Ken Russell's Dracula (12 page)

VAN HELSING

Some people I know fancy

that life is a positive,

perpetual entity and that

by consuming a multitude of

live things, no matter how

the scale of creation, one

indefinitely prolongs life.

RENFIELD

(
calmly
)

I have no wish to discuss

metaphysics, Professor.

My desire is to leave here

at - now - this very hour,

this very moment if I may.

VAN HELSING

Can you tell me frankly

Your reason for wishing

to be free?

RENFIELD

If I were free to speak I

Should not hesitate a

moment, but I am not my own

master in the matter. I can

only ask you to trust me.

If I am refused, the

responsibility does not rest

with me.

VAN HELSING

Alas, your petition stands

condemned out of your own

mouth, my friend.

RENFIELD

(
snapping
)

Damn all thick-headed

Dutchmen! Take yourself and

your idiotic brain theories

somewhere else.

VAN HELSING

(
laughing
)

Aha! Now that is better.

You had me worried there,

momentarily. Later, we will

meet again and have a little

dri ...

(
he plays Renfield at his own
game
)

... a little supper,

perhaps.

As the Professor goes to leave
Renfield grabs hold of him, becoming violent once more.

RENFIELD

I implore you, let me out of

this place at once. Send me

away how you will and where

you will, send keepers with

me with whips and chains;

let them take me in a

strait-jacket, manacled and

leg-ironed, even to jail,

but let me out of this!

You don’t know what you do

by keeping me here. Their

blood will be on your hands.

The Male Nurses pull Renfield away
and hurl him into a corner, then follow the Professor out and lock the door
behind them. A moment later, Renfield is on his feet hammering against the door
and shouting through the grill.

RENFIELD

Don’t you know that I am

sane and earnest now, that

I am no lunatic in a mad

fit, but a sane man fighting

for his life. The blood is

the life! The blood is the

life! Let me go! Let me go!

Impotently, he collapses sobbing to
the floor.

INT. LUCY’S WARD. DAY.

Small, white and austere with
melancholy windows looking onto wooded grounds. LUCY lies in bed
unconscious,looking deathly pale. The NURSE is helping DR. SEWARD prepare for a
blood transfusion when VAN HELSING enters.

DR. SEWARD

Thank you, Nurse. I’ll

ring if I need you.

NURSE

Very well, Doctor.

I’ll be standing by.

VAN HELSING

The chart, Nurse, please.

She hands the Professor Lucy’s
chart and leaves the room. Hiding his alarm at what he sees, the Professor sets
about restoring Dr. Seward’s equanimity as his blood begins to flow in Lucy’s
veins.

VAN HELSING

Your blood will soon

restore the roses to her

cheeks, my boy.

DR. SEWARD

(
perplexed)

Ha! Roses! I don’t

understand it. Look at

that mark on her throat.

Even if it was caused by

a thorn how could it

account for her losing

so much blood?

Van Helsing examines the marks on
Lucy’s throat trying to belie his worst fears.

VAN HELSING

No rose bush it was,

certainly. The skin around

the wound is dis-coloured

as if something had been...

He discreetly refrains from
completing the sentence aloud, and continues his train of thought.

VAN HELSING

... this Renfield ...

DR. SEWARD

(
suddenly remembering
)

Oh yes, how did you find

Renfield?

VAN HELSING

Blood fixated and desperate

for freedom.

DR. SEWARD

(
puzzled
)

That’s a new development.

VAN HELSING

Your Lucy was collapsed

near his cell. How well

does she know him?

DR. SEWARD

Hardly at all. She

accompanied me once on my

rounds. She heard him

ranting away and that

was about all.

VAN HELSING

Ranting, of what was

he ranting?

DR. SEWARD

... He mentioned ‘blood’

rather a lot I seem to

remember, and something

about the coming of the

Messiah, Master, the master

it’s just that he sounded

like an Old Testament

prophet.

Dr.Seward becomes aware of Van
Helsing’s growing discomfort.

DR. SEWARD

Professor, I have known

you a long time. You have

a theory.

VAN HELSING

(
cautiously
)

Yes, I have a theory but

you would not believe it.

I hardly dare believe it

myself.

DR. SEWARD

Something to do with

Renfield?

VAN HELSING

(
passively
)

Perhaps, indirectly,

I can’t say.

(
snapping out of it
)

I must go to London, now,

immediately. There are books

at the University College

Hospital which I must

consult.

Dr. Seward is surprised at the
Professor’s sudden decision but refrains from questioning it.

DR. SEWARD

The duty driver will take

you to the station. Look,

I’m afraid I’m causing you

a lot of inconvenience,

Professor, and ...

VAN HELSING

(
indignantly
)

Since when has saving life

been an inconvenience?

(
he begins to disconnect

the transfusion

equipment
)

Here, that is enough. Any

more and you will be needing

a transfusion yourself.

Tomorrow she will be

stronger, you too. She will

need the utmost care.

And on no account must these

windows be left open.

H
e closes a sash window and bends up the catch
.

DR. SEWARD

I’ll have a nurse on

constant duty.

VAN HELSING

We are the best nurses,

you and I. Keep watch all

night. See she is well fed

and, hah! (
smiling
) Why do

I need tell you what to do –

sometimes I still imagine

you are my pupil.

DR. SEWARD

I rather think I always

will be, Professor.

Van Helsing is moved by the warmth
of Seward’s voice, for truth to tell, the older man does have a paternal regard
for the protégé. He replies gruffly to disguise his feelings.

VAN HELSING

Good! Then I can start

sending you my bill for

tuition once again.

Tot ziens!

With this parting phrase of Dutch
he is gone, leaving Dr. Seward to sink back in his chair and take hold of
Lucy’s wrist as much to give her strength as to feel her pulse.

INT. SANATORIUM. DAY.

The car bearing VAN HELSING to the
station sweeps down the gravelled drive and out of the gates. DRACULA, who has
been following its departure from the depths of the shrubbery smiles to himself
and turns his attention towards a GARDENER and his BOY clipping a hedge close
to the barred windows of Renfield’s cell on the ground floor of the building.

INT. RENFIELD’S CELL. DAY.

As a click announces the opening of
the door and the arrival of supper, RENFIELD hurls himself at the unsuspecting
KEEPER, knocking him unconscious to the floor, and then bounds through the
doorway.

INT. LUCY’S WARD. DAY.

DR. SEWARD is leaning over LUCY,
with his back to the door, taking her temperature when RENFIELD bursts in to
attack her. Overcoming his surprise at finding the Doctor blocking his
objective he attempts to hurl him away – but unsuccessfully. The Doctor,
despite his loss of blood, is more than a match for Renfield who nevertheless
sinks his teeth into the Doctor’s wrist before a kick in the groin sends him
howling to the floor. Pressing the alarm bell, Dr. Seward half collapses on the
bed. Moments later TWO MEDICAL ORDERLIES, also the KEEPER, the STAFF DOCTOR and
NURSE DANVERS arrive on the scene.

KEEPER

He’s overpowered me,

Doctor. He’s been as good

as gold lately.

FIRST ORDERLY

(
simultaneously
)

His arms, his arms,

take his arms.

STAFF DOCTOR

Dr. Seward, you’re hurt.

Let me see.

NURSE DANVERS

Oh my God, what’s happening

here?

But Dr. Seward is engrossed in
Renfield’s strange behaviour.

DR. SEWARD

Don’t touch him.

They all stare with varying degrees
of disgust as Renfield laps up the blood which has fallen onto the floor from
Dr. Seward’s wrist.

DR. SEWARD

Go with them, Renfield.

Quietly.

The blood has gone. Locked in his
own fantasies, Renfield allows himself to be led away peacefully.

RENFIELD

(
muttering
)

The blood is the life!

The blood is the life!

As the Staff Doctor starts to
bandage his wrist, Dr.Seward collapses unconscious in his arms. Continuing his
first aid, the Staff Doctor gives instructions.

STAFF DOCTOR

He’s suffering from shock,

fetch a trolley.

The ORDERLY runs out.

STAFF DOCTOR

Nurse, bring me a strong

Sedative to his room. He’ll

also need stitches, but this

will do till we get him to

bed.

NURSE DANVERS

And what about the patient,

sir, Miss Weber here? As I

told you, she’s an important

case.

STAFF DOCTOR

My patient is even more

important. I’ll lock her in

and you can attend to her

later. Now hurry.

As she hastens out, the trolley
arrives and Dr. Seward is lifted gently aboard and wheeled quickly from the
room. As the key is heard turning in the lock LUCY opens her eyes, sits up in
bed and gazes through the window to where DRACULA appears silhouetted against a
blood red sun setting through the trees. Smiling he walks towards her while
she, in turn, still weak and shaking, drags herself from the bed and staggers
over to the window. Summoning up all her strength she tries to lift the sash -
unsuccessfully. Panting with the effort, she slips down the glass and collapses
against it breathing

heavily. Collecting herself she
rubs the misted glass and peers out for her lover. A sigh of regret escapes her
lips when she sees that he is gone.

EXT. RENFIELD’S CELL. DUSK.

The unbreakable glass window is
ajar. RENFIELD stares through the bars directly at CAMERA and speaks bitterly
through the gap.

RENFIELD

I know you wish to enter

and that you may enter,

uninvited. It is not to me

you bring the gift of peace

but to another. As you deny

me, so I deny you.

Renfield shuts and fastens the
window.

REVERSE ANGLE CUT:

DRACULA looks back at RENFIELD with
an enigmatic smile. Behind him the sun has almost set. Slowly, Dracula parts
his black cape revealing the GARDENER’S BOY, naked. A mop of golden hair, blue
eyes staring blankly from an angelic face with limbs of natural grace all
combine to produce a creature of exquisite beauty and innocence. Simply by
‘willing it’ Dracula causes the hypnotised child to raise its arms. Renfield,
staring through the closed window is mystified and growing fearful. Slowly
Dracula takes hold of the boy’s wrist and with a flick of his sharp thumbnail
cuts the vein. As blood pulses from the wound Renfield begins to tremble.
Dracula lowers his own arm as the blood trickles down the milk-white arm of the
boy. Renfield is fighting a losing battle to suppress his lust for blood.

Dracula calmly awaits the
inevitable. With a cry of anguish Renfield opens the window and stretches out
towards the blood which is tantalisingly just out of reach. By now Renfield’s
state is equivalent to that of a pathetic drug addict desperate for a fix. As
the sun sinks from sight, the sweating Renfield capitulates and in a dry,
tremulous voice, agrees to pay the price.

RENFIELD

Come in, Lord and Master,

enter...

An instant later Dracula
metamorphoses into a red cloud, the colour of blood. Then as the boy moves a
step forward and Renfield snatches his wrist and sucks on it like a parched
beast, the cloud of blood rushes in a psychic whirlwind past him into the room
and out through the grill in the door.

INT. LUCY’S WARD. DUSK.

To the sound of unearthly music,
the cloud of glittering blood whirls beneath the door and changes back into the
imposing shape of DRACULA. Like a modern messiah he extends his arms to the
incredulous LUCY who drags herself towards him on her knees like a nun at her
devotions. As the music rises to a hymn of praise Dracula unbuttons his shirt
and opens an artery in his chest revealing His precious BLOOD. Lucy parts her
lips and sensuously covers the wound with her mouth and with closed eyes, drinks.
The music shimmers as images float and dissolve until Dracula is drawing blood
from Lucy’s neck. Their pulses race in unison as the ritual is consummated and
the music throbs to a climax.

INT. DR. SEWARD’S BEDROOM.
DAY.