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I remember seeing John Badham's DRACUlA at the Ziegfeld theater in New York the day it opened on Friday, July 13, 1979. I was so completely enthralled by it, I sat through it for a second time. Since that time, John Badham apparently decided that his film should only be seen in a drained black and white version. Well, let's face it, John Badham is not the best director in the field of horror, and he has unfortunately destroyed what might possibly be his greatest film. All the home video releases of DRACULA have suppressed what was one of it's greatest glories: a full Technicolor version, which Badham insisted be reduced to a near black and white release on the DVD version and all the previous video releases.

Now, I could understand that decision if Badham had opted to go with Edward Gorey's original black and white concept for the set design, based on the Broadway play, which was so exciting simply because it was totally presented in black and white. But Badham didn't come anywhere near presenting the Gorey play in his film version, which when seen on screen (in 1979, anyway) had the kind of lurid Technicolor more associated with Hammer than with Edward Gorey. The great Gilbert Taylor photographed the film in the kind of lush cinematography that look quite fabulous in full color. Unfortunately, since that time Badham has insisted he wanted the film to be shown in only muted colors, approaching black and white. Obviously, if that was the case in 1979, the powers to be at Universal overruled him, and the film was shown in theaters in full color. They probably should have overruled him again for the video versions, since Badham's preferred black and white versions on DVD and video are nothing compared to the full saturated color of the original release. What's truly sad, is given the nature of DVD, it would be so easy to release a full color version alongside a desaturated color version on a second side of the DVD. Then the viewer could make up their own minds which version was superior.