Tag: Frank Langella

Frank Langella’s characterization of Bram Stoker’s Dracula drove the critics wild when the play by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston was revived on Broadway in 1977. It was the same adaptation that propelled Bela Lugosi to the big screen. But when the film “Dracula” (1979) was released a couple of years later, reviews were mixed.

Langella retained his dreamy magnetism, and the producers managed to secure Sir Laurence Olivier and Kate Nelligan for the parts of Van Helsing and Lucy, respectively, but I wonder if John Badham was the best choice for director. Badham had just come off the enormous box office success of “Saturday Night Fever,” and it looks as if his Dracula retains John Travolta’s hair. You know, just for luck.

I haven’t seen the film for decades, and having rewatched it now after rereading the book (for the first time in 30 years), I’ve got a few bones to pick. I hope you’ll join Roy and me tomorrow night, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, when I sink my fangs into “Dracula.” Enjoy some extra garlic on your pizza as you share your thoughts in the comments section. We’ll livestream with the undead on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!

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I remember being so excited, watching this trailer as a 13 year-old at the movies. When Langella leaped through a window and transformed into a wolf in mid-flight to John Williams’ music, it was almost more than I could bear. Watch the trailer (so much crisper and more intoxicating in the theater) here: