On DVD this film was marketed in the US as Dracula: The Dark Prince & in the UK as Dark Prince: The Legend of Dracula.

When it first premiered as a telefilm, it was titled Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula.

It is a medieval tale of Vlad the Impaler (Rudolf Martin), based more on the historical warlord, hero & tyrant, than on Bram Stoker's reinvention.

The American DVD package (as shown above) trumped up an illustration of Vlad with vampire fangs. But this is false advertising & will so badly misled people that many were unable to give the film a fair assessment as a cruel swashbuckler or historical romance, without supernatural intent.

It does have its moments, especially for a telefilm with a telefilm budget, & it's a fine "break" from the usual & tiresome neck-biting fantasies.

But it took me half the film to realize I'd seen it when it was brand new. I thought it was familiar only because I know the story so well & bits of it are used in the start of Francis Ford Copula's version.

But when Roger Daltry of the rock band The Who showed up in the cast, the rest of the film came flooding back to me in a flash.

Dracula: The Dark Prince is competent, but not remarkable, & it wasn't worth this accidental second viewing.

I did appreciate that everyone involved in making this film took it seriously, but I expect to forget the whole thing all over again, & very soon.

Continue to:
Fearless Vampire Killers (1969) and Angel of the Night (1998)

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