When I met Francis Ford Coppola in Venice last September he was boyishly excited about his new DRACULA

. While making it he looked back through the more that 100 previous film versions of the original by Bram Stocker. He wanted both to revive the story and to resurrect elements of which Stoker may have been unaware . To an extent he succeeded . Gary oldman is a finely ambiguous Dracula , pathetic as well as sinister. Yet the mixture of draculas toad-like transformations , smoke , blood and marble-white maidens fails to stir or stab our gut. We goggle and admire , but we feel no chilling thrill. This is magic , not horror. Though that may be what coppola intended.