John hammer kid story3/17/2023 Badham wanted to shoot in black and white – the studio overruled him – and the versions available on video are “desaturated” – almost black and white. It swaps Lucy and Mina and makes them the daughters of Seward and Van Helsing, respectively. It skips Harker’s journey and everything that takes place in Transylvania and begins with Dracula’s arrival in England. There’s lots to complain about with this version. The success of the 1977 Broadway revival led to the 1979 film directed by John Badham that included Sir Lawrence Olivier as Van Helsing. Like Bela Lugosi, Frank Langella first played Dracula on the stage. But Horror of Dracula stands on its own merits as one of the four great Draculas. The sequels tied Hammer Films, Christopher Lee, and Dracula together forever. The effect was to make his Dracula less human and more monstrous. Lee said his lines in Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966) were so bad he refused to say them. But Lee was always good, even though he had only 16 lines in this movie and none in many of the sequels. Some of those movies were good, some were really bad. This was Christopher Lee’s first time playing Dracula – he would play the Count eight more times. It was also the first major vampire movie where Dracula had fangs. Horror of Dracula was the first Dracula movie in color – which means audiences finally got to see red blood. to avoid confusion with Universal’s 1931 film. It was changed to Horror of Dracula in the U.S. This film was simply called Dracula in the U.K. One source called it “the film that saved Hammer.” According to IMDb, Horror of Dracula cost $224,000 to make and grossed $25 million worldwide. Hammer Films was near bankruptcy when this movie was made – they had to cut production complexity and costs where ever they could. It’s another short movie at 1 hour 22 minutes. It keeps some of the characters and some of the major plot points, but it’s mostly a new story. The Hammer Films production of Dracula would be best described as “inspired by” Stoker’s novel rather than based on it. ![]() But it was my introduction to the world of Dracula, and it is the first of the great Draculas.Ĭhristopher Lee – Horror of Dracula – 1958 This wasn’t the first Dracula film adaptation. The Spanish version – made on the same sets by a Spanish speaking cast in the days before dubbing technology was invented – is a superior film… even though Carlos Villarías isn’t as good a Dracula as Bela Lugosi. In many scenes he’s documenting a stage play rather than making a movie. Much of Stoker’s story is condensed or eliminated, sometimes ineffectively, as with Lucy’s change into a vampire. ![]() And the final scene with Van Helsing driving the stake through Dracula’s heart (unseen to us, of course – this was 1931) and proclaiming “Dracula is dead forever” (perhaps Van Helsing wasn’t so wise after all).īut it leaves much to be desired. The powerful exchange between Dracula and Van Helsing, once Van Helsing figures out what he is. The film has an unforgettable opening, with Renfield (not Harker) on the carriage ride to the Borgo Pass, the castle covered in spiderwebs, and Lugosi’s fantastic introduction: “I am… Dracula.” The three brides, the voyage to England, and the theatre conversation with Mina, Lucy, Seward, and Harker. That performance got him the role in Universal’s 1931 movie.ĩ1 years later, Bela Lugosi’s tuxedoed Count is still what most people think of when they hear the name “Dracula.” He was elegant and sophisticated, but could turn menacing with a glance. But he was an accomplished actor and his stage presence was enough to get him the title role in the Broadway production of Dracula. Hungarian born Bela Lugosi could barely speak English when he arrived in the United States in 1920.
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