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Count Dracula

  • TV Movie
  • 1977
  • TV-PG
  • 2h 30m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
2K
YOUR RATING
Count Dracula (1977)
Supernatural HorrorVampire HorrorDramaHorror

The vampire count leaves his Transylvanian home to wreak havoc across the world.The vampire count leaves his Transylvanian home to wreak havoc across the world.The vampire count leaves his Transylvanian home to wreak havoc across the world.

  • Director
    • Philip Saville
  • Writers
    • Gerald Savory
    • Bram Stoker
  • Stars
    • Louis Jourdan
    • Frank Finlay
    • Susan Penhaligon
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.2/10
    2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Philip Saville
    • Writers
      • Gerald Savory
      • Bram Stoker
    • Stars
      • Louis Jourdan
      • Frank Finlay
      • Susan Penhaligon
    • 80User reviews
    • 22Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos162

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    Top cast18

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    Louis Jourdan
    Louis Jourdan
    • Count Dracula
    Frank Finlay
    Frank Finlay
    • Professor Abraham van Helsing
    Susan Penhaligon
    Susan Penhaligon
    • Lucy Westenra
    Judi Bowker
    Judi Bowker
    • Wilhelmina 'Mina' Westenra
    Jack Shepherd
    Jack Shepherd
    • Renfield
    Mark Burns
    Mark Burns
    • Doctor John Seward
    Bosco Hogan
    Bosco Hogan
    • Jonathan Harker
    Richard Barnes
    • Quincey P. Holmwood
    Ann Queensberry
    Ann Queensberry
    • Mrs. Westenra
    George Raistrick
    • Bowles
    George Malpas
    George Malpas
    • Skipper Swales
    Michael Macowan
    • Mr. Hawkins
    • (as Michael MacOwan)
    Susie Hickford
    • Bride of Dracula
    Belinda Meuldijk
    • Bride of Dracula
    Sue Vanner
    • Bride of Dracula
    Bruce Wightman
    Bruce Wightman
    • Passenger on Coach
    Izabella Telezynska
    Izabella Telezynska
    • Passenger on Coach
    Orla Pederson
    Orla Pederson
    • Passenger on Coach
    • (as O.T.)
    • Director
      • Philip Saville
    • Writers
      • Gerald Savory
      • Bram Stoker
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews80

    7.21.9K
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    Featured reviews

    Am3bi

    A Halloween tradition for 25 years

    One of my favorite horror movies of all time. I saw this movie on PBS when it first premiered back in '77 or '78. I recorded it a couple of years later and have watched it almost every Halloween since. My kids have grown up with this as a tradition. Sometimes we skip a year or two but always come back to this classic.

    For me the movie captures the essence of the book. Several of my favorite scenes are not necessarily the most important. In the opening while Jonathan is riding in the carriage and they pass the woman praying at the roadside shrine. Waiting all alone at the pass in the dead of night. The arrival of the Count's carriage. The late dinner with gold table service. The great scene of Jonathan shaving and the Count's sudden appearance unreflected in the mirror and his comment "The problem with mirrors is they don't show enough" as he nonchalantly drops the mirror out the window. Jonathan's growing horror as he begins to realize he's trapped. His escape to the decrepit chapel were he finds the blood stained vampires entranced in their coffins. The dreamy waltz like nightmares of Lucy's seduction. The rose pedals falling. Professor Van Helsling's scene where he's making cocoa; handing the first cup to his guest, joined by another he hands his next cup to him and then again until he's eventually made cocoa for everyone. The scene in the woods with Van Helsling, Mina and the three brides of Dracula (especially the terrorized horses bolting). The return to castle Dracula in the light of day.

    Dracula is portrayed as both supernatural and human (never melodramatic or campy), very European, very Old World and of course, very tragic. He even is Biblical in his comments that "I make this world my domain" like Satan going to and fro, to and fro in the world.

    For me great stories always have a feeling as if they were going on before we arrived and will continue after we leave. This story is like that. I feel as if the story does indeed go way back. And though it has a logical ending it seems as if it will go on. Truly a classic.
    suessis

    Best "Dracula" I ever saw

    This English version of the classic Stoker novel played on PBS in the late '70's and was one of the better shows that I remember watching on public television at that time. It has a quality that gave it more substance than other versions that I have ever seen. Even the Copella "Dracula", which is centerpieced by a fabulous performance by Gary Oldman, does not have quite the depth that this one did. Like many "Dracula" versions, they have changed the story a bit, but have kept the essential feel of piece

    It might be said that Louis Jourdan is miscast here, but I would only say that from the standpoint of age (Jourdan was nearly 60). The man has an aura and appeal that draw women in. Even in his 60's when he played the villain in "Octopussy", he was still sexy in a continental playboy sort of way. If he had been maybe ten or 20 years younger he would have been better.

    Susan Penhaligon and Judy Bowker will probably be familiar due to the fact that at one point in time they were the English babes of the moment. While Penhaligon is a reasonable actress she wasn't able to rise above it like Jane Seymour. In this show, both give interesting performances. Bowker has a few great moments where her character struggles with the pull she feels for Dracula and her love for her husband.

    The great, but underrated Frank Finlay does a fabulous job as Van Helsing.

    PBS needs to bring this production back on video or DVD. It would be interesting to see it again. While the production is filmed in as the average BBC studio style, it still has appeal.
    swbbers

    The best Dracula ever.

    I saw this once in about 1978 on public television in San Francisco. It was astounding because for once not just the horror, but also the senusality of the Dracula story was transferred to the screen without the (then) standard "monsters jumping out of the box" treatment. I got marvelous chills and tingles while watching. NOW, if those of us who remember this movie/tv show could just get a copy of it!
    eugene1001us

    The best Dracula interpretation ever

    I have a comment for Author: kriitikko from Kirkkonummi, Finland. I will first use his comments and then respond.

    "Ironically, the only performance not so faithful to Stoker, comes from Louis Jourdan as Dracula. This however is not a bad thing. Instead of copying Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee, or playing Dracula more faithfully as a furious warlord (which Jack Palance had done few years earlier in another TV adaptation), Jourdan plays Dracula as calm, calculating demon who seduces his victims by offering them power and eternal life, but who is just coldly using them for his own advantages. In fact Jourdan portraits Dracula as a sort of Anti-Christ creature, who is looking for disciples and going against God. In one of the scenes Van Helsing raises his cross against Dracula and starts to enchant a prayer in Latin, only to receive an arrogant comment from the Count of how prayer always sounds more convincing in Latin. Jourdan may not be most faithful Dracula, but certainly one of the best, making Dracula seem far superior to humans." You are exactly correct. In the novel, Van Helsing states that because Dracula has what he attributes to a be mere "child's mind", that he is "slow to make haste". He uses the Latin term: Festina Lente, which means Hasten slowly or as Van Helsing puts it, "slow to make haste".

    This however proves to be Dracula's ultimate downfall.

    Though Van Helsing also warned Jonathan that "if he (Dracula) dared to use his full array of his powers, he would have been long beyond our (meaning the vampire hunters) reach".

    Thus proving his point. And Dracula's arrogance about believing himself to be vastly superior to mere mortals. He thought himself to be so superior, that in the end they finally defeated him. Because he failed to prepare for the fact that humans in the late 19th Century were better able to combat him, than human contemporaries of his 15th Century.
    10jmdanley

    Best "Dracula" Ever

    Faithful to the novel, magnificently performed in every way. This mini-series showed how well a classic novel should be adapted. Coming only 2 years before Langella's performance, Louis Jordan showed how sexy a middle aged man can be in this role.

    Thirty-five years after I first saw it, most of it sticks in my memory as the greatest adaptation of Bram Stoker's timeless novel. From the opening scenes as Jonathan Harker makes his way through the Carpathian Mountains to the final scenes as the heroes converge on the Count, this took the approach of being presented in a mini-series format to tell the long story that Bram Stoker conceived.

    Lucy's slow transformation from dying waif to lusting vampire is the most memorable scene and may actually be too intense for some viewers.

    Far better than Francis Ford Coppola's version of the early 90's. Definitely worth watching annually on Halloween.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Bruce Wightman who has a bit part in this was a expert on Bram Stoker and founder of the Dracula Society.
    • Goofs
      When Renfield grabs the bars of his padded cell we can see that they wobble and are clearly made of rubber.
    • Quotes

      Count Dracula: Welcome to my house, Mister Harker. Come freely. Go safely.

      Jonathan Harker: Count Dracula?

      Count Dracula: I am Count Dracula. Will you come in?... And, please, leave here some of the happiness that you bring.

    • Crazy credits
      The credits are superimposed over the infamous German woodcuts depicting the crimes of the historical Voivode Vlad Dracula.
    • Connections
      Edited into Great Performances: Count Dracula: Part 1 (1978)

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    FAQ1

    • Is this version of "Dracula" very faithful to the original novel?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 1, 1978 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Official site
      • BBC Worldwide - Special Interest
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • El Conde Drácula
    • Filming locations
      • Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, England, UK
    • Production company
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 30 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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