31 Days of Dracula- Day 21: Count Dracula

I mentioned the Louis Jourdan Count Dracula yesterday,  from the BBC starring Louis Jourdan as the Count, and it's refreshing to hear a Jonathan Harker that speaks with a British accent that's not annoyingly fake (yes, Keanu, I'm looking at you.) and a Dracula that isn't a metaphor for VD.

It's BBC from 1977, not the Doctor Who BBC from 1977 but the I, Claudius BBC in terms of production values, even with the occasional special effect.

As a miniseries, it's a little longer than a feature, clocking in at two and a half hours. But it's time well spent.

Top notch cast, led by Jourdan who's even more sauve than Duncan Regehr, but manages to radiate menace every second he's on the screen. The rest of the cast is very BBC, meaning they're probably classically trained stage actors. As such, there's a stage play feel to the piece, the sets giving each scene a chamber piece feel, each room decorated in period style but awarkwardly lit so the fall of the shadows give it a slightly off feel.

One scene they did go all out for was the churchyard and cemetery overlooking the sea, like in the book it was filmed in Whitby.

And the costumes- it was like a Merchant/Ivory movie.

Since it is so long, it moves at its own pace, slower than other productions, but they've been able to stick closer to the original novel than most productions. The BBC's Count Dracula is definitely required viewing from any vampire fan.