November 16, 1992 -- ``Bram Stoker's Dracula'' is the best version of that often-filmed (over 100 so far) story. Director/producer Francis Ford Coppola has done a good job of bringing the vampire legend to life.

During a recent conference in Denver which I attended, Coppola told a large group of movie fans why he had chosen to film this story after it had been filmed so many times before. He said he chose to do the film because it was one of his favorite stories and he thought previous versions were not true to Bram Stoker's novel.

Coppola also said he wanted to bring the actual historical character of Vlad the Impaler into the story as well. Vlad, a warrior prince, is the character on which Dracula is based, in part.

The story, by James V. Hart, focuses on the love story between Dracula and Mina, the reincarnation of his long-lost love, Elizabeta. Mina/Elizabeta are wonderfully played by the chameleon-like Winona Ryder (who starred with Johnny Depp in ``Edward Scissorhands''). Gary Oldman is stunning in the multiple guises of Dracula.

Keanu Reeves plays Mina's fiance Jonathan Harker, a clerk who is nearly trapped in Dracula's castle. Unfortunately, Harker's character is not written very strongly and Reeves' English accent comes and goes. Anthony Hopkins (who won an Oscar for his ``Silence of the Lambs'' performance) goes way over the top with the character of Professor Van Helsing, adding a flaky comic touch to the film. Tom Waits does a good job as the mad Renfield.

Coppola's son, Roman, was in charge of the visual effects in the film, which have a different look to them than do the special effects in most modern films. The effects were all done in camera as they say in the business. There are no optical printers, no post-production stuff from Industrial Light and Magic. The idea, Roman Coppola said at the Denver conference, was to re-create the same visual effects used by filmmakers at the time the 1897 novel was written by Stoker.

In order to do that, Coppola had to go back to some very old textbooks on film techniques on the use of mirrors and other magical tricks. For instance, in one scene where rats are shown running upside down along a wooden beam, the camera was flipped upside down, the scene with the rats was shot and then the film was rewound, the camera was turned right side up and the second exposure of the scene was made with Reeves walking under the beam. Another scene showing Dracula moving in the form of a mist, was done with mirrors. Coppola also uses speeded up motion to good effect in the film by shooting the film at slow speed and playing it back at normal speed, creating a kind of nightmarish rushing effect. There's even a scene filmed inside a 19th century cinema theater which nicely punctuates Coppola's reliance on 19th century film techniques.

Another nice touch for Wyoming fans is appearance of a cowboy in this Dracula story, complete with a rifle and big Bowie knife. A shootout with a band of Gypsies carrying Dracula on a wagon has a western feel about it as the cowboy and other good guys chase the wagon all the way to Dracula's castle on horses.

The filming technique, along with great sets and costume design all combine to make this a wonderfully gothic period piece. It drips with atmosphere. The love scenes between Mina and Dracula really sizzle. The ending is spectacular.

Coppola is an uncompromising filmmaker, the greatest ever to undertake the filming of this story. He set out to make the definitive Dracula and I think he has done it. Coppola said that he felt the film ``Nosferatu'' was the best film version of the story done until now. He didn't say at the conference if he was speaking of the 1922 version or the 1979 version.

I've seen both and I think this is better than either of them, but then I am not a big fan of Klaus Kinski or Werner Herzog, the star and director, respectively, of the 1979 version of ``Nosferatu.'' The 1922 silent film version was a better film than the 1979 remake, but obviously could not deal with the sexual overtones of the story as Coppola's does.

By the way, this may not be the final venture into the horror genre for Coppola. Although he is very fond of the Dracula story, it is not his favorite. His favorite story is Frankenstein. That's the horror film he said he would really like to make. By the way, Coppola said that both the original Frankenstein and vampire stories were originally written during a single evening as part of a game by writers which included Percy and Mary Shelley (Mary later wrote the Frankenstein novel), Lord Byron and others.

Coppola's great strengths as a director are his dedication to this project and his brilliant use of imagery. His visualization of the sexuality and passion of the vampire legend are unsurpassed. The love story between Dracula and Mina drips with both blood and passion as never before. This is a very powerful, if flawed, film. By the way, this film is not suitable for children. It is very gory and very sexually graphic.

The film rates a B+.

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