Review of Count Dracula (1970) by Martin M — 13 Nov 2007

A mixture of good and bad here, something which basically sums up Franco's career. Franco set out to make the definitive adaptation of Stoker's novel, and the first part of the movie, with Harker in the castle, is extremely faithful to the original text.

This alone makes the movie worth seeing, as one gets the chance to hear Christopher Lee deliver large chunks of dialogue direct from Stoker's text. However, realising it had taken a third of his movie to manage 50 pages of the book, from then on the film becomes just another Dracula movie.

The plot largely departs from the book, but is still largely saved by Kinski's Renfield who increasingly becomes the focal point of the movie. Herbert Lom plays a rather intimidating Van Helsing, and the music, so much subtler and more eerie than the crashing brass of Hammer's productions at the same time helps to create a good mood.

Also a relatively rare chance to see Franco's tragic star lady Soledad Miranda (Lucy) in an English-speaking film (even if it is one that has been dubbed and re-dubbed). Worth seeing by any serious vampire fan.