Wideo Weekend: Count Dracula

 

Every Halloween the old debate about which is the best adaptation of Dracula comes around. If one is of a certain generation, they might list the Lugosi or Lee incarnations; younger folks might choose the Langella or Oldman films. But the best adaptation by far was the BBC’s Count Dracula (1977), starring Louis Jordan as the Count.

Originally airing on the BBC in December 1977, in the United States, Count Dracula was shown as part of PBS's Great Performances anthology series in three parts starting March 1, 1978, and later on Halloween, October 31, 1979. I believe we caught at least some of that March airing, which assured us it was worthy of remembrance. That Halloween of 1979 we were determined to record it on audio tape.

I myself could not be there; it was decreed that I must journey with Mom to Nanny’s house in San Marcos to work on some of her interminable paperwork. I was uncomfortable about being abroad on the spooky night, especially at Nanny’s House of Horror, which at night seemed a likely stage for some kind of atrocity. But go I must.

It was up to John to man the tape recorder, flipping the tape when necessary and maintaining complete silence while recording. A task which he accomplished with great skill, even adding in husky tones when all was said and done that “Van Helsing was played by Frank Finlay.”

I have to say Finlay is certainly the best Van Helsing I’ve ever seen, absolutely the closest to how Bram Stoker wrote him. We had very definite ideas about how things should be, having read the magisterial The Annotated Dracula by Leonard Wolf by then. I had no illusions about the Count as a romantic figure (a mistake that many movies seem to make), and the adaptation took the religious content as seriously the original. We played the audio over and over, and I was particularly haunted by the end credit music.

I was certainly pleased when I found a DVD of the show, and the entirety of it can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpKhF4Ts_6k

The acting is first-rate, though the special effects might seem a little dated and obviously stagey now and then. But if you can suspend your disbelief in those moments, you will find Count Dracula a haunting and even gruesome tale, well worth viewing on a smoky October night.

Time for another cup of cocoa.