All Rise...

Appellate Judge Patrick Bromley is a child of the night.

The Charge

In 1970, Christopher Lee and Jess Franco teamed up to make the most faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel to date. Did they succeed?

The Case

Spanish director Jesus "Jess" Franco is something of an acquired taste. Over the course of his career, he cranked out seemingly countless low-budget exploitation movies, many of which contained soft-core sex, lesbians and graphic violence, all viewed through a hazily constructed artfulness that made his films uniquely his own, but often plodding and dull at the same time. Though I can't come close to claiming I've seen his entire body of work, I've seen enough films to know that as of this writing, Jess Franco is not entirely my bag. He has a huge number of fans and defenders. I cannot yet count myself among their ranks.

That's not to say there will never come a time when I do, and his 1970 take on Bram Stoker's Count Dracula certainly nudges me a little closer in that direction. I didn't love the film and am not completely convinced of its greatness, but at the very least it is unlike most of the other Jess Franco movies I have seen. The director reigns in most of his usual impulses, culminating in a film that's downright classy for a Jess Franco joint. If anything, he ends up swinging the pendulum too far the other way—in attempting to be entirely faithful not just to Stoker's text but to his tone, Franco does away with some of the qualities that might make this particular adaptation more lively and memorable. As it stands, this is a decent adaptation best contextualized as a curiosity.

There's no need to rehash the story of Dracula. This time out, the vampire is played by Christopher Lee, arguably the best-known screen Dracula this side of Bela Lugosi thanks to his turn in a handful of Hammer films. His nemeses in Franco's version are Herbert Lom (Mark of the Devil) as Dr. Van Helsing and Fred Williams (She Killed in Ecstasy) as Jonathan Harker, plus Maria Rohm (The House of 1,000 Dolls) as Mina and Franco regular Soledad Miranda (Vampyros Lesbos) as Lucy. In case that cast didn't already sell you on the film, notorious lunatic Klaus Kinski plays Renfield and there are conflicting accounts as to whether or not he even knew he was appearing in a Dracula movie.

So with a great cast and a single-minded focus on respecting the source material, why does Count Dracula fall short in a number of ways? The performances are good—Kinski was born to play Renfield, though Lee's casting works mostly because of the baggage he brings to the role as an iconic vampire (and I will forever object to any Dracula with a mustache, whether it's Lon Chaney, Jr. in Son of Dracula or John Carradine in House of Dracula or Christopher Lee here). The women are beautiful but the film isn't particularly sexy, while the violence is completely tame compared to the director's usual output. It feels like Franco wearing handcuffs, and his direction alternates between atmospheric and clunky, gothic and talky. I guess it is faithful to Stoker's book in that way.

Previously available on DVD from Dark Sky, Count Dracula makes its high def debut thanks to Severin. Presented in 1080p HD and Franco's preferred aspect ratio of 1.33:1, this has to be the definitive edition of the film. If nothing else, it restores a scene previously unavailable on the DVD (it involves Dracula and a baby). The transfer is decent, sometimes soft and sometimes washed out but good overall. The LCPM two-channel mono audio track is offered only in English—this is one of Franco's few films that hasn't been dubbed—and is presented with clarity. No complaints there.

The supplemental section is terrific, with some extras being carried over from the Dark Sky DVD and some newly produced and/or included. The longest extra is an hour-plus experimental film, Cuadecuc, Vampir, shot during the filming of Count Dracula. Presented in high def black and white, the film is a mix of art movie and behind-the-scenes documentary, shot mostly without sound. It's weird but fascinating. A commentary with actress Maria Rohm and moderator David Del Valle covers the production, working with Franco on multiple films and Rohm's marriage to producer Harry Alan Towers. Also included are interviews with actors Fred Williams and Jack Taylor, an appreciation of the movie by French director Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf), archival interviews with Franco and Towers, audio of Christopher Lee reading Stoker's Dracula and the German trailer for the film.

While I don't think Count Dracula can match the moody vision of Tod Browning's 1931 original and lacks the transcendent insanity of Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 adaptation, it does act as a good baseline. Franco's intentions are honest and his execution capable, so even when the film stumbles—and it does stumble—the problems are outweighed by its positive qualities. Ultimately, I'm probably grading Count Dracula on a curve in that it's not great, but it's pretty good for a Jess Franco film. All it's missing is soft-focus lesbianism.

The Verdict

Restrained Jess Franco, decent Dracula, great extras.

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