RETRO REVIEW: Dracula (1979)
This forgotten '70s gem reigns supreme among Universal Studios' many attempts to reinvent the legendary vampire
In 1929, Universal Studios founder Carl Laemmle named his 21-year-old son Carl, Jr. general manager of the studio. Despite accusations of nepotism, Junior won an Oscar for producing All Quiet on the Western Front a year later. War movies like All Quiet were a steady business for Universal, but Junior dreamed of monsters.
Supernatural horror was largely untested in America at the time, and Carl, Sr. was a notable skeptic of the genre. Fresh off winning the Oscar, however, Junior successfully lobbied his father to adapt Bram Stoker’s 1897 gothic novel Dracula. Starring Bela Lugosi as the titular bloodsucker, Dracula kicked off an era of Universal monster movies like Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man and Creature from the Black Lagoon. The golden age of the Universal Monsters spanned a quarter-century, from 1931 to 1956.
Universal’s stable of classic monsters may seem old-fashioned compared to the more intense breed of horror that sprang up in their absence, but they remain instantly recognizable to this day. The studio has repeatedly attempted to relaunch the series in recent decades, with failures outnumbering successes. The first of these attempts came in 1979, when Universal revisited the movie that started it all—Dracula.
While it can’t compete with the iconic status of 1931’s Dracula, the 1979 remake benefits from a much stronger script and an excellent supporting cast. Stoker’s novel is one of the most adapted works in modern history, but its sprawling narrative presents a significant challenge for filmmakers. The Lugosi Dracula hews closer to the novel, introducing the immortal count in his Transylvanian environs before he stows aboard a ship and sails for England (Dracula’s sea voyage and the ensuing off-screen carnage is apparently the basis for another upcoming Universal film, due later this year).
W.D. Richter’s script for the 1979 Dracula performs violent surgery on Stoker’s story and the original film, simplifying the characters’ relationships and excising the prologue entirely (Richter managed a similar feat a year prior with his script for the excellent Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake). Instead of the lengthly Transylvania sequence, the film opens with a shipwreck on the shores of England.
The ship’s crew is dead on arrival, as in 1931—but this time we see the blood and mangled bodies. A young woman discovers the sole survivor of the wreck, an unconscious man in a luxurious fur coat. He awakens, gripping her hand in a sensual embrace. Unfortunately, there’s more to this stranger than his handsome façade suggests. The opening credits are barely over and Dracula has already arrived in England. Richter’s revisions are jarring for anyone who knows the source material, but the result is a leaner, more focused film.
The 1979 cast doesn’t attempt to imitate their predecessor’s performances, instead breathing new life into the characters. Sir Laurence Olivier’s vulnerable rendition of Professor Van Helsing is a welcome change of pace. This Van Helsing is no expert vampire slayer, as many adaptations depict him—he’s just a grieving father, investigating the mysterious death of his daughter.
Even Dr. Seward, a forgettable character in most adaptations, makes an impression thanks to veteran B-movie actor Donald Pleasence (in his second portrayal of a heroic psychologist, a year after he played Dr. Loomis in Halloween).
Kate Nelligan’s Lucy and Trevor Eve’s Jonathan Harker are superior to their paper-thin 1931 counterparts, and English TV actress Jan Francis delivers a brief but scene-stealing performance as the vampiric Mina (in a perplexing adaptational change, Mina and Lucy have swapped names in this rendition). Francis’ eerily childlike behavior, combined with the excellent vampire makeup, makes for the most haunting moment of the entire film.
Of course, any Dracula movie succeeds or fails on the strength of the title role. Frank Langella can’t match Lugosi’s ethereal spookiness, but he gives Dracula an overbearing sensuality and seething Byronic rage. The poofy ‘70s hair does him no favors, but his performance works despite some ill-advised fashion choices. Both charming and menacing, Langella is one of the few actors to successfully reinvent the character following Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee. This Dracula is almost seductive enough to make his hypnotic powers redundant. He drives the ladies of Edwardian England mad with lust, and the men even madder with jealousy.
1979’s Dracula can’t make up its mind—it’s both the story of possessive men jealously defending their women from a sexy stranger, and a confrontation between everyday people and ultimate evil. The film is thematically complicated, but not contradictory—its ambivalence a strength rather than a weakness.
While Van Helsing’s motives for hunting Dracula seem pure, Harker mostly wants to eliminate a romantic rival (this guy would drive a stake into the heart of any man who looked twice at his girlfriend). Dracula may be evil incarnate, but not every would-be vampire hunter is virtuous by default. Like the monster himself, Dracula’s classical surface conceals the subversive spirit raging beneath—but this remake balances its deconstructive streak with reverence for the original.
Dracula honors the Universal legacy with its moody sets and locations, all lovingly shot by Star Wars cinematographer Gilbert Taylor. Fellow Star Wars alum John Williams composed the film’s enchanting score (listen close and you’ll hear hints of his later work on The Empire Strikes Back).
Director John Badham wanted to shoot in black and white, but the higher-ups at Universal refused. He almost got his way in the end, however, desaturating the film’s color palette for its home video release. The director’s revision was the only accessible version of the film for years, although the recent Blu-Ray release includes the theatrical cut as well. Some fans prefer the vibrance of the original, but Badham’s chilly palette feels utterly appropriate for gothic aesthetic of Dracula.
Even the film’s last-minute narrative fumbles don’t seriously undermine its strengths. Richter’s script attempts a compromise between the conclusion of Stoker’s novel and the radically altered 1931 movie ending, while falling short of both. Compared to the rest of the film, the strange composite ending is a bit underwhelming. Regardless, advances in special effects technology and the excellent cast make this a worthy update to Universal’s original Dracula.
Dracula was a modest success, but the series fell into dormancy once again. The character returned as the antagonist of Universal’s 2004 monster mash Van Helsing. A decade later, the studio rebranded him as a tragic hero in Dracula Untold. Universal later denied that the 2014 movie was supposed to kickstart a new franchise, but the overt sequel tease in Dracula Untold’s final scene suggests otherwise.
After several failed franchise-starters, Universal has shifted its focus to standalone monster movies like this week’s upcoming Renfield, starring Nicholas Hoult as Dracula’s under-appreciated lackey and Nicolas Cage as the legendary vampire himself. Langella still stands as Universal’s best rendition of the character since Bela Lugosi, but Cage may present a worthy challenge.