula story without diluting the original. Bob Cobert's music, also familiar to DARK SHADOWS fans, is the perfect accompaniment to the tale of the vampire count. I have watched this numerous times since it became available on tape.

The various film adaptations of DRACULA have covered probably most of the ways this can be interpreted, from implied sexual perversion (1931), raw sexuality (HORROR OF DRACULA), flagrant, swept-off-one's-feet romance (1979), to historical retrospective (1992), to modern revisionism (2000). This film takes elements of most of these in a neat TV package with an appropriately British supporting cast.

Watch every version anyway; Dracula is a unique addiction!