Love at First Bite (1979) is the Classic Tuesdays’ comedy celebrating Valentine’s Day next Tuesday, February 14 at the National Gallery, Castellani House, Vlissengen Road.
In the film, according to a press release, Count Dracula (George Hamilton) gets evicted from his castle in Transylvania when it is seized by government officials and decides to seek refuge in modern-day New York (1970s Manhattan), looking for his centuries-lost love at the same time. She is top fashion model Cindy Sondheim (Susan Saint James) who has no memory of her past life, but soon falls for the guy in costume.
To complicate things, Dracula and his faithful henchman Renfield stumble onto a variety of blasé New York locals who are not impressed with his aristocratic ways or his peculiar nighttime habits. The exception to this is Cindy’s psychiatrist and sometime boyfriend Jeffrey Rosenberg (actor/director Richard Benjamin), the grandson of Dracula’s old adversary van Helsing, who tries to persuade the cops of the Count’s nefarious habits. Cameos from Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford (at the time US TV’s most popular married couple, The Jeffersons), as Pastor Mike and Judge Thomas, add to the general hilarity as it slowly dawns that the Count is not a normal citizen.
Directed by Stan Dragoti, the film has become a well loved classic, made memorable by the funny script and great comic cast headed by the elegance and deadpan self-parody of George Hamilton, who received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his performance.
The film starts at 6 pm and its running time is 1 hour 34 minutes. Admission is free.
