Dracula (1979)

(In French, On Cable TV, June 2022) As far as I’m concerned, Dracula is up there with The Three Musketeers and Sherlock Holmes (and A Star is Born) in the pantheon of stories that become more interesting for the particularities of their various film adaptations than their cinematic substance. I know the original story more or less from beginning to end and I’m not that interested in seeing the perfect adaptation of it – I’m more likely to pay attention to the differences between various versions, or, if you’d prefer, the specific characteristics of each version. The 1979 version of Dracula (which makes an interesting contrast to Warner Herzog’s 1979 version of Nosferatu) comes with some pedigree – directed by John Badham (an interesting choice!) and featuring such notables as Frank Langella, Laurence Olivier and Donald Pleasence, it’s already interesting before it even gets started. The other initial surprise is that the film begins well into the events usually covered by adaptations of the story – skipping over the initial Transylvania segment to skip directly to the ominous arrival of Count Dracula in England. Things get weirder after that – working from a stage version of the story, the film focuses on romantic themes and inexplicably switches the names of Mina Van Helsing and Lucy Seward (the director thought it sounded better). While the colour cinematography looks good, the film feels choked in a characteristic late-1970s kind of foggy horror cinematography – not necessarily a bad thing if you’re looking to differentiate the various versions of Dracula, but not necessarily a good thing by itself. I enjoyed watching this Dracula even if I didn’t enjoy the film itself—it’s a diversion from the usual versions of the story, even if hardly the best one.