This movie contains a weird mix of elements that somehow never quite come together. On the good side, it's a visually attractive film, the Gothic/Victorian settings are very well done, though, the inside of Dracula's castle is way over the top for no apparent reason. The John Williams soundtrack adds nicely to the generally gloomy feel. As mentioned by other reviewers, Frank Langella's Dracula is generally well done.
On the not so good side, as the movie progresses, it's pretty clear that the director isn't sure what type of movie he's making, this culminates in a rather silly chase scene near the end of the movie which verges on comic. The director will often begin a nice atmospheric sequence, only to ruin the effect with shrieking mice/bats/horses/minor characters. The characters sans Dracula don't really do much, the relationship between Harker and Mina goes nowhere, Olivier distractedly chews the scenery, as a consequence, the Van Helsing character is never really developed.
Watching the extras, it becomes apparent that the people involved in making the movie were not detail oriented, Count Dracula speaks Hungarian, though he's supposed to speaking Romanian, the writer doesn't seem to be sure if the movie is set in London or Yorkshire. Anyway, despite all this unevenness, the movie is still very much worth watching if you are a fan of the genre.
On the not so good side, as the movie progresses, it's pretty clear that the director isn't sure what type of movie he's making, this culminates in a rather silly chase scene near the end of the movie which verges on comic. The director will often begin a nice atmospheric sequence, only to ruin the effect with shrieking mice/bats/horses/minor characters. The characters sans Dracula don't really do much, the relationship between Harker and Mina goes nowhere, Olivier distractedly chews the scenery, as a consequence, the Van Helsing character is never really developed.
Watching the extras, it becomes apparent that the people involved in making the movie were not detail oriented, Count Dracula speaks Hungarian, though he's supposed to speaking Romanian, the writer doesn't seem to be sure if the movie is set in London or Yorkshire. Anyway, despite all this unevenness, the movie is still very much worth watching if you are a fan of the genre.