Discuss Bram Stoker's Dracula
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Coppola sleazes it up for modern movie audiences
posted by movie_naziSTAFFMOD on July 25, 2022 at 9:44 AM
I just finished reading the novel and I found the scene near the end of the film when VanHelsing is "guarding" Mina while her transformation is occurring and her vampiric feminine wiles take over and she attempts to seduce him. Um, yeah. That didn't happen in the book. I found this especially curious because I once saw an interview with Coppola about first being approached to do the Godfather and his first impression of the book was that he found it top be a bit on the sleazy side with sexually explicit smut that he actually removed for the film and yet he found it necessary to include that very type of sleaze in "Bram Stoker's" Dracula. I guess I am kinda perturbed that he named it "Bram Stoker's" as if to say his film was the definitive version most faithful to the book which in a lot of ways, it most certainly is. However, to include this crap and the godawful love story which again is not in the book makes it pretty rich to name it "Bram Stoker's" . More like Bram Stroker's. (snare drum, cymbal)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) - 7 outta 10 stars
Reply by bratface
on July 25, 2022 at 8:32 PM
Well, there is a 20-year gap between the movies. So adding some sex to his Dracula story makes sense. Except for Reeves & Ryder, I liked this movie.
Also, have you read The Godfather? It was what I consider a 'pot boiler'. Coppola did a masterful job of turning it into the masterpiece it is!
Reply by movie_nazi
on July 25, 2022 at 9:27 PM
I actually did start reading The Godfather and it did have some sleazy crap in it but I do not remember finishing it. What do you mean by 'pot boiler' ? Reeves was the worst part of the film for certain but I could stomach Ryder. But I hated the hokey "love never dies" angle he incorporated into the film. I did like the over the top gore and horror exposition such as the scene when he is feeding on Lucy while still in beast form. I just wasn't a big fan of the reincarnation angle. It's a damn good film to be certain. Wonderful cinematography.
Reply by bratface
on July 25, 2022 at 10:27 PM
"Potboiler A potboiler or pot-boiler is a novel, play, opera, film, or other creative work of dubious literary or artistic merit, whose main purpose was to pay for the creator's daily expenses—thus the imagery of "boil the pot", which means "to provide one's livelihood."
Here is an excerpt of his obit in the New York times:
"When Mr. Puzo wrote ''The Godfather'' in the late 1960's, he did it reluctantly. His first two novels had received favorable reviews but had earned him a total of $6,500. At 45 and in debt, he thought he was going downhill fast as a writer. But he had some favorite stories to tell about the Mafia, and for the money, he decided to write a book about Italian-Americans in organized crime. From the author's account, he had scant encouragement from publishers and received an advance of only $5,000. But when the book was published in 1969, it became one of the most phenomenal successes in literary and cinematic history."
https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/03/movies/mario-puzo-author-who-made-the-godfather-a-world-addiction-is-dead-at-78.html
Here is a section of the wiki article about his novel 'The Fortunate Pilgrim':
"The Fortunate Pilgrim is a 1965 novel by American author Mario Puzo. Mario Puzo considered the novel his finest, most poetic, and literary work. In one of his last interviews, he stated that he was saddened by the fact that The Godfather, a fiction he never liked, outshone the novel based on his mother's honest immigrant struggle for respectability in America and her courage and filial love."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fortunate_Pilgrim
Reply by bratface
on July 25, 2022 at 10:30 PM
I can't watch Reeves in anything without thinking of Theodore "Ted' Logan! He just is out of place in 'period' films. As for Ryder, I think she is a so, so actress.