Dracula : Roger Ebert’s review of Frank Langella’s Count

Estate summary

Roger Ebert praises John Badham’s Dracula for allowing performance, design and atmosphere to overcome material that could easily collapse into self-parody. Frank Langella’s Count is central to that success: Ebert admires his restraint, aristocratic manners and persuasive attraction, contrasting him with more overtly theatrical screen vampires. He also draws attention to the deliberately unreal grandeur of the settings, the music and Albert Whitlock’s effects work, which give the Gothic world a convincing imaginative presence. The review finds particular force in the character’s burden of immortality and his attempt to justify what he offers his victims. Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence and Kate Nelligan contribute to the production’s strengths. Rather than simply seeking fresh shocks from a familiar story, Ebert values the film’s recovery of elegance, tragic feeling and suggestion. His response is notably warmer than his later assessment of Coppola’s visually extravagant version.

Saved archive record

The title, date, source details and any Estate summary above are saved on this website, so this record remains available if the publisher’s page changes.

A full copy of this article is not currently held here. Original scans and full texts will be added where available and permitted.