Dracula in Istanbul

Here at Dracula Returns to Derby, we’re very much interested in the multiple adaptations of the character, along with our very own suave and sophisticated Derby Dracula of Hamilton Deane’s play. And one that I’ve long had an interest in is the Turkish adaptation of the character, namely 1953’s Dracula in Istanbul.

For Dracula to go to different locations in fiction is not a shock in itself, but the screenplay here is based on the Turkish translation of Dracula by Ali Riza Sefyi, most commonly known just as Ali Riza. The novel was released under the title Kazıklı Voyvoda, and I’ll pause there for two reasons – if you pick apart the individual words, firstly Voyvoda translates to Voivode, which is a title bestowed to military leaders or warlords. Secondly, Kazikli translates to Impaler, and the translation of the book was sharply keen to make the connection to Vlad the Impaler (despite the original not drawing this link in the text itself). And as the sum of their parts, the title of the book basically translates to ‘Vlad the Impaler’.

This was one of many liberties that translator Ali Riza Sefyi took with the text, including using the term ‘hortlok’ (fearsome ghost) instead of vampire, displacing the story from London to Istanbul and most egregiously trimming huge swathes of the text for a version of the story that ran to a mere 150 pages. So let’s consider this one to be a loose adaptation of Stoker’s work.

As an interesting side note, when the book was published in 1928 it was in Ottoman Turkish, but subsequent versions were in modern Turkish as the language revolution swept across the country.

The movie that would come out of Kazikli Voyvoda was 1953’s Dracula in Istanbul, and I’ll start with one of the most striking facts about it – this was the first version of Dracula on screen or stage to have fangs, which has of course become de rigeur in adaptations since. However, as an adaptation of the Turkish novel, it played just as fast and loose with its source material as Sefyi did with Stoker’s volume. The film did not feature the Renfield character, and surprisingly our Turkish version of Mina Harker (by the name of Guzin) was a showgirl! 

There are a few other notable facts to mention here – if you have in your mind an image of Dracula scaling the walls of his castle, this is also a visual you can thank Dracula in Istanbul for. It also features an iconic scene where Dracula offers a newborn baby to a female vampire, a moment that has often been imitated over the years, so in many respects, you can argue that the film was highly innovative and pushed the boundaries for the early 50s.

And if you fancy enjoying Dracula in Istanbul for yourself, the following version is available at archive.org for you to watch! It’s certainly worth your time as a historical curio and a very solid Dracula movie in its own right.

Where will our adventures with Dracula take us next? Do join us next week to find out…