COUNT DRACULA (BBC, 1977, starring Louis Jourdan)

I’ve been collecting videos for many, many years now. Like many of you, I have a ‘hit list’ of favourite items that I hope to snap up the second they become available for purchase. It seems like forever that the 1977 version of COUNT DRACULA, starring Louis Jourdan and made for BBC television, has been hovering at the top of my list.

One Hallowe’en in the late seventies, PBS ran this three-part presentation in one showing. As a devotee of the Bram Stoker book, I was thrilled beyond measure when I observed that this adaptation was the most faithful film version on record.

COUNT DRACULA is ably directed by Philip Saville, who has directed a number of outstanding films for television including HAMLET AT ELSINORE with Christopher Plummer and Michael Caine (in his only Shakespeare performance- as Horatio). Saville is well-equipped to direct a classic.

Louis Jourdan is an eerie Dracula. While some claim he is miscast here, I think he is brilliant in the part, bringing a subdued sensuality to the proceedings combined with an underlying sense of evil.

His continental charm, good looks and ability to convey dangerous menace with the arch of an eyebrow, are here put to good use.

The always brilliant Frank Findlay is an absolute delight as Van Helsing, eclipsing the equally brilliant Peter Cushing from memory (at least as long as one is watching this version). Findlay’s characterization is subtly funny and solidly moral. He is an actor of virtuosity and range.

The little-known stage actor Jack Shepherd is probably the best Renfield you’ll ever see and the two menaced sisters, (the ill-fated Lucy and the put-upon Wilhemina) are played extremely well by the extremely beautiful Judi Bowker and Susan Penhaligon.

Like most BBC productions, film is used for exteriors, while interiors are recorded on video. While not terribly distracting, it is unfortunate that the producers didn’t have the foresight to shoot entirely on film and in a wide-screen format.

There is an appropriate emphasis on the church in this version, which is true to the source material and entirely logical. To portray ultimate evil (Dracula) without the symbol of ultimate good (Christ and the Church) is a mismatch of morality.

Fidelity to the source, sensitivity to period detail and language, superior acting and a fine production team make COUNT DRACULA arguably the finest version of the classic story available.

Thankfully, the BBC has opened its archives to give us this classic production. You can order it directly from the BBC on NTSC (North American) video format. It is available in the U.K. on both video and DVD. North America will have to wait for a compatible DVD release.

Attention all Dracula fans, COUNT DRACULA is not to be missed! Lugosi, Lee and others continue to have a place in my vampiric affections, but the BBC COUNT DRACULA is likely the version Bram Stoker himself would’ve most heartily approved. I can’t thing of a higher recommendation.

FOOTNOTE: The beautiful Miss Judi Bowker stole my heart when I first watched this program in the late seventies. A few years later, as a student at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, I was enlisted to be an extra in a BBC WWI-era film called WILFRED & EILEEN. I showed up very early at the BBC offices on a Sunday to be made up, uniformed and briefed—along with about 50 other young men. Not long after being processed, in walked the star of the film—Judi Bowker! I nearly died! She is so extraordinarily beautiful.

During the course of the day I managed to catch her eye a few times and even managed to offer her a cup of tea during one of the many breaks in shooting. She was very kind and sweet. But the most impressive thing about Judi Bowker was her brilliance as a performer. At about 2:00 AM after an extremely long day of location shooting, we were doing the final scene on a boat in Bristol harbour. Judi Bowker has a few pages of lines and the scene was shot repeatedly from various angles. Even after that long, exhausting day, she was spot on with her performance every time. I was very impressed. And believe me, it takes a lot to impress a drama student. Anyone who has ever been to theatre school knows there is no one more critical about acting than a drama student! Ms. Bowker had long before won my heart, but now her great professionalism and talent won my respect and admiration. I can truly say she inspired me. I’ve never forgotten her.

And of course that makes COUNT DRACULA all the more special to me.

Jon Ted Wynne