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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Dracula (1974) (Dan Curtis Macabre Collection)

Dracula (1974) (Dan Curtis Macabre Collection)

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Released 2-Feb-2011

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Interviews-Cast-Interview with Jack Palance
Interviews-Crew-Interview with director and producer Dan Curtis
Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1974
Running Time 93:51
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Dan Curtis
Studio
Distributor

Beyond Home Entertainment
Starring Jack Palance
Simon Ward
Nigel Davenport
Pamela Brown
Fiona Lewis
Penelope Horner
Murray Brown
Virginia Wetherell
Barbara Lindley
Sarah Douglas
George Pravda
Hana Maria Pravda
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $14.95 Music Bob Cobert


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

"Of all the horror stories ever told, one towers above them all"

     This 1974 made for TV adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula, directed and produced by Dan Curtis, sees Jack Palance in the title role as the vampire count. Curtis had previously produced the popular TV series Dark Shadows (1966-71) and the Night Stalker TV movies and so had a well deserved reputation in this genre. Written for the screen by respected novelist and screenwriter Richard Matheson, this adaptation closely follows the story as written by Stoker - although there are some additions such as Dracula's love interest, and deletions of significant characters like Renfield. The plot therefore is very familiar to those who have read the book or who have seen other adoptions such as Bela Lugosi's Dracula, The Horror of Dracula, the Hammer movies starring Christopher Lee or Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula.

     The opening scenes see real estate agent Jonathan Harker travelling to Transylvania to sell property to Count Dracula. While looking at photographs supplied by Harker, Dracula notices a girl who bares a striking resemblance to his lost love. The girl is Lucy Westenra, fiancé to Harker's friend Arthur Holmwood, who happens to live near one of the properties that Dracula is considering. At that revelation Dracula immediately decides to buy the property and travel to England - but not before allowing Harker to be set upon by his three vampiric brides. Later back in England, a mysterious ship has founded on the English coast with the only crew member found lashed dead to the steering wheel. Not long after this discovery Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and Lucy fall inexplicably ill with strange symptoms and accompanying nightmares. Dr. Van Helsing is called by Arthur to tend to the girls and is immediately suspicious that they have come under the influences of a vampire - a vampire whom they later discover is indeed the Count Dracula. At this revelation Van Helsing and Arthur become vampire hunters with the death of Dracula as the only means to save Mina and Lucy from a fate among the undead.

     Undoubtedly Jack Palance brings a very physical dimension to the title role. He is an imposing presence so when we see him throw people across the room it’s easy to imagine it is possible. The introduction to the plot of Lucy as the reincarnation of a lost love is an unusual touch in that it makes Dracula a somewhat more sympathetic character. It also helps explain why Dracula would bother to leave his home to travel to England. The remaining characters however are all pretty weak - especially given that they are meant to be vampire hunters. It's a bit hard to explain but they all come across as wimpy cucumber sandwich eating types, who nevertheless seem able to drive stakes through vampiric hearts. Van Helsing is quite well played by Nigel Davenport but I just couldn't take his character as directed by Curtis seriously. Simon Ward is worse as Arthur - he looks and runs around like a band member from Herman's Hermits. What is worse however is that this movie is just not scary. Curtis has taken nearly all of the supernatural action of the story out and it has minimal blood-letting and almost no suspense. Instead of a ghostly presence Dracula is almost mortal - with earthly desires and weaknesses. Dracula's three brides over-act terribly to appear menacing, and apart from that there is nothing much else that happens. On the positive side the production values are all top class with the shooting in England and Yugoslavia beautifully done. The costumes all look authentic with apparently real castles and estates being used for specific scenes, and impressively created indoor sets adding to the Victorian setting.

     Apart from Jack Palance and the scenery this screen adaptation of the novel has little to recommend it. It is not scary, sexy, or able to maintain interest for very long. The love interest is an alluring development but perhaps gave the Dracula character too much of a sympathetic angle. The end notes that pop up before the final credits are also a bit silly. They describe the original Dracula (presumably Davis is referring to Vlad the Impaler but this is not directly said) as a soldier and statesman and “so powerful a man was he that it was claimed he succeeded in overcoming even physical death. To this day it has yet to be disproven”. Hmm - I'd have thought that immortality had to be proven rather than disproven. This movie certainly died well before the end.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     This film is presented in the original 1.33:1 aspect and is not anamorphically enhanced. Before the opening scenes there is a disclaimer noting that "Due to the original master quality, some print degradation may be evident. We have decided to release this archival feature for its historical value." The warning is quite appropriate as the film is littered with positive and negative film artefacts including dirt, scratches and flecks. That being said it is possible to ignore them after a while and pretend you are watching an old VHS tape which it certainly resembles. The images are very soft with opening and closing text titles very fuzzy indeed. That being said the colours and blacks were quite reasonable with all scenes easy to see and well defined. Nothing was lost during the darker scenes with everything clearly discernible. The quality of the film itself probably does not merit a remastering effort so I suspect that this will the best you'll ever see of this movie. Given the age and quality of source materials I won't judge the video score too harshly.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The one and only audio track is a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo offering encoded at 192Kb/s. It is a very lacklustre effort with dialogue hard to pick up and absolutely no depth to the soundstage. I had to turn the volume up more than usual to clearly hear what the characters were saying. There were also occasional clicks and pops and crackles but these weren't too intrusive. Surround and subwoofer usage was nonexistent with Dolby surround processing enabled. Fortunately the original music score by Robert Cobert was effective and unobtrusive. There were no synchronisation problems.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menu

     The menu featured static image with audio.

     The following extras are all at 1.33:1 video aspect with Dolby Digital 192Kb/s audio.

Interview with Jack Palance (3:55)

     Jack explains how he was fearful of being drawn too much into the Dracula character and was glad when filming ceased.

Interview with Dan Curtis (4:21)

     Talks about his interpretation of the Dracula character including reasons for adding the love interest.

European Theatrical Trailer (2:52)

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This version appears identical to the Region 1 release apart from PAL and NTSC differences.

Summary

    In summary Dracula is a vampire film that is not scary and fails to maintain interest. The interpretation by Jack Palance is quite good and differently to most other screen Draculas in that he actually is a powerful creature physically - if not supernaturally. The rest of the cast is less impressive although Davenport is not too bad. Not recommended unless you are a vampire movie collector.

    The video quality is fair. The audio quality is fair. Extras are minimal.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Mike B (read my bio)
Friday, March 04, 2011
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-3910 and Panasonic BD-35, using HDMI output
DisplayPanasonic TH-58PZ850A. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL).
AmplificationDenon AVR-3808 pre-out to Elektra Theatron 7 channel amp
SpeakersB&W LCR600 centre and 603s3 mains, Niles in ceiling surrounds, SVS PC-Ultra Sub

Other Reviews NONE