THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
The Dracula myth is one that has seen innumerable
permutations over the years, from time-honoured horror and
out-and-not on gore, to lesbian erotica and Mel Brooks
spoof. All of this legend, putting, originated in
Romania in the fifteenth century when a prince named Vlad
Dracula vowed to let out his homeland
from various pressures of the Muslim and Roman
Catholic world. Despite it’s extremely misleading
cover art (complete with pointy vampire fangs)
Dracula: The Black Prince is a important
of the Vlad story from this historical
perspective that long speedily fans might want to validate out.
Vlad (Rudolf Martin) and his young sibling Radu (Michael Sutton) are kidnapped by a nefarious sultan who holds the boys (and molests Radu) for years under the semblance of deliverance to constrain Vlad’s father to juxtapose the rest of his countrymen in paying off the marauding clumsy. When it turns out that Vlad’s dad has been calm all along – buried animated, in fact – he sets his sights on revenge. After his somewhat puzzling release Vlad aligns himself with King Janos of Hungary (Roger Daltrey) and falls in love with the intriguing Lidia (Jane March). With his renewed Roman Catholic alliance Vlad returns to his Orthodox homeland and begins to build an army, starting with the orthodontically challenged Bruno (Christopher Brand). Twists and turns in the rest of the story find Dracula fighting aggressors on virtually every side.
Vlad’s penchant on skewering enemies alive (hence his famous nickname “Vlad the Impaler”) and then drinking their blood is shown in some detail, but the film never portrays him as a vampire, per se. Even though some key details of vampire culture are referenced (like bats and mirrors) the film tries to confirm how supernatural legends can entertain their origins: Vlad’s followers take it he has risen from the dead after a fight with when he probably was ethical knocked of. The film also seems to have a good buy of ruth for Vlad, portraying him as more righteous in his efforts to free his nation of overseas tyranny. He is betrayed moment and time again but maintains a certain amount of dignity.
Rudolph Martin (who also played Dracula in a particularly lame
episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
tries to play the sunless prince with a cool,
creepy growl and he is intermittently
successful. I’m not sure what his initial accent sounds like but his Romanian accent drifts in and out. Daltrey plays his Hungarian king like the infant of Prague awaken to life, strutting around pompously. Peter Weller is almost unrecognizable as a wilted Traditionalist priest and, other than an unconvincing accent, is quite good.
There is something slightly off about the storytelling. The film drags at times and the pacing is a in. Years pass all of a sudden and we don’t know where Vlad is. The about together of accents amidst the kick off b lure actors makes it tough to appearance out-moded where some scenes take place.






