MovieChat Forums > Dracula (1931) Discussion > Best and Worst Dracula

Best and Worst Dracula

posted 12 years ago by mercury4
24 replies | jump to latest

In my opinion, Bela Lugosi was the best. I love Christopher Lee and I thought he was very scary, but I've always preferred Lugosi. Carlos Villar was a great Dracula in the Spanish version made in 1931. I also liked Jack Palance as the Count. I found him scary. He was surprisingly good and made Dracula sympathetic. The worst Dracula in my opinion was Richard Roxburgh in Van Helsing. Hated the way he looked and I hated the way he sounded. I thought Louis Jourdan was also one of the worst. Oh God, was Jourdan miscast. When I saw him on youtube in a Dracula movie, I couldn't believe that was who they got to play Dracula.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] FridayOnElmStreet 9 years ago

Best: Christopher Lee

Worst: Langley Kirkwood from Dracula 3000

[–] sage2112 9 years ago

I remember Louis Jourdan being damn good in the BBC version called Count Dracula. But Bela is the best, and for sure this one had the best Renfield. Man that guy was creepy.

[–] PrometheusTree64 9 years ago

Obviously, Lugosi defined the role -- everybody who played DRACULA ever since has fashioned it after, or played against, what Lugosi did.

I liked Gary Oldman's performance and it seems the closest homage to Lugosi, although the film (seen as a stylistic masterpiece in 1992) hasn't aged well.

Christopher Lee's nakedly sadistic Dracula worked well at the time, but only his first foray into the role (HORROR OF DRACULA) is watchable.

I have a fondness for Frank Langella's performance and that 1979 film (which did quite well in the early days of home video in the '80s) but it sure fell out of familiarity, or is just dismissed today.

The others mostly don't work. John Carradine and especially beefy Lon Chaney Jr can't do DRACULA.

--
LBJ's mistress on JFK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcXeutDmuRA

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] 9 years ago

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