Yet another film of the stage play, Count Dracula (Frank Langella) moves to England for new hunting grounds and to seduce Lucy Seward (Kate Nelligan). However, vampire hunter Van Helsing (Laurence Olivier) and Jonathan Harker (Trevor Eve) fight to keep Lucy in polite society and to destroy the king of the vampires.
The problem with all Dracula movies is that the basic story isn’t very good. It’s a xenophobic tale that assumes that middle class English society is the only correct society and foreigners are not to be trusted. Nor are women who are weak by their nature. Nor the lower classes who are inherently inferior. Nor, of course, any of our “base” urges as they are not sanctified by The Church. This is the world of the novel Dracula, a puritanical world, and it explains why Harker and Company are so dull and proper. By the nature of the story, the good guys are bland, and we are supposed to like them. But I don’t like them. I like Dracula, even when he oozes evil (Lugosi). In this version, Dracula has been made seductive, so I find myself hoping he will destroy drab society (represented by Harker) and the institutions that support it (Van Helsing). Unfortunately, the Dracula story wasn’t written for anyone to cheer for the “villain.” Ah well.
Within the non-functional framework, this is a pretty good adaptation. Yes, all the male “heroes” are either colorless or insufferable and the pacing is off, but that’s true of every version. Laurence Olivier puts in a particularly annoying performance, but then who could play the voice of righteousness in an engaging way? It shines, as all watchable versions do, on its Dracula. Frank Langella, even with his ’70s hair, is an extremely good-looking man with a fluid voice and piercing eyes. This Dracula seduces both his victims and the audience. Kate Nelligan, as a misnamed Lucy, puts in a capable performance as the seduced. As long as they are on screen, this is sensual and moving. That makes this a love story, and a very good one. Too bad Dracula isn’t a love story.