Vlad Țepeș (film)

Vlad Țepeș is a 1979 Romanian historical drama film directed by Doru Năstase. The film recounts the story of Vlad the Impaler (also known as Vlad Dracula), the mid-15th century Voivode of Wallachia, and his fights with the Ottoman Turks on the battlefield and with the Boyars in his court.

Commissioned by the Communist authorities, the movie promoted the line that Nicolae Ceaușescu had drawn through the July Theses of 1971, by projecting the image of a strong, authoritarian leader who is right with the people. It also had the purpose to wash the name of the voivode from the shame caused by Bram Stoker's novel. The fabrication of the myth of Dracula is highlighted in the film: it was built by outside elements (on the one hand, the Saxon and Szekler merchants from Brașov, and on the other, the enemies of Wallachia, the Turks), but also by the wicked and traitorous boyars.

Cast

 * Ștefan Sileanu – Vlad the Impaler
 * Ernest Maftei – Străjer Mânzila
 * Emanoil Petruț – Armaș Stoica
 * Teofil Vâlcu – Boyar Albu
 * Alexandru Repan – Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror
 * Constantin Codrescu – Iunus Beg, envoy of the Sultan
 * George Constantin – Metropolite of Ungro-Wallachia
 * Ion Marinescu – Grand Vizier Mahmud Pasha
 * Silviu Stănculescu – Treasurer Sava
 * Vasile Cosma – Boyar Mogoș
 * György Kovács – Michael Szilágyi, captain of Belgrade Fortress
 * Mihai Pălădescu – Pope Pius II
 * Andrei Bursaci – Boyar Rătundu
 * András Csiky – Johannes Reudel, Vicar of Biserica Neagră, envoy of Brașov
 * Eugen Ungureanu – Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary
 * Zoltán Vadász
 * Zephi Alșec – Ottoman dignitary
 * Ștefan Radof – Wallachian merchant
 * Ștefan Velniciuc – Stephen the Great, Prince of Moldavia