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1960 - UK Directed By: Terence Fisher. Starring: Peter Cushing, Martita Hunt, Yvonne Monlaur, Freda Jackson, David Peel, Miles Malleson, Henry Oscar and Michael Ripper.
Current Availability
Available only in Universal's US R1 "Hammer Horror Series" box-set with 7 other vintage Hammer films: "Curse Of The Werewolf", "The Evil Of Frankenstein", "Phantom Of The Opera" (1962 Version), "Night Creatures" (aka - "Captain Clegg"), "The Kiss Of The Vampire", "Paranoic" and "Nightmare". This set is however reasonably priced and the presentation quality across all 8 films is excellent. Essential for Hammer fans.
Recommended?
Overall I would recommend this film to fans of British horror although some of the continuity errors are pretty glaring. It is at least fairly novel, if flawed and the typical gothic Hammer atmosphere is present and correct.
Review
In many ways a largely forgotten entry in Hammer’s long-running series of Dracula movies. In actuality the title The Brides Of Dracula is really somewhat of a cheat as director Terence Fisher’s film really has precious little at all to do with Hammer’s seminal original Dracula (aka - The Horror Of Dracula) (1958). Originally conceived as Hammer’s grand follow up to the international success of Dracula, a cat was thrown amongst the fanged pigeons when would-be returning star Christopher Lee anxious not be typecast in the Dracula role and indifferent to Jimmy Sangster’s initial draft script declined the opportunity to reprise the role that had helped to make him an international star three years earlier. With Hammer’s original plans scuppered and the project in turmoil screenwriters Peter Bryan and Edward Percy were bought in to perform a hasty re-write of Sangster’s script, resulting in a drastically different film to the one that Hammer had initially envisioned.
While positively received by audiences of the day The Brides Of Dracula still came up well short of matching the international success or widespread acclaim of its predecessor and is scarcely recalled these days by any outside of die hard Hammer supporters. Many now tend to overlook The Brides Of Dracula entirely and instead erroneously refer to Fisher’s wonderful third film in the Hammer series Dracula: Prince Of Darkness (1966), which saw Lee return as Dracula, as the first sequel. These days, while Hammer’s 1958 original and its six diminishing returns are looked upon as an enduringly popular entry to the horror genre’s heritage, The Brides Of Dracula remains comparatively obscure having never been released on video in its British homeland. While some Hammer fans rate it highly the film is scarcely listed amongst its studios greatest triumphs.
The plot centres on attractive young Marianne (Monlaur), who is journeying across Europe to the remote Lang Academy – a school for girls located in Transylvania, where she is due to start working as a teacher. When abandoned at a nearby inn by her jumpy coach driver (played by Hammer regular Michael Ripper) Marianne is taken in by the seemingly benevolent Baroness Meinster (Hunt) who seeing that poor Marianne has nowhere else to spend the night, invites her to come and stay at her chateau.
Shortly after her arrival at the chateau Marianne in shocked to discover that a handsome young man (Peel) is being kept chained up in the cellar. Marianne discovers he is in fact the Baroness’ own son the Baron Meinster. Falling for the Baron’s charms Marianne takes pity and sets him free, failing to realise that her new suitor is a vampire who had been surviving on the blood of young girls lured back to the chateau by his mother the Baroness.
Marianne continues on her journey to the Lang Academy and along the way makes the acquaintance of none other than the famous Dr Van Helsing (Cushing), who just so happens to be travelling the Lower Danube regions as part of his ongoing research into vampirism. Upon hearing the odd tale of Marianne’s journey and experiences at the chateau, Van Helsing’s suspicions concerning the Meinster’s are all but confirmed.
In the meantime the evil Baron Meinster infiltrates the Lang Academy and soon woos the smitten, unsuspecting Marianne into becoming his bride, whilst secretly satiating his need for blood by preying on the academies young female residents. The stage is soon set for a show-stopping finale as Van Helsing, having gleaned the truth from the Baron’s dying mother, attempts to put pay to his evil activities for good.
The Brides Of Dracula, despite its promisingly original narrative, alas never manages to amount to anything more than a mildly rewarding period horror effort. Although some Hammer purists cling to it – mistakenly I feel – as one of the British studios “forgotten classics” several dreadfully sloppy continuity errors and plot contrivances (due no doubt by the frantic rewrites) prevent The Brides Of Dracula from being anything of the sort. For example it is readily established that the Baron has the capability of metamorphasising into a bat. If this is the case then how in the name of Greek buggery could he ever have been kept shackled up as a prisoner in the first instance? Why did he not turn into a bat and fly off? It is also a tad too convenient that at a time when an evil vampire is on the prowl, Dr Van Helsing – the world most eminent authority on vampirism, just happens to be “passing through” the area.
If one can overlook these dopey, elementary flaws and contrivances though, it is safe to say that there are probably enough pluses here to warrant at least a viewing for followers of British horror cinema. Made at that idyllic time before Hammer’s period horror formula had become passé, The Brides Of Dracula positively swells with that heady gothic atmosphere Hammer used to achieve to effortlessly at their creative peak. In addition the eve-reliable Terence Fisher manages to commit to celluloid several top drawer moments of suspense. Van Helsing’s confrontation with the undead Baroness (after she has fell victim to her own son) is intensely memorable as is the excellently staged, fiery final battle between vampire and vampire hunter which takes place in a rather atmospheric old windmill. In a shocking twist Van Helsing is bitten by the Baron but succeeds in saving himself by cauterising the wound with a scorching blacksmiths iron (which raises even more questions). All the same such a powerhouse finale is more than welcome following a rather flat, dull and excessively talky middle third centring on the events at the academy. It should be noted that the ending is not however the conclusion that Hammer and in mind for the film. The original script called for the Baron to be obliterated by a swarm of bats but was forcibly altered when this proposed scene proved to be beyond the films budgetary limitations. This denouement was however, later revised and utilised for the finale of Hammer’s later, unrelated vampire yarn Kiss Of The Vampire (1963).
As contrived as his presence may be plot wise, Peter Cushing is typically excellent in his reprised role of Van Helsing and despite him not turning up until around the halfway point he is easily the star of the show, his commanding presence serving to steady the shaky narrative. Martita Hunt is also notably good as the Baroness Meinster who while initially sinister is turned by Hunt’s performance into a rather sympathetic character due to cruel fate inflicted upon her by her wicked son. By contrast however, Yvonne Monlaur makes for a bland and inconsequential female lead and David Peel despite looking the part makes for no more than a functional villain. Lacking the required charisma and screen presence Peel is no worthy successor to Lee and is an unconvincing match for Peter Cushing’s powerfully portrayed Van Helsing. Although having said that, it is difficult to really see how Lee’s Dracula could ever have been conceivably fitted into even the basic outline of this narrative, indicating that Sangster’s original screenplay may not have been his best to begin with.
Overall The Brides Of Dracula emerges as a slightly above average effort from Hammer’s golden era, which fails to live up to its reputation as a forgotten classic of the British horror genre. The whole exercise is eventually bungled somewhat due to continuity errors so basic that it is hard to believe that anyone could have took time to veto and vet the final script following Bryan and Percy’s last minute rewrites. For all its promise The Brides Of Dracula bears all the regrettable hallmarks of a pre-production rush job on monumental proportions. In its favour though, overlooking its elementary flaws, The Brides Of Dracula is a sufficiently satisfying example of its type benefiting from superb performances from Cushing and Hunt and enlivened by energetic direction from Fisher (the dull, stilted academy scenes aside). At the very least viewers are rewarded for their suspension of disbelief with a truly barnstorming conclusion and if nothing else The Brides Of Dracula marks a refreshing attempt for Hammer to do something different *(an alien concept for the studio in later years) even if their hand was forced by circumstance.
Also Try… Dracula (1958, Terence Fisher) / Kiss Of The Vampire / Dracula: Prince Of Darkness / Dracula Has Risen From The Grave / Scars Of Dracula / Lust For A Vampire.
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