It's for that exact reason that I love Christopher Lee as Dracula. Sure the Hammer Dracula movies are a far cry from the Dracula novel, but Lee plays Dracula superbly. He's very feral, very menacing. I LOVE it.

Lee is always truly great. I think its a great example of how an actor can take a role that had been previously seen as having been done definitively and remake it into his own. (likewise George Reeves and Christopher Reeve) I have always absolved myself from Hammer vs Universal arguments noting I truly love both. I think someone once said the first 20 minutes of the 1931 Dracula is the best horror film EVER made. I watched it Monday night and I always love it. Likewise, Hammer was never better than 1958's Dracula. I love the way they lit Mina's seduction in autumn moonlight, with leaves swirling and Dracula's cape billowing like soft leather wings as he walks away.
      One of the reason's I love DS so much is that the vampire films are my favorites and whether he likes it or not, lol  , Jonathan gave one of the best portrayals ever of the undead. And again, it was truly original and a new palate of emotions previously unseen in that genre. The idea of combining a vampire with "soap" elements and gothic romance, added new dimensions to the vampire genre,  is more than anything else, this is why we still watch DS today.

Michael   

Poor RD - if only the directors had reigned him in more often. But then, what am I saying?! More often than not the directors not only wanted over-the-top performances, they expected and insisted upon them. No wonder RD was supposedly DC's favorite.   

This weekend, Diane and I watched one of the first year, early Barnabas tapes and also a tape of early 1840. It really is so true how the way the show was directed changed so much. The early shows by Lela Swift  and John Sedgewick have more subtlety and a different atmosphere, but especially how the performers reflect emotion and work with the camera changed so much. Henry Kaplan reliance on tight close-ups get tiresome. Do we really need to always be seeing the faces sweat and they are so close, each line of mascara and powder puff of pancake is there. Even Lela's shows are often more frenetic. I love how in Chris Pennock's comic books he contrasts them by having Lela   go, "Oh Chris, I love what you have been doing with your character," then  next day, having Henry Kaplan    screaming at him, "I HATE what you are doing today Chris, HATE IT! HATE IT! Give me more! MORE!"  I don't think this is too much of an exaggeration of the later era and what the actors were dealing with.

Michael