Suck It, Day 30 - Seventies Dracula
Today I give you yet another version of Count Dracula, starring Frank Langella and British acting giants such as Laurence (of) Olivier, Donald Pleasance, and Kate Nelligan. The version with probably the greatest deviations from the novel (that I've seen, at least), it's still a rather effective vampire movie.
Dracula (1979)
This movie is more a riff on the Dracula legend than an adaptation. Huge chunks of Stoker's narrative (the entire Transylvania section, for instance) are left out and characters play different roles. Here again, as I've seen in so many Dracula adaptations, Lucy is given more prominence. Dr. Seward is her father instead of a suitor, neither Arthur Holmwood nor Quincey Morris are anywhere to be seen, Lucy (and not Mina) is Jonathan Harker's fiancee, and she is Dracula's chief object of desire, while Mina somewhat takes over Lucy's role in the novel as the Count's first victim who becomes a vampire and must be destroyed. Mina is also Abraham Van Helsing's daughter. Lucy is - I have to say it - rather a Mary Sue here, and I don't like her much. She's a super strong and intelligent turn of the century woman (the setting of the story has moved up a couple of decades) and she's been accepted to medical school. Her father can't seem to manage his asylum without her guiding hand. And, in what seems an effort to make her even more awesome and romantically suited to Dracula, she loves to be frightened.
*rolls eyes*
Anyway, the touchstones of the story are there, but it's really quite different from the novel. As I said, though, it's still a rather effective vampire story. Visually, the film's colors are so washed out - even the shades of black - that it's practically a black and white movie. I thought this might serve to make the red of the blood stand out, but even the reds are fairly drab. Except for a "wedding night" scene, between Lucy and Dracula, which resembles a surreal student film school project and which finally turns the vibrant red on.
If it sounds like I don't like this movie, that's not entirely true. Frank Langella is pretty awesome (though his blow comb should have been used more sparingly). Kate Nelligan gives a great performance, even if I don't like her character. Laurence Olivier has a pretty hideous accent, but he's still Laurence m-f-ing Olivier. And the ending is kind of wonderfully ambiguous.
But it's probably my least favorite of the novel adaptations.
Dracula (1979)
This movie is more a riff on the Dracula legend than an adaptation. Huge chunks of Stoker's narrative (the entire Transylvania section, for instance) are left out and characters play different roles. Here again, as I've seen in so many Dracula adaptations, Lucy is given more prominence. Dr. Seward is her father instead of a suitor, neither Arthur Holmwood nor Quincey Morris are anywhere to be seen, Lucy (and not Mina) is Jonathan Harker's fiancee, and she is Dracula's chief object of desire, while Mina somewhat takes over Lucy's role in the novel as the Count's first victim who becomes a vampire and must be destroyed. Mina is also Abraham Van Helsing's daughter. Lucy is - I have to say it - rather a Mary Sue here, and I don't like her much. She's a super strong and intelligent turn of the century woman (the setting of the story has moved up a couple of decades) and she's been accepted to medical school. Her father can't seem to manage his asylum without her guiding hand. And, in what seems an effort to make her even more awesome and romantically suited to Dracula, she loves to be frightened.
*rolls eyes*
Anyway, the touchstones of the story are there, but it's really quite different from the novel. As I said, though, it's still a rather effective vampire story. Visually, the film's colors are so washed out - even the shades of black - that it's practically a black and white movie. I thought this might serve to make the red of the blood stand out, but even the reds are fairly drab. Except for a "wedding night" scene, between Lucy and Dracula, which resembles a surreal student film school project and which finally turns the vibrant red on.
If it sounds like I don't like this movie, that's not entirely true. Frank Langella is pretty awesome (though his blow comb should have been used more sparingly). Kate Nelligan gives a great performance, even if I don't like her character. Laurence Olivier has a pretty hideous accent, but he's still Laurence m-f-ing Olivier. And the ending is kind of wonderfully ambiguous.
But it's probably my least favorite of the novel adaptations.