Dracula
Promotional poster for Dracula
Directed by	John Badham
Produced by	Executive producer: Marvin Mirisch Producer: Walter Mirisch
Written by	Novel: Bram Stoker Stage play: Hamilton Deane John L. Balderston Screenplay: W. D. Richter
Starring	Frank Langella Sir Laurence Olivier Donald Pleasence Kate Nelligan
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Gilbert Taylor
Editing by	John Bloom
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	July 13, 1979
Running time	109 min.
Country	United States  United Kingdom
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Dracula is a 1979 horror/romance film starring Frank Langella as Count Dracula. The film was directed by John Badham and the cinematography was by Gilbert Taylor. The original music score is composed by John Williams. The film's tagline is: "Throughout history, he has filled the hearts of men with terror, and the hearts of women with desire." Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (515x755, 75 KB) // Movie poster for the 1979 film Dracula. ... John Badham (born August 25, 1939, UK) is a film director. ... Marvin Mirisch (1918-) is the elder brother of Walter Mirisch. ... Walter Mirisch (born November 8, 1921 in New York City, New York) is an American film producer in Hollywood, California. ... Abraham Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847 – April 20, 1912) was an Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula. ... American screenwriter John L. Balderston (1889 - 1954) specialised in writing plays and horror and fantasy scripts for movies. ... W. D. Richter (born December 7, 1945) is a screenwriter and has occasionally directed and produced. ... Frank A. Langella, Jr. ... Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, (IPA: ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. ... Donald Pleasence, OBE (October 5, 1919 – October 2, 1995) was an English stage and film actor. ... Kate Nelligan Kate Nelligan (born Patricia Colleen Nelligan on March 16, 1950, in London, Ontario) is a Canadian actress. ... For other persons named John Williams, see John Williams (disambiguation). ... Gil Taylor (born 12 April 1914) in Bushey Heath, England, is a cinematographer. ... This article is about the American media conglomerate. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... // Events March 5 - Production begins on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. ... “Horror Movie” redirects here. ... While most films have some aspect of romance between characters (at least as a subplot,) a romance film can be loosely defined as any film in which the central plot (the premise of the story) revolves around the romantic involvement of the storys protagonists. ... Frank A. Langella, Jr. ... Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stokers 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. ... John Badham (born August 25, 1939, UK) is a film director. ... Gil Taylor (born 12 April 1914) in Bushey Heath, England, is a cinematographer. ... For other persons named John Williams, see John Williams (disambiguation). ...

The film also starred Sir Laurence Olivier as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, Donald Pleasence as Dr. Jack Seward, Kate Nelligan as Lucy Seward, Trevor Eve as Jonathan Harker, Tony Haygarth as Milo Renfield, and Jan Francis as Mina Van Helsing. It won the 1979 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, (IPA: ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. ... Donald Pleasence, OBE (October 5, 1919 – October 2, 1995) was an English stage and film actor. ... Kate Nelligan Kate Nelligan (born Patricia Colleen Nelligan on March 16, 1950, in London, Ontario) is a Canadian actress. ... Trevor Eve (b. ... Jan Francis (born August 5, 1951 in London) is a British actor. ... The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. ... The following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Horror Film: ...

Like Universal's earlier 1931 version starring Bela Lugosi, the screenplay for this adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula is based on the stage adaptation by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which ran on Broadway and also starred Langella in a Tony Award-nominated performance. Notable for its Edwardian setting, and strikingly designed by Edward Gorey, the play ran for over 900 performances between October 1977 and January 1980. Bela Lugosi as Dracula United States stamp. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Abraham Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847 – April 20, 1912) was an Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula. ... Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. ... Dracula is a 1924 stage play adapted by Hamilton Deane from the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker, and subsequently revised by John L. Balderston. ... American screenwriter John L. Balderston (1889 - 1954) specialised in writing plays and horror and fantasy scripts for movies. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Plot summary

Set in Whitby, England (circa 1920's) Count Dracula arrives via the Demeter one stormy night. A sickly Mina Van Helsing, who is visiting her friend Lucy Seward, discovers Dracula's body after his ship has run aground. Praised by the Count as his "Saviour", he then visits Mina and her friends at the household of Lucy's father, Dr. Jack Seward (whose clifftop mansion also serves as the local asylum). At dinner, he proves to be a charming guest and leaves a strong impression on the hosts, Lucy especially. Less charmed by this handsome Romanian count is Jonathan Harker, Lucy's fiance. Whitby is a historic town in North Yorkshire on the north-east coast of England. ...

Later that night, while Lucy and Jonathan are having a secret rendezvous, Dracula reveals his true nature as he descends upon Mina to drink her blood. The following morning, Lucy finds Mina awake in bed struggling for breath. Powerless, she watches her friend die only to find wounds on her throat. Lucy blames herself for Mina's death by leaving her alone.

At a loss for the cause of death, Dr. Seward calls for Mina's father, Professor Abraham Van Helsing. Van Helsing soon begins to suspect what might have killed his daughter: a vampire. Moreover, Van Helsing now begins to worry about what fate his seemingly dead daughter may now have since her encounter with the vampire. Seward and Van Helsing investigate their suspicions and discover a makeshift tunnel within Mina's coffin (clawed by hand) which leads to the local mines. It is there that they encounter the ghastly form of an undead Mina, and it is up to a distraught Van Helsing to destroy what remains of his own daughter.

Lucy meanwhile has been summoned to Carfax Abbey, Dracula's new home, and soon she reveals herself to be in love with this foreign prince and openly offers herself to him as his bride. After a surreal "Wedding Night" sequence, Lucy, like Mina before her, is now infected by Dracula's blood. However, the two doctors manage to give Lucy a blood transfusion to help prevent her vampirism, but nothing can stop the inevitable now. Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood or blood-based products from one person into the circulatory system of another. ...

Now aided by Jonathan, the elderly doctors realise that the only way to defeat Dracula (and save Lucy) is by destroying him. They manage to locate his coffin within the grounds of Carfax Abbey, but the vampire is waiting for them (despite it being daylight Dracula is still a very powerful adversary to his enemies). Dracula escapes their feeble attempt to kill him and bursts into the asylum not only to kill Renfield for his betrayal, but to free a captive Lucy, and to take her to his home, Transylvania. Map of Romania with Transylvania in yellow Transylvania (Romanian: or ; Hungarian: ; German: ; Bulgarian: ; Serbian: / or / ) is a historical region in central and western Romania. ...

In a race against time, Harker and Van Helsing just manage to get onboard a ship carrying the vampire cargo bound for Transylvania. Below decks, Harker and Van Helsing find the Count's coffin; upon opening it they see Lucy sleeping beside her new "husband", Dracula. Again they try to destroy him, but the Count awakens and once more fights with his assassins. In the struggle, Van Helsing is fatally wounded by Dracula as he is impaled by the stake intended for the vampire. As the enraged Count now turns his attention to Harker, the dying doctor uses his remaining strength to throw a hook (attached to a rope, from the ship's rigging), into Dracula's back. Harker seizes his only chance and hoists the Count's body up through the cargo hold and into the sunlight above. Dracula then suffers a slow and painful death as the solar rays burn his body to ashes.

Lucy, now apparently herself once more, reaches out to Harker for support, but is coldly rejected by her one time suitor. It is at that moment that she looks up to see Dracula's cape flying away in the wind, where she smiles enigmatically, hopeful that her true love is not quite so dead after all.

Deviations from the novel

This list is not exhaustive, but intended to convey a sense of the differences between the film and the novel: “Moving picture” redirects here. ... This article is about the literary concept. ...

• The setting is shifted to circa 1920.
• The entire storyline about what happens in Transylvania is omitted (as, consequently, are the Brides of Dracula).
• Renfield is a laborer who goes to work at Carfax Abbey, encounters Dracula and goes insane.
• Dracula does not grow younger.
• Mina is Van Helsing's daughter, and becomes a vampire instead of Lucy.
• Van Helsing kills the undead Mina.
• Lucy wants to be a lawyer, and has a sexual relationship with Harker before marriage.
• The characters of Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris are omitted.
• Dr. Seward is Lucy's father, not her suitor.
• Dracula does not have multiple coffins.
• Dracula apparently kills Van Helsing, (although whether Van Helsing lives or dies is not shown)
• Harker kills Dracula on board ship, by forcing him into the sunlight.

1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Map of Romania with Transylvania in yellow Transylvania (Romanian: or ; Hungarian: ; German: ; Bulgarian: ; Serbian: / or / ) is a historical region in central and western Romania. ... The Brides of Dracula are the three seductive female vampires, minions of the infamous King of Vampires, Count Dracula - who inhabit his castle in Transylvania with him, in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. ... For other uses, see Dracula (disambiguation). ... Quincey Morris is a is a fictional character in Bram Stokers novel Dracula. ...

Critical response

In 1979, no fewer than three major Dracula movies were released simultaneously around the world: Werner Herzog's arthouse re-telling Nosferatu the Vampyre, John Badham's Dracula, and the comedy Love At First Bite. The success of the jokey latter film, starring George Hamilton may have had something to do with the muted response Badham's film would subsequently experience. The film performed modestly at the box office and was met with mixed reviews, some feeling the film was too light on actual horror, especially in the wake of two bloody decades of Hammer Horror interpretations; while others found the movie to be an atmospheric take on the legend, praising the impressive sets and John Williams lush classical score. Werner Herzog (born Werner Stipetić on September 5, 1942) is a critically and internationally acclaimed German film director, screenwriter, actor, and opera director. ... Art film is a film style that began as a European reaction to the classical Hollywood style of film making. ... Love At First Bite is a 1979 comedy horror film directed by Stan Dragoti and written by Robert Kaufman, using characters originally created by Bram Stoker. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... New company logo as introduced in May 2007 A poster for Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966). ... For other persons named John Williams, see John Williams (disambiguation). ...

The film also boasts some stand out moments such as:

• Dracula's seduction of Lucy (Kate Nelligan) in his newly acquired gothic ruin, Carfax Abbey.
• The chilling mine shaft sequence as Van Helsing (Sir Laurence Olivier) is forced to stake his vampirized daughter Mina (Jan Francis) (not your usual voluptuous bride of Dracula, but a hideous rotting corpse with red, red, eyes).

Although John Badham's Dracula wasn't quite the hit the studio were expecting, eventually falling into relative cinematic anonymity for several years (partly due to it having a limited VHS and DVD release outside of the USA), one thing critics and audiences did agree on however was Frank Langella's commanding and erotic interpretation of the Count, some regarding Langella as the best Dracula since Bela Lugosi. More recently, the film has been re-discovered and strongly embraced by audiences through a recent Universal DVD release as well as multiple cable television broadcasts. Kate Nelligan Kate Nelligan (born Patricia Colleen Nelligan on March 16, 1950, in London, Ontario) is a Canadian actress. ... Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, (IPA: ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. ... Jan Francis (born August 5, 1951 in London) is a British actor. ... Frank A. Langella, Jr. ... Bela Lugosi as Dracula United States stamp. ...

Main cast

Frank A. Langella, Jr. ... Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, (IPA: ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. ... Donald Pleasence, OBE (October 5, 1919 – October 2, 1995) was an English stage and film actor. ... Kate Nelligan Kate Nelligan (born Patricia Colleen Nelligan on March 16, 1950, in London, Ontario) is a Canadian actress. ... Trevor Eve (b. ... Jan Francis (born August 5, 1951 in London) is a British actor. ... Janine Duvitski is a English character actress who trained at the East 15 Acting School in London. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Sylvester McCoy (born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith August 20, 1943) is a Scottish actor. ...

DVD and video re-coloring

The theatrical version of the movie is noticeably different from the DVD release as John Badham re-visited the movie in the 1990's and altered the color balance (initially for laserdisc release). Badham had originally wanted to shoot the film in black and white, but Universal blankly refused. While the 1979 version is full of warm 'golden' colors, which help show off the stunning production design, the newer prints are virtually colorless, prompting many arguments on internet DVD forums. John Badham (born August 25, 1939, UK) is a film director. ... Not to be confused with disk laser, a type of solid-state laser in a flat configuration. ...

Trivia

• The so-called "Wedding Night" scene, when Dracula finally sinks his fangs into Lucy, and making her his bride, was in fact directed by famed James Bond title sequence designer, Maurice Binder. Binder employed lasers, which were borrowed from rock band The Who whilst they were on tour in the UK, to achieve the distinctive look. Incidentally the same laser equipment was also used by Ridley Scott for Alien (1979).
• Controversially, Langella’s Dracula is never seen with either fangs or wolf eyes (though the female vampires in the film do sport this classic attire). This was due to the insistence of Langella, who argued the case for a more believable monster, against strong opposition from the studio and the director.
• During the shoot, Sir Laurence Olivier had been suffering from a long term degenerative muscle disorder (for certain scenes a stand-in had to be used), however, this didn't mean the Academy Award winning veteran and legendary screen and stage actor would let an illness compromise his art; during the scene when Abraham Van Helsing performs an exorcism on Dracula's coffin, Olivier ad libbed the scene in Latin.
• During the scene when Van Helsing, Dr. Jack Seward, and Jonathan Harker try to stop Lucy from heading for Dracula's castle, Kate Nelligan was having difficulty hitting at Olivier with a whip for fear of hurting him. However, he constantly reassured her that there is no need for worry, implying that he is a tough man.
• Sylvester McCoy, the seventh Doctor Who appears in a minor role (Walter). He is billed as Sylveste McCoy and most of his role was deleted from the final print.
• Mina Van Helsing is destroyed twice by her father in the film: once by impalement, and again by having her heart surgically removed.
• Just before Van Helsing sees the undead Mina in the mine shaft, he sees her reflection in a pool of water, contrary to the long established lore that vampires don't cast shadows or reflections.
• Donald Pleasence was originally asked to play Van Helsing, but turned it down due to the character being too similar the character from his previous film, Dr. Sam Loomis in Halloween.

Flemings image of James Bond; commissioned to aid the Daily Express comic strip artists. ... Maurice Binder (August 25, 1925 - April 4, 1991) is a famous title designer best known for his work on 14 James Bond films beginning with the first, Dr. No in 1962 and ending with Licence to Kill in 1989. ... The Who are an English rock band that first formed in 1964, and grew to be considered one of the greatest[1] and most influential[2] bands in the world. ... Sir Ridley Scott (born November 30, 1937 in South Shields, County Durham) is an influential Academy Award-nominated English film director, and producer. ... This article is about the first film in a series. ... Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, (IPA: ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. ... Stand-ins in film are often misunderstood to be doubles for the actors, that is, people who double for the actor during filming, e. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... Helsing and Van Helsing redirect here. ... See AdLib for the computer sound card manufacturer. ... Kate Nelligan Kate Nelligan (born Patricia Colleen Nelligan on March 16, 1950, in London, Ontario) is a Canadian actress. ... Sylvester McCoy (born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith August 20, 1943) is a Scottish actor. ... For other uses, see Doctor Who (disambiguation). ... The title card seen in the original Halloween film. ...

See also

• Dracula (1931 film) which is based on the same Deane/Balderston play
• Universal Monsters
• Universal Horror

Dracula is a 1931 horror film produced by Universal Pictures Co. ... Universal Horror DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... A gallery of classic Universal monsters Universal Horror is the name given to the distinctive series of horror films made by Universal Studios in California from the 1920s through to the 1950s. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Dracula (1979 film)

• Dracula at the Internet Movie Database
• Dracula at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dracula at All Movie Guide
• Dracula at Rotten Tomatoes
• Dracula at Box Office Mojo