not as good<\/a> as the soundtrack.<\/p>\nLaurence Olivier was crammed into the movie for gravitas I guess. There were film critic circles that still considered Larry to be the greatest actor of all time, but that greatness was not evident in this production. This was the era in which Olivier or his agent seemed bent on destroying whatever reputation he had. His Van Helsing<\/em> was abominable and seemed to be a rehash of his squeaky character in A Little Romance<\/em> which was also released in 1979.<\/p>\nLangella stank too. Unlike Olivier he attempted no accent as the Prince of Wallachia<\/em>. I didn’t expect him to lay on a thick Hungarian accent a la Bela Lugosi, but he seems to be talking in his own American accent without any affectation. He comes off like a limp-wristed gigolo with a ’70s permanent rather than the Lord of the Undead. I thought Louis Jordan did a much better Count at around the same time on a production for PBS. Jordan was scary, and they remembered that he was the monster in the production rather than a windswept paramour on the cover of a bodice ripping paperback.<\/p>\nThat being said, John Williams’ score is terrific. It’s a shame that it couldn’t be recycled for a better movie.<\/p>\n
It’s funny, but now that I am looking at this album which I picked up for a buck at a flea market years ago, I am getting a distinct Tony Manero<\/em> vibe from the count.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in the late 1970s, John Williams must have been the hardest working man in show business. I doubt if he took a day off since crafting the iconic soundtrack for Jaws in 1975. If there was a major movie, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":45515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31,120,26],"tags":[199,719,890,56,5989,5988,724],"class_list":["post-45514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blast-from-the-past","category-curious-clutter","category-stuff-joe-likes","tag-199","tag-dracula","tag-john-williams","tag-music","tag-score","tag-soundtrack","tag-vampire"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/disco-dracula.jpg?fit=750%2C667&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-bQ6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45662,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/08\/28\/terrible-movie-great-soundtrack-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":45514,"position":0},"title":"Terrible Movie – Great Soundtrack","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"August 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I am once again returning to the well of awful movies that had great soundtracks. This time it's Brian DePalma's The Fury which was released in 1978 and is based on a novel by John Farris who also contributed the movie's screenplay. That may be the problem with the movie\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Fury-soundtrack-album.jpg?fit=800%2C699&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Fury-soundtrack-album.jpg?fit=800%2C699&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Fury-soundtrack-album.jpg?fit=800%2C699&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Fury-soundtrack-album.jpg?fit=800%2C699&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36776,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2021\/11\/09\/countess-dracula\/","url_meta":{"origin":45514,"position":1},"title":"Countess Dracula","author":"Joe","date":"November 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Erzs\u00e9bet B\u00e1thory (1560-1614) was a real life Hungarian noblewoman and purported serial killer who may have engaged in vampiric activity. Her victims were female servants and minor noblewomen who had come to her for training and education. I'm not sure what training or education the noblewomen were seeking, but maybe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Lady-Bathory-outline.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Lady-Bathory-outline.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Lady-Bathory-outline.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37957,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/06\/21\/everything-is-better-than-star-wars-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":45514,"position":2},"title":"Everything is Better Than Star Wars","author":"Joe","date":"June 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Star Wars clobbered me over the head with its bombastic musical score, fantastic sound design and revolutionary optical effects. I was dazzled as were millions of other kids in the Summer of 1977. It was like a new religion -- the religion of summer blockbusters started with the release of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"German Dawn of the Dead Poster","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/3934\/15437573899_e98858d852_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/3934\/15437573899_e98858d852_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/3934\/15437573899_e98858d852_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39189,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/10\/05\/flying-a-kite-at-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":45514,"position":3},"title":"Flying a Kite at Night?","author":"Joe","date":"October 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was flipping through an old comic when I came across this advertisement which made me think of the truly terrible 1979 version of Dracula starring Frank Langella as the count and Laurence Olivier recycling his awful accent from A Little Romance as Van Helsing. What reminds me of this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Halloween"","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/dracula-kite-1979.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/dracula-kite-1979.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/dracula-kite-1979.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6705,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/02\/20\/comic-movie\/","url_meta":{"origin":45514,"position":4},"title":"When The Comic Was Better Than The Movie","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"February 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I was leafing through some old comics looking for something that would fit this category when I came across this ad: Gene Colan's recent death had brought about a number of articles and posts in appreciation of the great one's art. Those articles as well as a recent reading of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I Miss About Comics"","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/J2-041.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/J2-041.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/J2-041.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46018,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/10\/02\/great-movie-terrible-soundtrack-in-space-no-one-can-hear-this-record\/","url_meta":{"origin":45514,"position":5},"title":"Great Movie, Terrible Soundtrack — In Space No One Can Hear This Record","author":"Joe","date":"October 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a switcheroo from my usual post where I highlight terrible movies that have great soundtracks or musical scores. Today, I am looking at a great movie that has a less than memorable soundtrack album. Alien (1979) directed by Ridley Scott is one of my all time favorite movies.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/alien-soundtrack-LP.jpg?fit=799%2C736&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/alien-soundtrack-LP.jpg?fit=799%2C736&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/alien-soundtrack-LP.jpg?fit=799%2C736&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/alien-soundtrack-LP.jpg?fit=799%2C736&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n