"DRACULA" (1958)

Starring

Peter Cushing

Michael Gough

Melissa Stribling

Christopher Lee

Directed by Terence Fisher

78 minutes

"Dracula" (or "Horror of Dracula" for those of you more familiar with its US title, used on the DVD print) begins with some loud dramatic music being belted out over the names of some of the best actors in the horror business, tantalisingly displayed in curvy red "serious" lettering. Yes, Hammer knew how to open a good film, and, despite being a bit slow in places, a good film is precisely what "Dracula" is.

I have it on good authority that the plot of this film almost completely disregards Bram Stoker’s original story, which unfortunately I have yet to read – it’s one of those things on my "to do list" which I’ll probably get round to doing just before retiring from the job I haven’t got yet – with lots of new twists and character interaction made up by scriptwriter Jimmy Sangster. To be honest, whatever the case, it scarcely matters, as what we get is good enough to stand on its own merits. The only bit that I know is definitely missing in comparison to the original book is a bit where Dracula arrives on the shores of wherever-it-is in the form of a huge black hound. This however is refuted by Van Helsing himself later in the film, who replies to Michael Gough’s assertions that vampires can turn into bats and wolves with a confident "That’s a common fallacy."

Indeed, you can put away some of your expectations about the vampire film stereotype here; Hammer was always good at subverting some expectations (which is why only half of the "Frankenstein" series actually had monsters in them, most focussing on Cushing’s Dr. Frankenstein himself). Dracula at no point in this film turns into a bat, and he even slaps his own vampire ladyfriend about at the beginning, rather than entertaining the prospect of sharing a good meal with her; no unholy alliances going on here, chaps. However, the rest of it - stakes, crucifixes, death by sunlight etc. - are all correct and present. Good thing too.

The film opens with an extended prologue involving "dashing" looking sort Jonathan Harker (played by John Van Eyssen, if that name means anything to you) arriving at Castle Dracula, narrating his own diary, and hoping to land the job of librarian, strangely never wondering why the castle has no other members of staff. Once there he finds a letter written from Count Dracula himself asking him to wait for his arrival, and so he helps himself to the cold collation laid out on the table and chucks a few logs on the fire. He soon finds himself with company in the beautiful form of Valerie Gaunt, who begs him to help her get away from the castle. Seeing something over his shoulder, she scampers away, and Harker slowly rotates on the spot to see Dracula standing at the top of the stairs, framed in a doorway and accompanied by a particularly loud sting of music.

Christopher Lee’s Dracula is a curious character, in that he’s so instantly memorable despite having all of his lines confined to the first ten minutes and only appearing intermittently throughout the rest of the film. He was obviously popular though as he returned time and time again to play the part for Hammer films, in sequels I have yet to see (I hear one has him whipping Patrick Troughton, the fiend). It’s not difficult to see why; despite doing very little, Lee still looks awfully menacing, and just has that towering presence necessary in making Dracula as powerful a foe as possible. The fact that he’s so terribly genteel and the perfect host at the beginning successfully wrong-foots you from the off, meaning that his sudden return, in a whacking great close up with bulging eyes and bloody fangs a-go-go, is doubly shocking. Or hilarious, it depends on your viewing tastes. I have to say I was laughing, but, y’know, I’m sure a 1950s audience would have been gasping in horror. I’m just a cynical teenaged reviewer with a big collection of old films, what do I know?

It’s interesting actually that Christopher Lee, though a good actor at times, succeeding in making even the most leaden dialogue sound exciting and dramatic, could never actually play a casual character. His attempts at playing a normal bloke in films such as "Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors" or "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and the like are hilarious, mainly because he can never get rid of his "I’m orally secreting marbles" expression, and just looks as though he’s either appalled at what’s going on or just couldn’t give a certain-wrist-flexing-hand-gesture (or "toss" for those of you less excruciatingly uptight than I am). Luckily, Dracula’s meant to look a bit shifty, so he’s absolutely perfect here.

Anyway, back to the plot. Harker is shown to his room by Dracula, and then proceeds to write another passage in his diary, dictating his wish to bump off his new boss and rid the world of his "reign of terror". Quite how he knows anything about him I don’t know, nor do I know why, if he’s hoping to kill him off and leave soon anyway, he lays out all his personal belongings on the writing desk. Cretin.

After an encounter with Valerie Gaunt leaves him with a pain in the neck (women, eh? Ha ha ha. Or something) and Dracula gives him a bashing too for his troubles, Harker realises it’s only a matter of time before he turns into a vampire himself. That afternoon, he goes down into the crypt with some stakes, approaches the sleeping form of Dracula, looms above him with an intent expression on his face, and goes for the other one instead, the silly berk. Having staked Dracula’s bit of crumpet, he then looks distraught and wastes precisely enough time for Dracula to wake up and leg it. By the time Harker decides to actually do what he set out to do in the first place, he soon finds things haven’t gone precisely to plan as he backs away from Dracula’s intimidating form, framed in a doorway. Again.

The plot proper begins about now, with Peter Cushing’s Van Helsing arriving in the village pub to a typical frosty reception from the patrons and landlord (played, as usual, by George Woodbridge). When a serving girl takes a shine to him and hands him Harker’s diary that she found outside the castle some weeks ago, a race against time begins, which, if lost, will result in the deaths of… erm, three people. If that. But Cushing looks determined, and runs off to begin his vampire hunting, staking Harker, his best mate, before finding Michael Gough to tell him about it.

Cushing, as usual, is just pure class, and it’s surprising that he only played Van Helsing a few more times in his career – I was under the impression it was a regular film role for him, but it doesn’t appear to be so. Still, we have this performance to cherish, Cushing doing what he does best – lending gravitas to the, occasionally silly, proceedings, and treating it all deadly seriously. That’s why Cushing is one of the best actors there ever was, and m'ladyfriend will back me up on this, being a Cushing fan herself – Cushing always gives his 100% and never camps it up or overplays it, he’s always serious and utterly, utterly believable, even when appearing in dross like "The Uncanny" (in which he desperately tries to convince the audience that their cats will take over the world). We also have the aforementioned Michael Gough, probably more known to "Doctor Who" fans as "The Celestial Toymaker". Though slightly camper than Cushing, with some flailing and mournful looks straight out of a production of the Bard, he’s top notch as well, and it’s a joy to see him and Cushing working together. The two of them, along with Christopher Lee, would work together again in "Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors", an unfortunately less enjoyable feature, though one that admittedly has its good moments.

In fact, the cast, for a Hammer horror, are all rather good, with a typically befuddled old Miles Malleson stealing the entire film (as he regularly does) in a 40 second cameo as an undertaker ("An old man came to pay his respects to his departed father and tripped on these steps, hah hah hah!") Even the obligatory small child in this is good. Oh, and look out for a classy Geoffrey Bayldon cameo. The only person to really let the side down is Carol Marsh as Lucy, who does a bit too much face pulling for my liking.

As for the rest of the film, it trots along nicely, occasionally feeling a bit padded despite being short, which is to its detriment – with Dracula in the background for much of it, there doesn’t seem to be much for Van Helsing to really do besides comfort people and suggest things. There’s a fair bit of unintentional comedy going on towards the end though, with Dracula evading Van Helsing via the cunning method of, erm, hiding behind a door, albeit giving himself away when he leaps out, waves his arms around and goes "Ah ha ha ha!" The finale seems to consist of lots of patented Chris and Cushing silly running about, and a bit with a comedy old man and his broken tollbooth. There’s something for everybody here, and it must be said that the final confrontation is rather gripping. All that’s left to be mentioned is the music, which is loud, overblown, and threatens to send up the action at every opportunity, and quite often does. It’s comforting in a way, really; a Hammer horror without intrusive music just wouldn’t be a Hammer horror.

Despite the occasional dull patches, "Dracula" is a thoroughly entertaining 78 minutes, with some great performances and even some rather gory stakings that’ll have you going "Cor blimey, heh heh!" like I did. I hope. If not, I’ll feel dreadfully silly. Watch it and see for yourself; you won’t be disappointed.

Even the fangs look real.

Score out of Ten