Bram Stoker's Dracula
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| Bram Stoker's Dracula | |
|---|---|
| Image:Dracpos.jpg Promotional film poster | |
| Directed by | Francis Ford Coppola |
| Produced by | Francis Ford Coppola Fred Fuchs Charles Mulvehill |
| Written by | James V. Hart |
| Starring | Gary Oldman Keanu Reeves Winona Ryder Sadie Frost Richard E Grant Anthony Hopkins Bill Campbell Cary Elwes |
| Music by | Wojciech Kilar |
| Cinematography | Michael Ballhaus |
| Editing by | Anna Goursand Glen Scantlebury Nicholas C. Smith |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | Image:Flag of the United States.svg November 13, 1992 |
| Running time | 126 min |
| Country | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| Language | English Romanian |
| Budget | $40,000,000 (estimated) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Bram Stoker's Dracula (aka Dracula)[1] is a 1992 horror-romance film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. It stars Gary Oldman as Count Dracula in an ensemble cast, also featuring Keanu Reeves, Anthony Hopkins and Winona Ryder. The score was composed by Wojciech Kilar and featured Annie Lennox. A major box office success worldwide,[2] the film was generally well received by critics[3] and established Oldman as a popular portrayer of villains in American cinema.[4]
Taglines:
- Love never dies.
- Beware. (Teaser Poster)
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The film begins in a prologue, where Vlad III the Impaler defeats an overwhelming Turkish invasion in 1462. Upon returning home, he finds his beloved wife Elisabeta (Ryder) dead, having committed suicide upon hearing the false reports of Vlad's death in battle. Dracula, a devout Christian, flies into a rage upon hearing from priests that she is eternally damned as a suicide, and desecrates a chapel and renounces God, declaring that he will rise from the grave to avenge her death with all the powers of darkness.
Four centuries later, Jonathan Harker (Reeves), an assistant real estate agent, travels Transylvania to arrange the transfer of Carfax Abbey in London, Count Dracula's (Gary Oldman) newest real estate acquisition. At the castle, full of bizarre, unnatural features and shadows that move by themselves, Harker meets Dracula, a wrinkled, pale old man in brilliant red robes. During the final signing of the real estate papers, the Count notices a picture of Harker's fiancée Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray (Ryder), who bears a striking resemblance to his dead wife, Elisabeta. Dracula promptly books passage on the ship Demeter to England, leaving Harker to be held captive by Dracula's insatiable, beautiful, and bloodthirsty Brides, who systematically drink his blood, leaving him weak and unable to escape.
Dracula arrives in London in a box of his native soil, which is transported to the Abbey, where Dracula emerges to ravish and drink the blood of Mina's best friend, Lucy Westenra (Sadie Frost). Dracula, now a young and handsome prince, meets and gradually charms Mina, but refuses to bite her, instead offering her absinthe to aid her recollection of her past life. As the two fall deeper in love, Lucy's deteriorating health and noticeable behavioral changes prompts suitors Quincey Morris (Bill Campbell), Dr. John Seward (Richard E. Grant) and Arthur Holmwood (Cary Elwes) to summon Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins), who during a blood transfusion recognizes Lucy as a vampire victim. In Transylvania, Harker escapes to a convent and writes to Mina, who is now overjoyed to marry him. Dracula, grief-stricken and enraged, kills Lucy. After Lucy's funeral, Van Helsing leads Arthur, Seward and Morris to the family crypt, where Lucy has risen as a vampire. Horrified, the group drives a metal stake through her heart, decapitate her and burn her body.
Newlyweds Harker and Mina return to London and join Van Helsing, Seward, Morris and Arthur in hunting Dracula. They arrive at Carfax Abbey and destroy his boxes of soil. The Count, who watches from the shadows, travels to Mina and confesses that he is dead, a hunted creature and the murderer of Lucy. Despite her rage, Mina still loves him and wants to be with him. As she begins drinking blood from Dracula's chest, the Vampire Hunters burst into the bedroom, with Dracula claiming Mina as his bride before disappearing into the shadows. As Mina begins changing the same way Lucy had, Van Helsing hypnotizes her and learns via her connection with Dracula that he is sailing home. The Hunters depart for the port of Varna via train to intercept him, but discover that Dracula has read Mina's mind and evades them. The Hunters split up, with Van Helsing and Mina traveling to the Borgo Pass and the Castle, while the others try to stop the Gypsies transporting Dracula.
At night, encamped at the castle, Mina begins changing as the Brides hover nearby. After attempting to seduce Van Helsing she bares fangs, but is rebuffed with a piece of Holy Wafer. As she returns to her human form, Van Helsing surrounds them both with a ring of fire, warding off the Brides until morning, when he wearily infiltrates the castle and kills the Brides as they sleep. Hours later, as sunset approaches, Dracula's carriage appears on the horizon, driven by Gypsies and pursued by the Hunters. Dracula, sensing Mina's presence, telepathically commands her to summon a spell that casts harsh winds to impede the Hunters. The carriage finally arrives at Castle Dracula, but just as the Hunters kill the last gypsy, Dracula bursts from his box. He fights with supernatural strength, but cannot overpower Harker who slits the Count's throat while the wounded Morris stabs him in the heart. As the Count staggers, Mina rushes to his defense. Jonathan allows her to retreat with the Count, turning instead to the dying Morris, who dies surrounded by his friends.
In the castle, in the very chapel where he renounced God, Dracula lies dying. His appearance reflecting his ancient age, his face demonic, he rebuffs Mina's attempts to pull the knife from his heart. They share an intimate kiss, as the candles adorning the chapel miraculously light, and the desecrations he committed on the altar repair. God forgives Dracula, whose youthful appearance and humanity returns. As he asks Mina to give him peace, she shoves the knife through his heart and decapitates him. As Dracula dies, the fresco inside the castle sanctuary changes, now including the Count, now reunited with his long-lost Elisabeta.
[edit] Deviations from the novel
This list is not exhaustive, but intended to convey a sense of the differences between the film and the novel:
- Dracula is explicitly identified with Vlad Ţepeş ("The Impaler") and given a specific backstory as to how he came to be a vampire. (In the novel, it is implied that he was transformed at the Scholomance).
- Dracula has no reflection, but he does cast a shadow in the movie, which seems to have some physical weight and often moves about on its own.
- Dracula and his brides speak Romanian to each other rather than English.
- Dracula and the peasants and villagers Jonathan Harker encounters are presented as Romanian. In the novel, they (including Dracula) are Hungarian.
- When Mina follows a sleepwalking Lucy, she finds her actually having intercourse with Dracula as he feeds upon her. In the novel, Mina simply follows Lucy during her sleepwalking without any intercourse between Lucy and Dracula taking place.
- Mina, represented as the reincarnation of Dracula's first wife, falls in love with him, and prevents the others from killing him in the end. She herself delivers the killing blow, at his request.
- Dracula kills Lucy at least partially out of revenge for Mina having left him to marry Harker.
- The characters of Mrs. Westenra and Lord Godalming (Arthur's father) are omitted in the film, and Mr. Hawkins (Jonathan's boss and father figure) is never seen again after an early appearance in the movie.
- In the novel Dracula is killed in the cart without coming to life from the box. In movie after Dracula is stabbed in heart, he goes into the castle along with Mina. The novel almost ends when Dracula is stabbed when lying in the chest.
- The novel tells that Jonathan and Mina are blessed with a baby boy, after one year of Morris death. Mina believes that some of the Morris spirit has passed into the baby boy. The boy is named Quincey.
- In the novel the brides of Dracula never bite or drink Jonathan's blood. The brides were stopped by Dracula at the last moment.
- In the novel Mina never tries to seduce professor Van Helsing.
[edit] Deviations from history
- Dracula's dragon crest or sigil is entirely original (although the historical "Order of the Dragon" did use a dragon as their symbol). Likewise, his red wolf armor does not resemble anything from history.
- In the movie, Vlad's wife commits suicide because she believes that he has been killed in battle. The historical Vlad Ţepeş married twice. His first wife did commit suicide, but it was not because she grieved his death; their castle was under siege and, believing that there was no escape, she took her own life.
- Later on in the film, Dracula tells Mina that Elisabeta threw herself into the river which is now called Argeş, which he claims means "River of the Princess" in Romanian. The river named after Dracula's wife is in reality called Râul Doamnei ("the Lady's River"), and is a minor tributary of the Argeş.
- In the movie, Dracula is speaking Romanian while in Stoker's book he claims to be a Székely, meaning he would have spoken Hungarian. Although a deviation from the novel, it is the movie that is closer to reality as the historical Vlad Dracula was Romanian, not Székely. However, Dracula tells Harker that "Attila's blood flows in these veins", and later introduces himself to Mina as "Prince Vlad of Székely" (incorrectly identified in the DVD subtitles as "Saichait" and more recently as "Saigat" in the Collector's Edition).
- Dracula is said to be a prince of Transylvania, when in reality Vlad was prince of Wallachia. The real princes of Transylvania at this time would have been Nicholas of Ujlak and John Pongracz.
- Blood transfusion was not quite as radical an idea in 1897 as the film implies. Successful blood transfusion with humans dates back to the 1840s.
- The costuming is often stylized to the point of no longer fitting into period.
[edit] Deleted scenes
There were an estimated 38 cuts from the movie before it was released theatrically. The large sum of cuts took place after test audiences reacted negatively to the original version. Recently, there have been copies of an uncut version circulating on eBay. Called the "Director's Cut," this version features 10-15 minutes more footage than the current 122-minute version. Much of the deleted footage and dialogue can be seen and heard in the theatrical trailer. Photos of deleted and alternate footage can be seen in the official movie book, trading cards, and comic series.
A new 2-disc Collector's Edition DVD was released on October 2, 2007. The new edition includes an introduction and commentary by director Coppola, four documentaries, deleted and extended scenes, as well as trailers. The release was also issued on Blu-ray.
[edit] Television edit
In 1997, an edited version of the film was broadcast on the FOX network. This version cuts out the character of Renfield entirely. Other edits and changes are the introduction of the Brides who are clothed in rags as opposed to their seductive nude scene in the theatrical version. It also cuts out Dracula giving them the infant to feast on; instead Dracula converses with them about finding love. Scenes of Lucy's introduction have been re-dubbed due to her quirky remarks and the illustrations in the Arabian Nights book have been blacked out. Also, a part of Mina and Lucy’s later conversation in the garden as well as shots of the vessel Varna and Dracula howling as the wolf creature have been taken out completely.
The first attack of Lucy is shortened in the televised version. It cuts out some footage of Lucy walking around the maze and Mina calling and searching for her. Dubbed in is Mina calling "Lucy" several times more. Also cut is the scene in which Mina sees Dracula "raping" Lucy. Instead it appears that he just bites her throat. Also, Lucy's clothes aren't torn. In several scenes Lucy has violent fits, causing her chemise to fall open displaying one or both of her breasts. In the televised version she is portrayed with chemise intact due to digital paint and clever editing. Lucy's destruction is only hinted at and heard, but never shown.
Several scenes regarding Van Helsing have been removed, and his exorcism of Carfax Abbey has been trimmed. Shots of Mina drinking from Dracula's heart are shortened. The seduction of Van Helsing, and the destruction of the Brides are kept intact. Towards the ending the final shot of the sword piercing Dracula has been trimmed to eliminate blood flow.
In 2002, American Movie Classics showed another edited version of the film, this one shown with all edits as mentioned above, but with other small minor cuts and added footage. They include:
- The character of Renfield is in this version, and plays a crucial part.
- More dialogue between Jonathan and Mr. Hawkins in the opening scenes.
- A scene of Dracula looking mournfully at Jonathan in the castle.
- Lucy's attack including the footage of her in the garden sleepwalking. The only cut being her nightgown whistling in the wind, and of Dracula's apparent rape.
- Added moans after Dracula first bites Lucy.
- The Van-Helsing introductory scenes are kept.
- In the final battle the knife slashing Dracula's throat has been trimmed by a few seconds to not show the graphic blood.
- The be-heading of Dracula by Mina has been altered. A scene that shows her looking at the dead Dracula with the knife protruding from his heart has been added, and then it cuts to her be-heading him. The camera is then focused on her as she stares upward cutting out the scene of Dracula's head falling.
In addition to these cuts, this version was presented without commercial interruption.
[edit] Awards and other notables
- The film won three technical Academy Awards, Best Costume Design (Eiko Ishioka), Best Sound Effects Editing (Tom C. McCarthy, David E. Stone) and Best Makeup (Greg Cannom, Michèle Burke, Matthew W. Mungle) and was nominatored for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Thomas E. Sanders, Garrett Lewis).[5]
- The film's closing theme song "Love Song for a Vampire" is written and performed by Annie Lennox.
- Merchandising for the film included a board game, a pinball game, and video game adaptations for the Super Nintendo, NES, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Amiga, and Sega CD.
- A four-issue comic book adaptation and 100 collectible cards based on the movie were released by the Topps company (known for originating the Mars Attacks franchise). The art for the comic was provided by Mike Mignola, the creator of the comic book and later movie character Hellboy.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Francis Ford Coppola | |
|---|---|
| 1960s | Battle Beyond the Sun (with Aleksandr Kozyr and M. Karzhukov) · The Bellboy and the Playgirls (with Fritz Umgelter and Jack Hill) · Tonight for Sure · Dementia 13 · You're a Big Boy Now · Finian's Rainbow · The Rain People |
| 1970s | The Godfather · The Conversation · The Godfather Part II · Apocalypse Now |
| 1980s | One from the Heart · The Outsiders · Rumble Fish · The Cotton Club · Peggy Sue Got Married · Gardens of Stone · Tucker: The Man and His Dream · New York Stories (with Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese) |
| 1990s | The Godfather Part III · Bram Stoker's Dracula · Jack · The Rainmaker |
| 2000s | Youth Without Youth · Tetro |
| Productions | The Junky's Christmas (1993) · Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) · Don Juan DeMarco (1995) · Lani Loa (1998) · The Florentine (1999) · The Virgin Suicides (1999) |
es:Drácula de Bram Stoker fr:Dracula (film, 1992) gl:Bram Stoker's Dracula it:Dracula di Bram Stoker nl:Bram Stoker's Dracula ja:ドラキュラ (映画) no:Bram Stoker's Dracula pl:Drakula (film 1992) pt:Bram Stoker's Dracula ru:Дракула (фильм, 1992) fi:Bram Stokerin Dracula sv:Bram Stokers Dracula
Categories: 1992 films | 1990s horror films | Best Sound Editing Academy Award winners | Films based on horror books | Films directed by Francis Ford Coppola | Romantic period films | Vampires in film and television | Best Horror Film Saturn | Dracula films | English-language films | Romanian-language films | Bulgarian-language films | Greek-language films | Columbia Pictures films
