PURPLE PLAYHOUSE was a short lived Canadian teleseries that produced only 8 episodes from February-May 1973, "Dracula" undoubtedly the most famous if not particularly memorable. The hour long format allows for little characterization, Nehemiah Persoff as Van Helsing the only name actor, with newcomer Blair Brown a striking presence as Mina in her first screen role. Alas, the central rpart of the Count is played by little known stage performer Norman Welsh, white haired and clean shaven, mugging incessantly in his few scenes in a laughable rendition that proved to be his last in front of a camera. Jonathan Harker (Dan MacDonald) is left behind a prisoner at Castle Dracula, awakening back in England to learn that he has not fallen victim to the undead, poor Lucy (Charlotte Hunt) already risen as a vampire and soon to be staked by Van Helsing. Mina is allowed to lead the men to Dracula as dawn approaches, his coffin denied him by the cross, but who will be the one to drive the stake through his heart? (a climax also played out with Jack Palance in a well remembered TV version from the same year). Played straight yet decidedly more comical than intended, with one rarely used moment from the novel, when the Count crawls down his castle wall, poorly executed but one that had only been done before by Christopher Lee in "Scars of Dracula," later replayed by Frank Langella in the 1979 Universal remake.
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