Count Dracula (1970) French Moyenne Poster

Having publicly declared he was tired of playing Dracula, Christopher Lee agreed to this Jesús Franco film because it promised to be the most authentic to Bram Stoker’s original. As always, it took liberties and made changes, but it remains the only version where Dracula begins the story as an old man (with white hair and whiskers) and becomes progressively younger as he drains his victims. 1970 was a busy year for Lee in this role – he appeared as Dracula in One More Time (with Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford) and in two films for Hammer, Taste the Blood of Dracula and Scars of Dracula. Count Dracula is notable for having Klaus Kinski as Renfield (eating real flies), as he’d later play the Count himself in the ‘pirate’ incarnation of Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) for Werner Herzog.

Although stunning actress Soledad Miranda (who also appeared as variations on ‘Susan Korda’) appeared in another seven films (all for Franco) after Count Dracula, she died the same year it was shot – Franco storing up the footage for later releases, including the classic Vampyros Lesbos (1971).

Aka: Les nuits de Dracula, Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula, El conde Drácula, Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht

Condition: GOOD - edge dinks visible in the blacks, small tear to centre right fold

Cast: Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom, Klaus Kinski, Maria Rohm, Fred Williams