Dracula padre e figlio

This is not a movie I would consider terrible, since it stars the great Christopher Lee. I was introduced to this movie in a different and strange way, I picked up a copy at a outdoor trading market called "Traders Village" in Fort Worth, Texas in the early 90s when I was probably 12 or 13. I had a thing for the supernatural and in particular vampire movies, so I purchased it on VHS for $3 or so. I had no idea that this was a dubbed foreign movie, but being a young teenager was captivated to watch it multiple times because of the nudity, mainly,at first. Later on through learning who Christopher Lee was, and seeing his characters portrayed in many Hammer horror films, I subsequently returned later to search for what movie I had seen in my youth through nostalgia. Unbeknownst to me at this young age, I had no idea who Christopher Lee was but it probably subconsciously figured into my love for him as an actor in later life, watching his earlier films. LOL. Finding Dracula and Son somewhat difficult to locate, I have ended up here on IMDb, reading the history of the release through the comments section. Though this film may be bad, I look upon it as being special to me and it holds a nostalgic place in my mind and I will always be fond of it.I would recommend watching this just because Christopher Lee is in it, and also it is actually his unique,and last performance as Dracula.

"Dracula Père et Fils" was never an excellent film. At the most, it was a sometimes funny vampire satire with good psychological aspects out of the Oedipal conflict father/son and sociological criticisms concerning the immigrants, not so well treated in France.

But to be honest, I admit it was a bit of a deception. The film director Edouard Molinaro himself has lately called it a "failure", despite the fact he had succeeded in hiring Christopher Lee to incarnate ' the Count" (Dracula is never mentioned in the original version) opposing him to a totally different kind of an actor (Bernard Menez, who is actually very proud of this film). The concept here is quite similar to another unfunny vampire comedy "Tempi Duri Per i Vampiri" where Lee was opposed to Renato Rascel.

One should see this movie just to appreciate the almost perfect French accent of the British star who has almost entirely shot it in that foreign language.

Mister Lee has claimed on several occasions he did dub the English version.

I must be one of the rare French moviegoers to have seen the quite different American version and to be able to evaluate the mess they did on the soundtrack.

Most of the dialog has been changed to some ridiculous vulgar trash. The haunting music score by Vladimir Cosma has been misplaced or changed in favor of new music bits, supposedly to speed up the rhythm of the film.

But they didn't hesitate the butcher the editing either: from the 100 min. in its original form, they reduced it to 79. Not only they shortened it, but added some repetition of Lee opening a door and speaking to a concierge with several stupid accents. Not only unnecessary, but very dull! This scene was initially part of the story and is suddenly supposed to be an hilarious illustration of movie shooting. Appalling!

I have heard Roman Polanski had to suffer similar treatments on his masterpiece "Fearless Vampire Killers" (never try to compare this one to Molinaro's flick, by the way!)

Not every one has the talent of Woody Allen to transform a Japonese spy movie into a comedy as he did once (admitting it in a prologue) with "What's up Tiger Lily?".

In conclusion, here are two different films out of the same celluloid: "Dracula Père et Fils" is a not so good film worth seeing however. "Dracula and Son" is just awful and should be placed alongside with the Raymon Burr's version of "Godzilla".

Count Dracula had a son, by the name of Ferdinand. He's a shy and a good nature young man, not very happy to be a vampire. He don't want to bite people because he don't want to hurt them. So he bites rats and cats. His father becomes a movie star - playing, of course, a vampire - and fells in love with a young woman who reminds him his wife. But Ferdinand's in love with the girl too and don't want his father to bite the woman. Fun story of black humour, with great Christopher Lee making fun of his famous role of Dracula. But images are a little bit too dark and sometimes there's dull moments. Watch for funny lines like: Ferndinand, finish your blood and go to bed. Or : Ferdinand, don't play bowling with your mothers ashes. Good bloody fun could have been better, but it's pleasant to watch,

Transylvania, 1770: young, beautiful Hermine is on her way to meet her fiancé, but her coach is intercepted by the minions of a nameless vampire-count. She soon finds herself not only the interest of said count but, before being turned into a vampire herself, pregnant with his child. Soon after giving birth to her son Ferdinand, Hermine accidentally succumbs to the rising sun, leaving the count to raise his son on his own. Alas, Ferdinand is not only a reluctant vampire but a bit of a goof, who's rather help people rather than suck the blood out of them. In the mid 1970's a lot has changed: Romania is now under communist rule and the vampires have to abandon their castle, trying to seek refuge in the West. Unfortunately, due to a botched burial at sea (naturally the two gentlemen travel via coffins), father and son get separated. Ferdinand lands in France, where some friendly Arab guest-works take him under their wings and he is forced to "make a living" as good as he can. The elder vampire is more fortunate, landing in England, where he soon is discovered by a film-company as leading man in vampire-movies. Eventually father and son reunite, but the harmony only lasts that long, after falling in love with the same woman (who happens to be the spitting-image of Hermine).

French comedies are not everybody's cup of tea, especially among the English-speaking audience, which has less to do with the humoristic quality than the (usually) horrible dubbing that (usually) sucks the last grain of charm out of the films. However, especially here in Germany, one virtually grew up with the comedies of Claude Zidi, Louis de Funes, Pierre Richard and countless other comedians and directors.

Director Edouard Molinaro (a veteran of the comedic genre, who would later produce the celebrated "The Birdcage"; the original as well as the American remake) obviously understood that a Horror-Comedy doesn't necessarily means spoof a la "Dracula – Dead and Loving It" or "Love at First Bite". Rather he combines elements of the classic Hammer-Horror-flicks and harmless, often satirizing French comedies into one entity. The mix works rather well. There are moments of chill and gloom, especially during the first quarter of the film, set in Transylvania, despite better knowledge that you're watching a comedy. The jokes are generally subtle, satirizing the genre but never venturing into slapstick. To mention just a few examples: the vampires being driven from their castle with a hammer and sickle turned makeshift crucifix, Ferdinand being forced donate blood after being caught trying to feed at a blood-bank or the Count accidentally biting into the neck of a sex-doll (the incredulous, undignified look at Lees face is worth the price of admission alone).

Sir Christopher Lee seems to have a ball with his performance, which seems a little surprising since the actors disdain for having been typecast for years in the role is legendary (and this was his 10th outing as the blood-thirsty count). Indeed, Lee only accepted the role under the condition that the name Dracula would not be mentioned and that his "Count" - a Baron in the original version - should be a completely different figure. The director honored that wish - the distributing companies didn't, as we can see from the title (and in the English dub he is even identified as Dracula by name). But at least Lee pulls his full repertoire: He can be regal, charming, even amiable, is able to show his comedic talent (which has often been neglected in other movies) and, as to be expected, is at the same time raise some scares when necessary. Not to mention, Lee has more lines in this film than in all his Hammer-Draculas combined, which may have been a factor of comfort.

I'll end the review with a word of warning: if you come across this film in it's English dubbed version, save your time and money. What this hack job of synchronization has done to the movie can only be described with the German word "kaputt". Not only are the speakers completely incapable, managing to make Ferdinand sound like some dorky version of Woody Allen, but much of the dialog has been changed completely, making it seems like your watching some vulgar sex-comedy from the 70's. As if to add insult to injury, Vladimir Cosmas atmospheric, excellent soundtrack has been deleted and replaced with some silly Disco-tunes. Do yourself a favor and stick to the French version (if need be with subtitles) or, if necessary, the German-dub, which catches the original spirit rather well and has some excellent speakers.

8/10

Possibly the worst dubbed film I have ever seen, miserable acting to boot makes this one of Lee's worst Vampire attempts. Skip this film in English, maybe the original language version redeems. Catch Love at First bite for a better attempt at satire. good luck.