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Beautifully shot, stunning cinematography, Williams' best score, great performances, loaded with atmosphere. Ok,technically it's a British-American production but shot at Shepperton, with location work all done in Cornwall and Black Park. It's a bit slow at times and not really a 'horror' film but it's all so stylish ...
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I'm afraid I'm not too keen on this version. I find the muddy photography off-putting and Laurence Olivier's little old man Van Helsing annoying and prefer my vampires to be monsters, not romantic Byronic figures. -
"Director John Badham intended to film the movie in black and white but was forced by the studio to shoot in Technicolor. When the movie was re-released on laserdisc in 1991, at the behest of Badham, the lush color was drained from the film. All subsequent home video releases feature the desaturated print."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079073/...f_=tt_ql_trv_5Comment
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Interesting, no wonder I wasn't happy with the colours on the dvd I have, as they are quite vibrant in my 8mm print, and it does change the film somewhat, and not for the better I think..
I don't mind the film on the whole, in fact quite like it, but I would always go for Bela, Chris, or Louis, before this version.Comment
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But isn't the attraction of Dracula for many the whole romantic/sexual thing? Apparently, women swooned at the first stage version, so its been there from the very start.I'm afraid I'm not too keen on this version. I find the muddy photography off-putting and Laurence Olivier's little old man Van Helsing annoying and prefer my vampires to be monsters, not romantic Byronic figures.Comment
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Regardless of the toned-down 'horror' element, it's just so atmospheric and there are some beautiful shots. The camera pulling away from the girls' bedroom, through the (closed) window and up to the roof. Genius!Comment
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But weren't they swooning at the "horror" of it all? Anyone who swooned over Raymond Huntley must've been a bit suspect!Originally posted by Bonekicker View Post
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Women always went for the "bad" boy, if I have a gripe it is with Sylvester McCoy his delivery at announcing "Dracula" ruined the whole suspense of that scene. I do agree that it was very nicely shot and that a few scenes stood out, the Mina scene being one of them.Comment
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I don't even think it's the best Dracula of the late 70s.
I actually prefer the made-on-the-cheap BBC production with Louis Jourdan, Frank Finlay and Judi Bowker from 1977.Comment
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Originally posted by Paul Waines View Post
Hi Paul. Also have the abridged 8mm film for many a year now but more recently picked up the Blu-Ray of this 1979 film which I went to see a few times at the flicks back then.
The 2014 Blu-Ray is really nice and Universal have done a good job here with this title so worth looking at perhaps if you are a fan. We project our BR discs here up to 10ft wide at it looks very good on the screen.
Going back to the 8mm abridged version you will probably know Universal 8 also released the Walter Mirisch Promo Reel as well which is worth looking for although the U8 releases colours for the best part are pinking up. Nice to know we have another cine chap on here.Comment
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Actually, the image of the graph itself is almost an ideal combination: it seems that he is an ordinary person with a droplet of strangeness and a pinch of marginality. In my understanding, it should seem ordinary, merge with the crowd, and not so that when you look at it, it is immediately clear that we have a vampire in front of us (these views of Lugosi in 1931, sorry, are simply ridiculous, and Oldman is no better ). Here Vlad Dracula conducts secular talks, is hospitable, he did not betray himself with anything, until he himself wanted to. His only oddity: he basically does not clean up his own house.Comment
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