Without question the most faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker’s
Dracula is this 1977 miniseries written by Gerald Savory and directed by Philip Saville for the BBC. As the title Count, French heartthrob Louis Jourdan obviously isn’t the repellent creature Stoker described, and Lucy’s suitors Arthur Holmwood and Quincey P. Morris have been distilled into a single character (wisely, on the part of Savory). Otherwise
Count Dracula hits all the beats of the book; it’s extended format allowing them to unfold more naturally than they do in the more famous Cliffs-Notes versions by Tod Browning and Terence Fisher. The acting is uniformly excellent, with Frank Finlay giving the best Van Helsing performance of them all. Here he’s a fully formed character with a fatherly sweetness (he takes time to make cups of hot cocoa for each of his fearless vampire killers!) offset by a subtly mad glint in his eyes. Jack Sheperd’s Renfield certainly isn’t as iconic as Dwight Frye’s, but it’s the most human performance of the madman ever delivered. And finally we get to see Renfield’s interactions with Mina (nicely played by Judy Bowker) instead of merely hearing about them second hand! The scene in which Mina consults Renfield about their budding vampirism enriches two characters coming from vastly different social strata but dealing with the same unique problem.
