Fontaine's Film Wipe

When I consider the films that I've seen, most hold a special place in my memory, but not in my heart. Francis Ford Coppola's gothic extravaganza, released in 1992 to mixed reviews, is one of the few that are dear to me. It's marketed as a hybrid romance/horror movie, which seems like a gamble for Columbia Pictures, but I realized after the first viewing that the studio spared no expense. That they splurged is a testament to Coppola's clout at the time. That the finished product is just shy of a masterpiece is incontrovertible proof of his brilliance. "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (the rights to plain old "Dracula" had been procured elsewhere) is entertaining from start to finish. More than that, it's a beautiful film, the sort of thing that stays with you for many years after. If my language seems overly strong, just think of how difficult it is to work with the subject matter. The source material, Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, is a work of accide