This version of Dracula gave Christopher Lee an opportunity to play the role he had already played several times, but this time with the intent of following Bram Stoker's original story as closely as possible. On that point, Count Dracula is fairly successful. It stays mostly on track with the original tale, right down to Dracula's mustache which, while present in the book, usually doesn't show up on screen.
It's not a Hammer production, so it looks and feels a little different than what you may be used to. Lee gets a little more screen time and a few more lines than he usually got in this part, and there are some good supporting actors with Herbert Lom as Dr. Van Helsing and Klaus Kinski doing his usual kooky thing as Renfield.
Unfortunately, if you watch it from beginning to end, you'll find that the whole thing is really pretty dull. By the time this movie was made in 1970, the idea had really been wrung out, and there's nothing new or interesting here. This movie is rarely seen today and really only rates a footnote in the history of vampire lore.
Postcript: However, with that being said, I did recently pick up an old book that discussed this movie. It was apparently very popular in Europe at the time, especially in France where it was billed as Les Nuits de Dracula (The Nights of Dracula).
It's not a Hammer production, so it looks and feels a little different than what you may be used to. Lee gets a little more screen time and a few more lines than he usually got in this part, and there are some good supporting actors with Herbert Lom as Dr. Van Helsing and Klaus Kinski doing his usual kooky thing as Renfield.
Unfortunately, if you watch it from beginning to end, you'll find that the whole thing is really pretty dull. By the time this movie was made in 1970, the idea had really been wrung out, and there's nothing new or interesting here. This movie is rarely seen today and really only rates a footnote in the history of vampire lore.
Postcript: However, with that being said, I did recently pick up an old book that discussed this movie. It was apparently very popular in Europe at the time, especially in France where it was billed as Les Nuits de Dracula (The Nights of Dracula).