Count Dracula (1977)

Country of Origin: UK
Date(s) of Broadcast: 22 December 1977 - 23 December 1977
Number of Seasons: N/A
Total Number of Episodes: 1
Average Episode Running Times: 160 mins
Format: colour
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: BBC/WNET
Producer: Morris Barry
Production Unit Manager: Denis Curran

SCRIPT
Script: Gerald Savory
Novel: Dracula by Bram Stoker
Script Editor: Sally Head

DIRECTION
Director: Philip Saville

PHOTOGRAPHY
Film Cameraman: Peter Hall
Studio Lighting: Howard King

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Film Editor: Richard Bedford
VT Editor: Rod Waldron

MUSIC
Music Composed and Conducted By: Kenyon Emrys-Roberts

SOUND
Film Sound: John Pritchard
Studio Sound: Derek Miller-Timmins

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Make Up: Suzan Broad
Costume Designer: Ken Morey

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects Designer: Tony Harding

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Michael Young
Title Designer: Dick Bailey

OTHER CREW
Production Assistants: Rosalind Wolfes, Fiona Cumming, Roselyn Parker

CAST
Louis Jourdan (Count Dracula)
Frank Finlay (Abraham van Helsing)
Susan Penhaligon (Lucy Westenra)
Judi Bowker (Wilhelmina Westenra)
Jack Shepherd (Renfield)
Mark Burns (Dr John Seward)
Bosco Hogan (Jonothan Harker)
Richard Barnes (Quincey P. Holmwood)
Ann Queensberry (Mrs Westena)
George Raistrick (Bowles)
George Malpas (Swales)
Michael MacOwan (Mr Hawkins)
Susie Hickford, Belinda Meuldijk, Sue Vanner (brides of Dracula)
Bruce Wightman, Izabella Telezynska, O.T. (passengers on coach)
Gareth Hunt (small boy - uncredited)

PLOT SUMMARY

Estate agent Jonathan Harker visits the mysterious Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania to assist with the preparations for his move to England. Harker falls under the spell of the Count who turns out to be a vampire. Harker escapes, but Dracula has already made his way to England and is targeting the young solicitor's lover and her friends and family.

Widely regarded by Dracula devotees as the most faithful adaptation of the novel, this epic shares all the strengths and weaknesses of the original. At its best, it's effectively spooky (easily overcoming the distracting 'flatness' of video) but at it's worse it's overly talky and static. Fabulous performances, especially from Jourdan in the title role, help you through the duller moments though and overall it's unlikely that anyone will be bettering this as a faithful adaptation any time soon.

UK
Television Distributor: BBC

1977
December
22: UK - first television broadcast (on BBC2)

1978
March
1: USA - television broadcast (part 1) (on PBS)
9: USA - television broadcast (part 2) (on PBS)
16: USA - television broadcast (part 3) (on PBS)

1979
January
6: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)

1992
August
11: UK - shown at the National Film Theatre, London

1993
April
5: UK - television broadcast (part 1) (on BBC2)
8: UK - television broadcast (part 2) (on BBC2)

1997
August
14: USA - shown at the Dracula '97 convention, Los Angeles, California

LINKS

REMAKE OF
El conde Drácula (1970)
Drácula (1931)
Dracula (1931)
Dracula (1958)
Dracula (1973)
Dracula (1973)
Drakula halála (1921)
Noroi no yakata: Chi o suu me (1971)
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)

REMAKES
Dracula (1979)
Dracula (1992)
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)

MAGAZINES

Broadcast no.944 (9 January 1978) pp.12-13 (UK)
review (One Man's Television by Bernard Davies)

Cinefantastique vol.7 no.2 (Summer 1978) p.32 (USA)
review (by Jeffrey Frentzen)

The Dark Side October/November 1994 p.17 (UK)
review

Radio Times vol.217 no.2823 (17 December 1977) pp.68-71, 77 (UK)
article

Starburst no.177 (May 1993) p.19 (UK)
illustrated review (TV View by Paul Mount)

Television Today 30 December 1977 p.13 (UK)
review (by Patrick Campbell)

Time Screen no.7 (revised) p.29 (UK)
note

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

books into film, castles, dracula, transylvania, vampires

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008