They should have got Peter Cushing for "Professor Abraham Van Helsing." David Suchet (who is know for portraying detective Hercule Poirot) in the role as Van Helsing looks and sounds like Peter Ustinov as The Old Man in the movie Logans Run. He plays the role as the character who is ineffectual, and it is a wonder that they get Count Dracula in the end. I love Jess Franco's Count Dracula, but the major problem with that film is Herbert Lom as Van Helsing. Bram Stoker's original notes for his novel include a character named Alfred Singleton.
Donald Sumpter, who plays the part of Singleton, co-starred with David Suchet in the Hercule Poirot movie The ABC Murders, about a serial killer in 1930's London. His aim should have been worse, and shot screenwriter Stewart Harcourt screenplay though the head. When Dracula goes to put the bite on Singleton who is the high priest of the "Brotherhood of the Undead," he pulls out a revolver, and shots himself in the head rather than obtaining eternal life. I don't think that he he is aware that Dracula is an animated corpse who suffers himself from rare disease, porphyria, or vampirism. Arthur Holmwood in this version pays Count Dracula's way to England mysterious cult offers him salvation from a terrible secret by accepting a transfusion of his blood. In the beginning there is a section that suffers from bad editing which makes no sense. One can never have too many versions of the Dracula story.Boy was I disappointed! However, it was an interesting take on the story. So I was ready for another two-and-a-half-hour blockbuster. I watched the BBC production of Bram Stokers novel Dracula, in which Count Dracula is played by Louis Jourdan. I rode the bus down down all by myself to the Erie Bookstore, to purchase a hardcover Modern Library edition with a dust jacket. The first book that I ever read cover to cover was (Abraham) Bram Stokers Dracula. I wouldn't mind buying a Blu-ray version of this movie, as long as I know for sure it is complete (unlike this one). Suffice to say I hate buying censored/edited DVDs and Blu-rays. There are probably other differences, but I didn't want to watch the movie again to document them. The credits on the DVD scroll up throughout, while the on-line credits show them fading in and out a few at a time. I didn't watch the whole movie on-line to compare the two, but the DVD has a Masterpiece Theater beginning intro and ending "outro" the on-line version doesn't. The music built up to a climax when Dracula kills, and then the volume goes down naturally. Well, I skipped through an on-line version that was uncut at that point. I thought the change in the music volume was strange at that point. Unfortunately, the moment is cut on this version.
There is a sequence where Dracula kills one of his underlings. However I regretted buying this DVD, because I later found out the print had been edited. Also, the interior of the castle was too small, while the exterior seemed bleak and ordinary.I didn't feel this movie was a time waster. Many of the locations used were great and quite like those described in Bram Stoker's book, except for Dracula's castle.
That was a drag!This version had a few new plot twists, but it lacked a good build up and pay off. I have different "Zoom" settings on it, but none of them were able to fill the sides of the screen from edge to edge (left to right and top to bottom). It is actually "Windowboxed" on my 16:9 television. The DVD case artwork describes the movie as being "Letterboxed". This review is for the Bram Stoker's Dracula DVD.WGBH Boston Video WG 41629UPC 7 83421 41629 1ISBN 978-1-59375-707-690 minutesClosed CaptionsDolby DigitalThe actual title on-screen is "Dracula". Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2019