Bram Stoker's Dracula [Blu-ray] [1973]

This TV-movie adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel of the "undead" was adapted by Richard Matheson and photographed by Oswald Morris. As the titular count, Jack Palance is a reluctant victim of an unwelcome fate, rather than a grinning bloodsucker. Nigel Davenport co-stars as Van Helsing, vampire-hunter deluxe, who pursues the count with his bagful of hammers and stakes. Much of the Stoker novel that had been eliminated in earlier versions has been restored by Matheson. Originally slated for telecast in October of 1973, Dracula was reshuffled to February 8, 1974, due to the late-breaking vice-presidential nomination of Gerald Ford.~Hal Erickson