Were they drinking pina coladas at Trader Vic's?  Eating chow mein at Lee Ho Fooks?

Last night's entry was a long one and I went to bed halfway through. Not technically a film, but a fan edit of a tv series: The Curse of Dracula. It was a segment of the tv series Cliffhangers!, created by Kenneth Johnson (V, The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk, Alien Nation). It was an attempt to do old fashioned serial thrills, with episodic tv, via an anthology series of three segments: The Curse of Dracula, Stop Susan Williams and The secret Empire. Stop Susan Williams featured tall blond Susan Anton (Dudley Moore's girlfriend) as a journalist investigating a secret conspiracy planning some kind of even on May 15. She jets around the globe piecing clues togetehr, while falling into and escaping death traps, with the help of a soldier of fortune, Jack Schoengarth. Ray Waltson (My Favorite Martian) played her editor and was about the only good part of it. The Secret Empire was an updating of the old Gene Autrey serial, The Phantom Empire, about a hidden civilization below the land of his Radio Ranch. It mixed westerns and Flash Gordon, back then, and this version did the same, while shooting the above ground scenes in "glorious black & white" and the underground in color. That was pretty good; but, The Curse of Dracula beat them all!

The feature is set in the modern day, around San Francisco, where Dracula is battling Kurt Von Helsing and his colleague, Mary Gibbons. It starts with them destroying a coffin of Dracula, with holy water, then Dracula trapping them in a fire, from which they escape. They search for Dracula and come up with a lead: a professor of eastern European History, who only teaches night courses, at a small college. Mary attends his class, in disguise, where he speaks of costumed balls at the Imperial Palace of Emperor Franz Josef, as if he had been there, and romantic tales of beautiful women in velvet gowns and dashing figures in Prussian uniform. Mary recognizes Dracula, but he recognizes her. We learn that Mary's motivation was the death of her mother, who Dracula says he truly loved.

What sets this apart from many Dracula features is that it treats Dracula as both a romantic and tragic figure, as he speaks of being cursed to never see the sun glistening off the waters of the sea or see the vibrant blue sky. he talks of trying to rip out his own heart, before eventually resigning himself to his fate. He speaks of the passion his curse brings him and the very few women he has loved, Mary's mother included. Mary is drawn to him, not just because of his powers, but because of his charm and charisma and his soul. She is also afraid and repulsed. In their first encounter, she falls under his spell, as have 3 students who joined them, after class, to stargaze. She is brought to his bed, for him to bite her, but she escapes. Or so she first thinks, until Dracula reveals that he did bite her and she then finally looks at her neck, after subconsciously covering the bite marks. If she is bitten 3 times, she will become a vampire. he seeks to add the second and she isn't entirely sure she doesn't want that. As the serial progresses, she is bitten again and it remains to be seen if the third time will come or if Kurt Von Helsing will kill Dracula.

Kurt is a weak link and the actor isn't anything to write home about. Kurt's obsession is treated as matter-of-fact and he is an idiot, easily lured into traps. The enslaved students trap him in a sarcophagus, but he is freed by a female vampire, who opposes Dracula and offers to combine efforts with Von Helsing. The female vampire turns out to be Amanda Gibbons, Mary's mother.

Carol Baxter, as Mary, isn't bad, though she vacillates between being entranced by Dracula and screaming and her scenes with Kurt are pretty dull, apart from the cliffhanger bits. One intriguing element is that one of the students, played by Antoinette Stella, is jealous of Mary and tries to kill her, using Dracula's dogs, with Dracula rescuing her from them.

The real standout is Michael Nouri, as Count Dracula. Nouri is of Iraqi heritage (his father came from Baghdad to study at Georgetown and settled in the US) and looks the part of a Wallachian nobleman and pulls ooff the romantic and charismatic aura, while selling the tragedy and the terror. He is a complex vampire and one of the earlier attempts to do Dracula as a sympathetic, if ultimately evil character, long before Bram Stoker's Dracula, though Frank Langella was doing similar things, that same year (1979).

The Curse of Dracula was actually repeated, on Sundays, to test out spinning it off on its own, as I seem to recall and was collected as a movie or two, as Dracula '79. As it was, it was the only segment of Cliffhangers! to have the complete serial broadcast, as the series was cancelled before airing the final episode, with the conclusions to Stop Susan Williams and The Secret Empire. Dracula concluded with the penultimate episode. The final episode was broadcast in the UK and Canada and later on the Sci-Fi Channel, which became the source for bootlegs of the show, since it was never collected for home video. You can watch the whole series on Youtube or the fan edit version of The Curse of Dracula, if you prefer to skip the other parts. The Secret Empire is worth seeing (even if the underground civilization is a cool matte painting mixed with a less-than-cool shopping mall. It does feature Mark Lenard as a pseudo Ming the Merciless and Hunter's Stephanie Kramer has an early role as the transformed daughter of the villain. She starts out played by another actress, then changes her features into Kramer, for reasons that probably had to do with dissatisfaction with the previous actress. The Big Valley's Peter Breck has fun as a villainous rancher ally of Lenard and he gets to playfully chew some scenery. The finale features some exciting action and pretty good fight stunts and there are some homages to Flash Gordon in one episode. Lenard's character escapes, at one point, in the Ranger 3 shuttle from Buck Rogers.

Stop Susan Williams you can skip entirely, unless you just want to ogle Susan Anton, though don't expect anything particularly sexy. The first bite scene is pretty erotic, though it can also be viewed as a rape, from a different angle. They dance a fine edge with Mary's infatuation vs submission to Dracula's power.

Bloody Pit of Horror aka The Crimson Executioner - 1965 - Guilty pleasure time.

We open in the 17th century, as a guy identified only as the Crimson Executioner is himself executed. Apparently he'd been running his own private torture chamber/execution business, with no government authority. He swears he'll return and be avenged as they put him in an iron maiden, sealing it to keep his body and soul imprisoned. Then they just leave.

Present day. A group, including a writer, his editor, a photographer and some models, are driving around Italy looking for a locale for pictures for their book covers. Cause that's how that's done, right? They find a castle, but no one answers the door, so they break in. Turns out, the owner is home. He lets them stay the night and take some photos, but they're told not to go down into the dungeon. So of course. . .the seal is broken, and we see the Executioner's red mask through the window. The next couple to check out the dungeon looks inside, but the iron maiden is empty.

We get a photo shoot, which is played for laughs until a device they were using as a prop actually works, killing one of the group. Then the Crimson Executioner shows up and kills a couple more. There are more shenanigans, culminating in a big fight in the dungeon.

This is ultimately a silly movie. The killings are relatively bloodless, there are a couple of henchmen who are just there to pad things out with extra fights, and I didn't care about any of the victims. The best thing about this movie is the over-the-top performance of Mickey Hargitay as the castle's owner/Crimson Executioner. He elevates an otherwise blah movie to a minor classic of campy fun.

Kim Newman used the Crimson Executioner in his third Anno Dracula book, Dracula, Cha-Cha-Cha (aka Judgement in Tears, in the original US release), which is set in the late 50s, as Dracula has been pardoned, after aiding the Allies in WW2 and is about to marry a Balkan princess, to claim legitimate leadership over vampire kind.  The wedding is in Rome and the scene is filled with references to Italian films, like La Dolce Vita and Roman Holiday, as well as The Talented Mr Ripley, The Crimson Executioner, James Bond (Hamish Bond, a vampire secret agent) and even Hercules films, as an American, Clark Kent, is playing the hero in films.  That was my favorite easter egg:  Hercules was Steve Reeves, at that time, and George Reeves was Superman, who was Clark Kent.  It was just so perfect.  Also, Hamish is Scottish Gaelic for James, for Bond.

The Crimson Executioner is killing vampires, within the city, much like Jack The Ripper was preying upon vampire prostitutes, in the first Anno Dracula.  Within the world of the books, Dracula survived the events of Stoker's novel, when Van Helsing hesitated, and becomes the new consort to Queen Victoria, setting up a vampire regime, with the Prime Minister Lord Ruthven, another Victorian vampire character.  he is opposed by the Diogenes Club and eventually unseated.  He flees to Germany and aids them in WW1, in The Bloody red Baron.  This picks up the tale after his defeat then and his siding with the Allies, to free Transylvania from the Nazis.  The title refers to a song that revelers sing as they do the cha-cha, at parties, during the celebrations for the wedding.  Drac-u-la, cha-cha-cha. Drac-u-la, cha-cha-cha.

Newman is a film critic and film historian, especially horror and genre film, in the UK and fills the world with all kinds of easter eggs, much like Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  the Bloody Red Baron had references to aviation heroes, like Captain Midnight, The Shadow, Biggles and even Snoopy!

Tonight's feature was Dracula (1979), starring Frank Langella. The film was based on the 1977 revival of the 1927 revision, of the 1924 stage version. Langella had played the role on Broadway and the West End and was enticed to do the film. It also features Sir Laurence Olivier, as Dr Van Helsing, and Donald Pleasance, as Dr Seward, with Kate Nelligan as Lucy Seward, Trevor Eve as Jonathan Harker, Jan Francis as Mina Van Helsing, and Tony Haygarth as Milo Renfield. If you are a bit confused, the 1977 revival exchanges the roles of Mina and Lucy and also their familial connections. Mina is the daughter of Van Helsing and not the wife of Jonathan Harker. It is she who first encounters Dracula, is bled by him and comes under his control and becomes a vampire. Lucy, meanwhile, is engaged to Jonathan, but comes under Count Dracula's spell. Dr Seward runs an asylum from his mansion and Van Helsing is an old friend and colleague, whose daughter Mina has come to Witby to convalesce from illness. The film, like the stage play, omits Harkers travel to Transylvania and his imprisonment in Darcula's castle, with his three brides. Instead, it picks up as the Demeter runs aground, in a storm, off Witby. Dracula's coffin is tossed overboard, but comes ashore and he is found by Mina. Later, the ship is salvaged and the Count is shown to be alive and his possessions are transferred to his new estate, the ruins of Carfax Abbey. Milo Renfield is the hauler who brings in his other boxes of earth and comes under the Count's control. Dracula is invited to dine with the Sewards and Jonathan and Lucy soon falls under his spell, as the charismatic and handsome Count charms her, as the dance the waltz. Jonathan grows jealous and angry. Mina is blooded by the Count and dies, but re-emerges as a vampire. Dr Van Helsing comes from Holland, to mourn his daughter, then learns of the strange happenigs and determines a vamire is at work. Together with Harker and Dr Seward, he works to stop Dracula, as he comes to Lucy and takes her, physically and metaphorically.

The film was known for its eroticism, as Langella plays Dracula as the mysterious and charismatic romantic figure, who charms and entices. He is not the evil of Christopher Lee, or the arch portrayal of Lugosi, nor the ugly old man of Stoker. He appears young, cultured and virile, with a magnetism that pulls in everyone around him. The film also features memorable shots of Dracula scaling walls, downward towards Mina's room, like a spider, then upwards, at the asylum, to get at Renfield and enter the asylum to free Lucy.

When Dracula comes to Lucy to unite with her, the scenes are charged with sexual imagery, without ever depicting sexual congress. We see swirls of red in the background as Dracula and Lucy seem to float in air, taking from each other. Dracula sinks his teeth into her neck, though Langella is never shown with fangs, by contract and design. He then bloodies himself for Lucy to drink, making her a vampire. The climax occurs onboard a ship bound for Romania, as Dr Van Helsing and Harker try to stop them. In this version, Van Helsing dies in his efforts.

The film also shows the stakes (pardon the pun) are so high that The Doctor is brought in, as Sylvester McCoy, the 7th Doctor, portrays Willie, a servant of Dr Seward, though most of his dialogue is cut. He is listed as Sylveste McCoy, which was, in fact, his stage name, as he performed with the Ken Campbell Roadshow, as seen in The Secret Policeman's ball, where he played a fictional stuntman, who hammers nails into is nasal cavity and is chained to a chair, as a model train, with a fork positioned at the head of the engine, speeds around a track, aimed at him and lands in his groin.

It was a long road to doctor Who and then The Hobbit.

I much prefer this version, even with revisions, to the Lugosi version or the Hammer film, as, like The Curse of Dracula, Dracula is a more rounded character and the sexual tension is a more pronounced element. It also has Dr Seward type blood to give Lucy a transfusion, something Stoker was oblivious to, in the novel. Langella cuts a romantic and mesmerizing figure and had also played Zorro, in an ABC telemovie, just a few years before (The Mark of Zorro, in 1974). The scenes of him scaling down the wall is pretty damn creepy and I well remember it from the trailer, in 1979. At the time, there were stories of the film nearly receiving an X-rating, though there is no nudity and the sexual scenes are mostly obscured by the swirling red light. I suspect those were planted media stories to entice people to come out and see it. As it was, Langella said many men who saw the film with wives or girlfriends said they had a pretty fulfilling night of sex after their ladies saw the film.

1979 was the Year of the Bat, as there were several Dracula and vampire films and projects, including this, The Curse of Dracula, Love at First Bite, the remake of Nosferatu, Nocturna, Dracula Blows His Cool, Thirst and Salem's Lot, plus a Romanian biographical film about the real Vlad Tepes.