Count Dracula (1970 film)
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| Count Dracula | |
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| Directed by | Jesus Franco |
| Produced by | Harry Alan Towers Arturo Marcos |
| Written by | Jesus Franco Harry Alan Towers Bram Stoker |
| Starring | Christopher Lee Herbert Lom Klaus Kinski Soledad Miranda Maria Rohm Fred Williams Paul Müller |
| Music by | Bruno Nicolai |
| Release date(s) | 1970 |
| Running time | 98 min / UK:97 min / Sweden:91 min |
| Country |  West Germany &  Italy &  Spain &  Liechtenstein |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Count Dracula (German: Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht) is a 1970 film, directed by Jesus Franco and based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.
Although Count Dracula stars Christopher Lee in the title role, it is not a Hammer production like his other Dracula films, but was produced by Harry Alan Towers. It was advertised as the most faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel.
It was released also in Italy as Il conte Dracula and in Spain as El Conde Dracula.
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[edit] Cast
- Christopher Lee as Count Dracula
- Herbert Lom as Abraham Van Helsing
- Klaus Kinski as Renfield
- Soledad Miranda as Lucy Westenra
- Maria Rohm as Mina Harker
- Fred Williams as Jonathan Harker
- Paul Mueller as Dr. John Seward
- Jack Taylor as Quincey Morris
[edit] Plot summary
The film starts with a shot of Count Dracula's castle and the following text
- Over fifty years ago, Bram Stoker wrote the greatest of all horror stories. Now, for the first time, we retell exactly as he wrote, one of the first--and still the best--tales of the macabre.
Jonathan Harker, a lawyer traveling from London to Transylvania to secure property for Count Dracula, arrives at Bistritz to stay for the night. There, he is warned by a concerned lady against continuing his journey the following day. Harker believes that her concerns are rooted in peasant superstition. He ignores her, but starts to feel increasingly unnerved by the way everyone looks at him. Harker sets off for the rest of his journey and arrives at the Borgo Pass where he's picked up by the Count, though Harker doesn't realise that it's him until much later.
Harker debarks at Castle Dracula, and the coach immediately rushes off. Somewhat hesitantly, Harker approaches the main door, whereupon a thin, tall, gaunt old man opens it. Harker asks, "Count Dracula?" "I am Dracula, enter freely and of your own will," says the man at the door (this dialog is taken straight from Bram Stoker's book). Another detail from the book that is ignored by most film adaptions is that Dracula first appears as an old man with a moustache and clad entirely in black. Dracula takes Harker to his bedchamber where Harker notices that Dracula casts no reflection. In the following scene, Harker dines and tells the Count of London, including more dialogue taken directly from the book.
Later, Harker goes to sleep in the bedroom assigned to him, then a jump in continuity places him in a basement room where he is seduced by three beautiful vampiresses. An enraged Dracula rushes into the room and orders them to leave Harker alone. Dracula explains, "This man belongs to me," then gives the vampiresses a baby to feed on.
Harker realises he's now a prisoner and climbs out of his bedroom window and finds Count Dracula and his three brides in coffins. Harker runs out of a window screaming.
The plot moves to England and Abraham Van Helsing's private lunatic asylum. There, Harker is lying on a bed being treated by Dr. John Seward. Harker has an hallucinatory fit involving giant bats.
Harker's fiancée, Mina, is called to the lunatic asylum to see Harker for the first time since his visit to Transylvania. She arrives bringing along with her her best friend, Lucy Westenra. When they get to the lunatic asylum, Mina speaks to Harker but can't get any sense out of him. Suddenly, Lucy faints. Lucy and Mina stay at the lunatic asylum to keep an eye on Harker. Soon thereafter, Lucy becomes ill. Dracula has been visiting her while she's been staying at the asylum.
Quincey Morris, Lucy's fiancée, joins Drs. Seward and Van Helsing. They give her a blood transfusion from Quincey but it doesn't seem that Van Helsing makes any effort other than this to save Lucy. Dracula gets younger while feeding off Lucy. Of growing interest to the men, though, is one of the patients at the lunatic asylum, R.M Renfield, who is classed as a zoophagus. He eats flies and insects in order to consume their life, believing that with each life he consumes he gains that life. He seems to act violently whenever Dracula is around.
Lucy eventually dies while her men look on. Lucy, thanks to Van Helsing's sudden knowledge of vampires, is diagnosed as one. Lucy feeds off the blood of a child, killing one and the men destroy her in her tomb. Harker comes around and joins the group who then ascertain that Count Dracula is their vampire.
Dracula then turns his attention to Mina and Van Helsing suddenly has a stroke and remains in a wheel chair.
Count Dracula returns to Transylvania and is trailed by Harker and Quincey who catch up with him, then set fire to his coffin. At the same time, Dracula is approaching Mina many miles away (he is appearing in two places at once--a feat that is not explained in any way). As his coffin burns, Dracula turns back into an old man and burns to death.
[edit] Deviations from the novel
The film has very few changes from the novel, but there are some notable ones. This list is not exhaustive, but intended to convey a sense of the differences between the film and the novel:
- The character of Arthur Holmwood is omitted, and Quincey Morris replaces him as Lucy's fiancee.
- Harker spends time in an asylum and is treated by John Seward.
- The asylum is run by Van Helsing.
- Lucy and Mina spend much of the film at the asylum looking after Harker.
- Van Helsing becomes paralyzed.
- Dracula can appear in two places at once.
- Mina and Van Helsing do not accompany Harker and Morris to Transylvania.
- Harker and Morris set fire to Dracula in his coffin.
[edit] Trivia
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- Klaus Kinski would later portray Dracula himself in Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht.
- This was the first film version of the novel in which Dracula began old and became younger as he fed upon fresh blood.
[edit] External links
- Online review of film
- Listing with information about the DVD release
- Another online listing/review of the film
