That noted, Horror of Dracula remains a primo example of solid B-picture making. Hammer's primary strategy was to emphasize blood-and-thunder storytelling over the more atmospheric imagery of directors like Tod Browning and James Whale, and it stood 'em in good stead through years of costumed horror pics. House screenwriter Jimmy Sangster took the source material and tweaked it in intriguing ways - making Cushing's Frankenstein in Curse an unrepentant blackguard, for instance - and you can see this approach in the company's first Dracflick. Though they followed the general outline of Bram Stoker's original novel, Sangster and director Terrence Fisher worked to surprise audience members overly familiar with the story. Thus, Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen), who serves as our introduction to Castle Dracula, is presented not as a naif (as he is in Stoker's book and the Bela Lugosi movie) but as someone who already knows what Dracula is. When Dracula leaves his castle to stalk Harker's fiancee, it's not to London but to another European city, Carlstadt, which turns out to be a half a day's hearse ride from the vampire's home turf. Warner gets this detail wrong, amusingly, on the DVD box text, incorrectly noting that Dracula shows up in London - an understandable error to make since a.) that's the way the original novel worked and b.) most of the actors, including the mittle-European villagers, speak with British accents.
But what about Christopher Lee's "first ever" performance as the Count? Simply put, he carries the film, so effectively that you feel his presence even when he's not onscreen. Unlike Lugosi, who played the vampire as a Valentino-esque lover, Lee's sire is a pure force of masculine will: his imposing height and bass voice (which for some strange reason, was rarely used in the Hammer sequels) are utilized to maximum effect. And in the middle of the film, when Dracula comes in the night to seduce and vampirize two different female victims, you accept every heavy breasted sigh. Lee's Drac is a vicious bastard (you know he beats his vampire lovers), but he's an attractive vicious bastard.
Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
Bill,
As usual, an excellent post on one of Hammer's finest horror films. If memory serves, wasn't this the second Hammer horror film? Curse of Frankenstein coming out the year before?
Christopher Lee has always been my favorite Dracula for numerous reasons, with your definition - "he's an attractive vicious bastard" - being just about as good as it gets. I believe there were seven Lee/Dracula films, and I am quite fond of Dracula Prince of Darkness (#2) and The Scars of Dracula (#5)......both including spectacular death scenes of the Count.
Didn't Christopher Lee also star in an Italian Dracula film outside of the Hammer stable? I believe it was a traditional (though dubbed) version of the Stoker novel? I recall seeing it on the late, late, late show about 100 years ago, and Lee was adorned in mustache and smoking jacket......I haven't seen it since.
2 - Bill Sherman
Yup, Curse of Frankenstein was the first of the all-out Hammer horror pics. Prior to that the company primarily focused on detective pics and other B-pic genre exercises (they did at least one Robin Hood film, for instance), with much of the material being adapted from radio dramas. The company's celebrated Quatermass s-f series, the debut of which predates Curse, had its roots in a radio drama.
I saw the more "traditional" Italian Dracula with Lee on a middle-of-the-night airing, too. Remember it as being pretty stodgy, but perhaps I was just too tired. . .