Count Dracula — Count Dracula (UHD,Blu Ray, CD boxset)

From the early 1970’s Count Dracula is Jess Franco’s take on the classic horror tale, and surprisingly it’s a rather straight, tame & fleshless ride- though we do get moments of inspiration, and eerier atmospherics at play from time to time. With Christopher Lee playing the count, Klaus Kinski is Renfield, and Herbert Lom is Van Helsing. Here from Severin is a deluxe four-disc set of the film- taking in a UHD disc, two Blu-rays, and a CD soundtrack. With a new 4k scan of the film, and a nice selection of extras- both new & old.

Count Dracula (aka Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht, Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, Dracula, Prince of Darkness) was a Spanish, West Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, and British production. It was made in the year 1970- been produced & co-written by infamous exploitation producer Harry Allen Towers. This was one of five films Franco helmed in 1970- with the others being Eugenie, The Bloody Judge (also with Mr Lee), Nightmares Come At Night, and the short Juliette. Count Dracula certainly stands as one of Franco’s more formally shot & presented films- and to be honest aside from a few elements/ touches-it’s very un-Franco.

Before I get into my thoughts about the film- I think I should put my cards on the table. I’ve been a fan of Lee’s Hammer take on Dracula since I was an early teen, and I’m a fan of (most) of Franco’s output- though I do lean more towards the more low-budget/ off-kilter/ unsettling side of things. I’d never seen this version of the Dracula story until this release- so I was somewhat apprehensive, and to be honest I’ve come away with rather mixed feelings.

Things open up with atmospheric credits- showing a real European castle in the autumn through woodland. As we get into the film, we meet Jonathan Harker (Fred Williams) travelling on a train to see the count- he talks to another man, and we get close-up shots of his eyes with a shocked response. He gets off the train- is led to a place to stay- and is told he will catch the coach tomorrow to go to Borgo Pass- where the Count's carriage will then take him to the castle.

So, the next day rolls on, after a night of Jonathan being awoken & warned not to go by a woman in lacey night attire. He gets on the stagecoach- with a selection of people staring at him- shaking their heads. He gets dropped off at the pass, and is soon enveloped by deep, deep mist as a carriage pulls up. They ride through the dusk-bound & misty woods with wolves following howling- with the soundtrack effectively mixing jarring hammered dulcimer tones, brooding piano bonding, and subtle orchestral uneasiness. Certainly, one of the eerily dreamy & disorientating rides up to the Count's lair.

When Harker arrives at the castle he bangs on a huge door- to be led into the place by the Count (Lee) who has a grey handlebar moustache & sleeked back hair, and is carrying a cobweb-covered candelabra. With Lee getting a good few lines- setting the historical context of the Count. We then move on through a fairly standard Harker at the Count's castle unfold- though we do get a few neat touches- like Harker scaling the side of the castle, and is he dreaming or not moments.

Next Harker awakens to be told he’s somehow back in a hospital near London- which you guessed it, just happens to be nearby where the Count has set up residency. One of the doctors is Franco regular Paul Muller, with the whole place being run by Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Lom). With a few other Franco regulars turning up soon too- with Soledad Miranda playing Harker’s intended Lucy, and Jack Taylor as the boyfriend of Lucy’s friend. Also in the hospital is Renfield (Kinski) in a padded white room.

Now onto the positives/ negatives in the film from when we get to the UK- the good- Lee gets some neat appearing & disappearing from shadows moments, some of the victim entrance-ments are effective/ eerier, and the Count's demise is fairly interesting- though a little low grade. Bad-wise- Williams is a very flat/ dull Harker, and Kinski is surprisingly underwhelming as Renfield. There are a lot of rather bland dialogue scenes, and we get a frankly ridiculous stand-off scene between our heroes & a room full of stuffed animals!.

I’d say don’t go into the film being a Franco fan, because it’s very tame & generally untypical of his output. But equally don’t go into it expecting another standard Lee Dracula film- as his take on the character starts off chattier, then goes kind of eerie, before being slightly underwhelming. I’m certainly glad I’ve seen the film, and I’d say it’s an interesting if ultimately rather flawed picture- which rather loses its impact as it progresses.

 

 

So let us talk about this new four-disc release. On the UHD disc, we get just the film,  a new commentary track & trailer. On the first Blu-Ray, we get the film, the new commentary track, and five archive extras. With the second disc taking in the two new extras, and the CD taking the thirty-track soundtrack. First off, the new 4k scan looks marvellous- with really great colour depth/ definition, as well as moodier edges too. Though of course, the scan does show up a few filming/ prop issues in the film- but this can’t be helped & there is nothing too glaring.

Moving through disc-by-disc extras- and on the UHD/ first Blu Ray we get the new commentary track from horror historian David Del Valle & actress Maria Rohm- who appears in the films as the character Mina Murray and was the wife of the film’s producer Harry Allen Towers. This is a largely chatty/ interesting track- though there are a few lengthy pauses/ breaks here & there. They begin by talking about how Rohm found working with Franco- with her commenting he was ‘creative, but unpredictable’. They talk about how the first thirty-five minutes are very accurate to the original novel. David discusses how uninhibited Rohm is in all of her roles- we find out she started acting on the stage at the age of four. She talks about the difficulties in moving from stage to film acting. They chat about how the film was made with no hiccups/ issues. She talks about how she first met Allen Towers, and her friendship with actor Herbert Lom- she was in contact with him right up to his death. We find out the film was shot in a real castle in Barcelona. Later on, they discuss Lom in a bit more depth- both his career & the man himself. They talk about Franco’s best films were like improvised jazz compositions, and that Klaus Kinski strangled the actress for real in one of the film scenes- she was understandably very upset, and he just laughed/ smiled. All in all, certainly a track worth a play.

Otherwise, on the first Blu-Ray we get the following archive extras: Illustrated Christopher Lee interview from 1973(19.50). Beloved Count (26.36) interview with Jess Franco. Handsome Harker (26.14) interview with actor Fred Williams. Jack Taylor interview (10.00). Stakeholder (7.32) interview with director Christophe Gans- this is in French with English subtitles.

Moving onto the second disc- we have the 2017 Drácula Barcelona (130.24) this is a Spanish documentary that looks at the making of both Count Dracula, Pere Portabella‘s avant-gard spin-off of the film Cuadecuc, Vampir (1971). On the new side, we have Jess Franco’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (46.21) which finds Franco expect/ author Stephen Thrower giving a deep dive into the film- and as always this is an excellent/must-play featurette. He begins by talking about the film's complex funding routes. We find out the film was shot between October and December 1969- getting released in most places the next year, though it took until 1973 to get a UK and Italian release. He talks about how the budget was very spent/ upfront when Lee was on set, but less so the rest of the time- and in the end Franco himself had to pay into the budget to finish the film. He talks about how the director didn’t like Hammer horror films in general- finding those who made them rather insincere. He gives his general thoughts on the film- declaring that for every good element/ scene, there are fluffed/ less satisfactory scenes. He touches on the film's score and much more. We get In The Land Of Franco- bonus scene (6.07) where Stephen Thrower talks with Alain Petit about when he met Christopher Lee outside a bookshop in London around the time of the film’s release, and talks about how the stories Franco told him rather changed/ shifted over the years. Lastly, we get a selection of Alternate title sequences.

The final disc in the set is the CD. This takes in the film's score which was composed, arranged and conductor by Rome’s Bruno Nicolai- who between the 1950s & early 1980s had an impressive one hundred and twenty-four score credits to his name- these covered most genres of European film. The CD score takes in thirty tracks with a total runtime of sixty-four minutes. And it’s an effective, and relatively varied score- which works wonderfully in the film, but is also most listenable as an album in its own right. The cues move from mixes of sawing string & darkly bounding hammer dulcimer. Onto to more furtive and mysterious blends of flute & orchestration. Though to elegant and jaunting mixes of strings and orchestra. Onto flighty unease & dread created by blends of cascading vibes, flute melancholia, hammer dulcimer darts, and eerier piano darts. I’d say the most prevalent element here is the hammer dulcimer- which I love as a sonic tool, and it’s used for great darting, jarring & darkly unease effect throughout. So, a very worthwhile soundtrack, which is a great addition to this release.

While Count Dracula is neither the greatest version of this classic horror story, nor one of Jess Franco’s best films- it’s certainly an intriguing if flawed creation. This new Severin release is most certainly the definitive edition of the film- with a wonderful realized 4k scan, a rewarding selection of new/old extras, and of course the most worthy CD soundtrack.