DAN CURTIS' DRACULA (TV)
Summary
This made-for-television feature is an adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 horror-suspense novel about the vampire Dracula.
The story begins in 1897 Hungary as solicitor Jonathan Harker receives a letter from the mysterious Count Dracula and is escorted to his Transylvania castle home, where the master of the house bids him to "enter freely." Dracula declines to eat dinner with him, and as Jonathan produces photographs of several properties for sale in England, Dracula seems entranced by a picture of Jonathan's fiancée, Mina Murray, her best friend Lucy Westenra, and Lucy's fiancé Arthur Holmwood. Jonathan ends up staying awake through the night with Dracula, who eventually decides to purchase the rundown Carfax Estate. Jonathan soon begins noticing his host's strange behavior, including his odd reaction when Jonathan cuts himself shaving. Suspicious, Jonathan explores the manor; he finds a hidden room containing a portrait of a man who appears to be Dracula and a woman who looks like Lucy – dated 1475. He is then suddenly attacked by three vicious women. Dracula quickly chases them off and commands Jonathan to write letters to Mina and Mr. Hawkins, his boss, stating that he will be staying on the continent for several more weeks. Jonathan makes a desperate bid for freedom and finds himself in a crypt below the house, where he finds Dracula asleep in a coffin. There, he is overtaken by the three brides.
Five weeks later, Mina arrives in Whitby, England, where Mrs. Westenra tells her about Lucy's strange sleepwalking illness and about the bizarre arrival of a ship, the Demeter, empty apart from one dead soldier and several boxes of dirt. Dr. Van Helsing is summoned to Hillingham, where he inspects Lucy. Spotting an odd wound on her neck,he warns Arthur that her condition may be very serious indeed. He places a garlic necklace around her neck and prepares to watch over her. Arthur falls asleep during his shift and Dracula, standing outside, mentally "summons" Lucy, who leaves her bed and goes to his side, removing the garlic and allowing him to bite her. In the morning, Van Helsing and Arthur find her outside on the lawn in a catatonic state. Van Helsing finally explains that she has fallen prey to an undead blood-sucking creature known as a vampire. Arthur is highly skeptical, but Lucy soon improves under Van Helsing's careful treatment.
Arthur cannot bring himself to tell Mrs. Westenra the truth of Lucy's strange illness and recovery, and the two of them are then attacked in their home by a wolf under Dracula's control. Dracula again visits Lucy, and the servants soon find her dead. After her funeral, Arthur is shocked to see Lucy at the window, begging to be let inside. He joyfully "reunites" with her, but she attempts to bite him. Van Helsing fends the creature off with a crucifix, firmly telling Arthur that the true Lucy is gone. He takes Arthur to the crypt, where he kills the vampire-Lucy with a wooden stake to the heart. Van Helsing later tells Mina about the vampire, explaining that such creatures must spend daylight hours in coffins filled with dirt from their home countries. Mina then remembers the eerie tale of the Demeter. Dracula flies into a rage upon seeing that Lucy has been staked, and Mina, Mrs. Westenra, Arthur and Van Helsing relocate to an inn as the men prepare to hunt down the creature. Dracula soon arrives at the inn and wreaks havoc, unharmed by all normal weapons. Elsewhere, Van Helsing and Arthur research the "mystery ship" and eventually find that nine of the ten dirt-boxes were sent to Carfax Estate in Whitby, suggesting that the creature has another hiding spot.
Returning to the inn, Van Helsing and Arthur learn that the women have fled back to Hillingham after being attacked by the "madman." They rush back to the manor just in time to see Dracula forcing Mina to drink his blood, boasting that "there is no way in this life to stop him." Back at Carfax, Dracula is furious to see that Arthur and Van Helsing have destroyed the nine coffins. Van Helsing hypnotizes Mina and figures out that she is psychically linked to the vampire, who is now intent on fleeing England. Mina utters the name "Dracula";when she is brought out of the hypnosis, she realizes that "Dracula" is the very person her fiancé Jonathan went to visit in Transylvania. The trio rushes off to Castle Dracula. Mina asks the men to promise to stake her if she transforms into a blood-hungry monster, as Lucy did. They leave her in the care of Madam Kristoff and hurry to the castle, where they quickly find and stake Dracula's "wives" in their coffins. Jonathan, now a rabid vampire himself, attacks them and is killed in the fight. Meanwhile, Mina's condition worsens.
Arthur and Van Helsing enter the castle and find the old painting of Dracula and his wife that resembled Lucy; when Dracula attacks, Arthur fends him off with a crucifix while Van Helsing pulls down the curtains and exposes the vampire to deadly sunlight. Weakened, Dracula is unable to stop Van Helsing from staking him through the heart. The film closes by noting that a famous 15th-century Transylvanian nobleman was considered to be so fearsome on the battlefield that he may even have defeated death – a legend that "has yet to be disproven." Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:37:52
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 133584
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, fantasy/science fiction; Literature - Adaptations; Vampires
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 1974
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Dan Curtis … Producer, Director
- Robert Singer … Associate Producer
- Richard Matheson … Writer
- Bram Stoker … Based on the novel by
- Robert Cobert … Music by
- Jack Palance … Cast, Dracula
- Simon Ward … Cast, Arthur Holmwood
- Nigel Davenport … Cast, Dr. Van Helsing
- Pamela Brown … Cast, Mrs. Westenra
- Fiona Lewis … Cast, Lucy Westenra
- Penelope Horner … Cast, Mina Murray
- Murray Brown … Cast, Jonathan Harker
- Gita Denise … Cast, Madam Kristoff
- Virginia Wetherall … Cast, Dracula's Wife
- Barbara Lindley … Cast, Dracula's Wife
- Sarah Douglas … Cast, Dracula's Wife
- George Pravda … Cast, Innkeeper
- Hanna-Maria Pravda … Cast, Innkeeper's Wife
- Reg Lye … Cast, Zookeeper
- Fred Stone … Cast, Priest
- Roy Spencer … Cast, Whitby Inn Clerk
- John Challis … Cast, Stockton-on-Tees Clerk
- Nigel Gregory … Cast, Midvale Shipping Clerk
- John Pennington … Cast, Richmond Shipping Clerk
- Martin Read … Cast, Coast Guard