Thoughts on a 70's style Dracula

 One of the staples of Saturday evenings growing up, was the Channel 43 8 O'Clock Movie. Since the afternoons were taken up by Superhost's Saturday Mad Theater, you had a lot of movies that were aimed at younger audiences then, but once you got into the evening, more adult fare was aired. As a consequence, a lot of Hammer, Amicus, and Tigon films got screened on that later show. 

These were, during the 70s. among the most 'modern' things that were on TV at the time. And yet, because they were not domestically made, there was a certain exotic quality to them. There was something about them that seemed not as polished as the American films at the time.

Its odd that we look back and imagine Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing always opposing each other in the Dracula films, when it didn't really happen all that often. They were in Horror of Dracula (1958), which was the first, and they were in two later installments, Dracula AD 1972 (1972) and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). However, most of the time, Lee's Dracula had other antagonists beyond Cushing's Van Helsing. Cushing's Van Helsing showed up in several of vampire films that didn't involve Dracula per se... such as Brides of Dracula (1960) and The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1974). Sometimes it wasn't even the same Van Helsing, as his last two appearances he plays "Loirmer Van Helsing" the grandson of the one from the previous films. And obviously, they appeared together in many other films, including the likes of Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Mummy (1959), The Gorgon (1964), Horror Express (1972), and various anthology movies from Amicus Films.

Their last pairing in the Dracula series was The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), and I have to admit, when I was younger, this one never appealed to me. It was an odd entry in the series, but looking back on it, and rewatching it with my more adult eyes, I can appreciate it more for what they were trying to do.

This was the dying days of Hammer Studios. By the mid-1970s, they were casting about, looking for alternative ways to take their properties into the future. You start seeing alternative and experimental properties, such as Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter (1974) or The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1974). The previous year had brought Dracula forward in time to the 1970s, in Dracula AD 1972 in an attempt to make the Dracula series more relevant to the modern audience, and its not entirely successful, but you can see them try to marry the gothic sensibilities of the previous Dracula films with the 'Swinging London' of the early 70s. 

But having brought Dracula to the 70s, they didn't really know what to do with him until The Satanic Rites of Dracula, but what they did was combine together the world of the vampire with the world of James Bond. 

And why not?

In the earlier entries in the Dracula series, particularly Brides of Dracula, they treated vampirism not as a curse, or as a virus, but as a cult. The vampires are treated almost like some sort of 19th Century organized crime family, which already gives them a parallel to groups like SPECTRE in the Bond series. The present day roleplaying game Night's Black Agents, written by Ken Hite and published by Pelgrane Press plays with this idea too. 

Dracula doesn't appear in the film for quite a long time. But his presence is felt almost from the start. We have a British agent making a daring escape from imprisonment and making his way back to his superiors, just before dying of his injuries. He warns them of a satanic cult, which 4 prominent public figures have joined; a government minister, a military general, a prominent scientist, and a peer. One clever things that I can appreciate is that this agent has surreptitiously taken pictures of each person as they entered the house where the cult meets... but the fifth photo is an empty doorway. This confuses the superiors who wonder if her took it by mistake, but it cleverly sets up the presence of Dracula without actually showing him this early in the film. Why? Vampires don't appear on film, of course. They spell this out later in the movie, but its a great and subtle way to introduce the villain without showing him. 

The story is a bit.... odd. However, it fits in that sort of Bond villain way. Dracula is working with these people, especially the scientist, to develop a particularly deadly strain of plague which he is planning on releasing to wipe out humanity. Which isn't the best idea for a vampire who needs blood. And to its credit, Van Helsing points this out to him. 

Peter Cushing, by this point, was quite old, and wasn't as dynamic as he had been in 1958, but still managed to command the scene with his presence. Most of the action was taken on by Michael Coles as Inspector Murray, and Joanna Lumley as Jessica Van Helsing. Christopher Lee actually gives Dracula a bit of subtle humor in this film, unlike his near silent performances in some of the other films in the series. The alias Dracula assumes, of industrialist D. D. Denham, is portrayed with an Eastern European accent which Lee has claimed was an homage to Bela Lugosi. 

It does come across as a bit strange that Dracula is running a Satanic cult. However, it appears to be all window-dressing. The "sacrifices" are all young ladies who have already been turned into vampires... thus giving the appearance that they "heal" from mortal wounds. This seems to be done to convince the cult members of the power "D. D. Denham" wields. But it seems almost overkill. There is also a sequence in which one of Dracula's henchmen, wearing a sheepskin vest and riding a motorcycle, beats up, kidnaps, or kills anyone who happens to get close to the cult. Who this person is is never really explained much... he may just be a hanger-on. But he also takes out the main government operatives in the film with a sniper rifle. Its rather shocking to see two people who had, until this point, been main characters, killed off cavalierly by an underling. 

There is a young Joanna Lumley here, playing Jessica Van Helsing. Jessica had appeared in Dracula AD 1972 portrayed by Stephanie Beacham. Lumley plays Jessica as somewhat older and wiser than she was in the previous film, and yet, she is STILL a victim in this, selected by Dracula in the end to be his new 'bride'. While they make Jessica a bit more independent, she still requires rescue by men in the cast. It is still quite early in Lumley's career, and her more iconic performances in The New Avengers, Sapphire and Steel, and of course, Absolutely Fabulous were still years in the future.

It might have been interesting to see the series develop into a more James Bond-esque series, with Dracula in the modern era becoming a supernatural version of Blofeld. Jessica and Inspector Murray could have become a sort of Steed and Mrs Peel facing off against occult threats. This film could have been the springboard for it had Hammer continued much further. 

Vampires only appear twice more in Hammer Films during this era. Both in 1974; Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires and Captain Kronos; Vampire Hunter both of which served to expand the Hammer folklore of vampires beyond the Transylvanian model and which would have given an expansive rogues gallery to a sort of Van Helsing led government ministry had they continued this idea. The problem was, people were tired of vampires during this time. This was the era of the Exorcist, the Omen, the living dead, and more modern forms of horror, and even in the modern day, Hammer films still retained a sort of very black and white, gothic sort of morality that didn't fit well with the younger audiences at the time. But we are decades from this sort of 'shared universe'.

Quick Reviews:

The Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) - An odd little attempt to do something different with the Mummy Genre from director Edward L. Cahn and Screenwriter Jerome Bixby (Bixby would pen several episodes of the original Star Trek and the Twilight Zone). Starring Richard Anderson (who later went on to play Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man series) it involved the discovery of the body of a petrified gladiator in Pompeii who returned to life and killed those who robbed his treasure and to play out the story of his original death again in modern times. Yes, I know there are no actual petrified bodies in Pompeii, they were plaster casts, but this film doesn't worry too much about that... or much else, as the date of the events changes from June 1 to August 24th inexplicably. Still, its not a bad little film, but not especially memorable. The monster, Quintillus, looks pretty decent.

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) - ALSO from director Edward L. Cahn and screenwriter Jerome Bixby, this film was released on a Double Bill with The Curse of the Faceless Man. This is a straight up science fiction adventure, the story of which may feel.... familiar... to modern audiences. The crew of a rocket go to Mars in order to respond to a distress signal, and pick up the sole survivor of the previous Mars mission.... as well as an alien stowaway who begins picking the crew off one by one. The crew even hunt for it through the ventilation ducts of their ship. If it sounds a bit like the movie Alien (1979) you would not be considered wrong. This seems to have been something of an inspiration for the later film. Its a surprisingly tense film, and well shot, despite the cavalier attitude the crew have about using their guns and grenades inside their fragile spacecraft. The Monster (IT), it played by veteran stuntman Ray "Crash" Corrigan in his last onscreen role (per IMDB). Corrigan starred in the Republic Serial The Undersea Kingdom and there is a better than even chance that if a film or a short featured a man in a gorilla suit, its Corrigan in there. (For example, he is in the suit in the Three Stooges short Dizzy Detectives.

Island of the Burning Damned (1967) - This is an odd little science fiction film from Planet Films, and starring Christopher Lee, Patrick Allen, with a Guest Star of Peter Cushing... Directed by Terrance Fisher... What could go wrong? Whats that? "Additional Scenes by Pip and Jane Baker?" oh, crap... For those of you who don't know That pair of writers is responsible for some of the worst Dr Who stories ever. Moving on  though, this isn't a TERRIBLE film, but it is sort of convoluted. An Island off the north of Britain is experiencing a heat wave in the middle of winter, and Christopher Lee thinks its Aliens that are responsible. One by one, the islanders are roasted alive by the blobby invaders for reasons that are murky at best. I spent years looking for this film, and its its because its named at least 3 different things: Night of the Big Heat, Island of the Burning Damned, and because it got a release on US Television, Island of the Burning Doomed. It also doesn't help that it is somewhat similar to another film called Island of Terror which also stared Peter Cushing and involved Blobby monsters...

Island of Terror (1966) - This film, like the previous one, involved Peter Cushing on an island off Britain where blobby monsters are attacking and killing people. Unlike Island of the Burning Damned, the creatures here, called Silicates, liquify bones and suck them out of people, leaving behind collapsed sacks of skin. Which is sort of a really gross thing. This is a better film than Island of the Burning Damned, and has a tighter, more coherent, if somewhat far-fetched, story. It lacks for the presence of Christopher Lee, but Cushing more than makes up for it on his own.

Curse of the Living Corpse (1964) - A Dreary little thriller that would be long forgotten if it was not that this was the screen debut of Academy Award Nominee Roy Scheider.... well, everyone has to start somewhere. Apparently he got the role after his co-star Candace Hilligoss (Carnival of Souls (1962)) recommended him to the director, Del Tenney. The story is a standard Old Dark House type plot. A family patriarch dies, and leaves stipulations in his will about who can claim it, and his family argue over it while he apparently comes back from the dead to kill them all one by one. Most of the actors are forgettable, and there does not seem to be much in the way of continuity. SPOILER: Roy Scheider's character turns out to be the killer... which makes little sense in the course of the film, as we are treated to several closeups of the killer's face, and his very very light blue eyes.... and Roy Scheider has very dark brown eyes, so it obviously wasn't him running around in costume killing folks. But...  

Ship of Monsters (1960) - A peculiar Mexican Science Fiction Comedy Western Musical.... yes, did you get all that? Actually a pretty fun film, with some unexpectedly modern jokes in it (For example, the hero, upon meeting the two beautiful alien women, attempts to ascertain if they are married, have boyfriends or "swing the other way"! Wow... 1960, folks!) The robot in the film is the spitting image of Bender from Futurama. This was geared to kids, but had enough jokes aimed at adults to entertain everyone. Mexican films wore their bad special effects like a badge of honor, and this is no exception. Seriously, give it a watch... its silly fun, and you won't regret it.

War Gods of the Deep (1965) - Also known as City in the Sea, this film attempts to capitalize on the popularity of several other cinema trends from the 1960s; Edgar Allen Poe films and Jules Verne style Adventure films. With Vincent Price overacting charmingly as 'The Captain", Tab Hunter as "Ben" the stolid hero, and David Tomlinson as "Harold Tuffnell-Jones" the witty comic relief, you have the core of a fun movie. Tomlinson's obsession with his rooster Herbert brought to mind Gertrude the goose in Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) but lead to at least one hysterically funny scene with Vincent Price catching a glimpse of Herbert with a pointed finger and a hungry "Chicken!" shout. Further, this film was directed by Jacques Tourneur and LOOKS stunning. It also helps that there is stock footage cut in from Ishiro Honda's Atragon (1963). The end result is an interesting mashup of concepts from Poe and Verne, without really being either of them. 

Railway Terrors....

 

Horror Express (1972)

I don't recall seeing this film when I was young, but it is exactly the sort of movie I would have sought out on TV. Horror Express is a lot of fun in a horror movie sort of way. And how can you not love this film? It has Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, but it has an additional bonus of a fantastically overacting Telly Savalas. The story is a bit inspired by John W Campbell's 'Who Goes There?' which inspired both The Thing From Another World in 1951, and John Carpenter's The Thing in 1982, and the more poorly received prequel/remake also called The Thing in 2011. Its a bit inspired by Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. 

The basics of the story are, that, in 1906, Christopher Lee's character of Professor Sir Alexander Saxton has discovered a fossil 'missing link'' in a cave in Manchuria China, and he boxes it up to take back to London with him. In order to get back, he needs to board the Trans-Siberian Railroad back to Moscow (and presumably from there to London.) Lee encounters Peter Cushing's Dr. Wells at the station as well, which sets up a bit of a friendly rivalry between them. 

Over the course of the film, it becomes clear that the central protagonist is Lee, and Cushing, while given a number of amusing lines, is clearly a supporting character, and given only a few things to do. There is a reason for this, which is part of a touching behind the scenes story. 

Cushing had lost his wife some months before this film started filming. When he arrived in Spain for the film, he immediately told the producer he didn't feel up to performing, and was considering dropping out of the project. Lee actually called him up, and spoke to him kindly, and reminded him of all the fun they had on previous film shoots. He convinced Cushing to continue with the film... but it does seem that they understood and gave Cushing 'light duty' in the movie. His character, Dr Wells, is clearly as intelligent as Lee's Saxton, but is somewhat more underhanded than Saxton. The initial scene between the two of them sets up their differences. When the ticket agent refuses to give them berths on the train, Cushing merely turns on the charm and offers up a considerable bribe to the agent to secure his tickets. Lee looks on this somewhat disparagingly, and then goes his own route, which is pushing the ticket agents things off his desk and trying to intimidate him.... which ends up being backed up by local soldiers presenting themselves to him "to assist him in any way he needs." Wells is the slightly lazy, slightly underhanded sort, Saxton is the man of action. 

I have seen this film a number of times, but this viewing was on a remastered version making it the clearest version I have yet seen. And this viewing, I noticed something new. The story is tightly constructed, and I was amazed at the way they played with the side characters. No part is wasted, no part is a throwaway. Everyone introduced serves a purpose. The conductor. The Inspector. The Count and Countess. The Monk. The Engineer. The American Woman. The bacteriologist. The spy. The thief. The Baggage Clerk. ALL of them fill a role in the actual story, and not just window-dressing. 

The monster kills the thief and learns how to open locks. It kills the baggage man and learns the layout of the train. It kills the spy and learns about the experimental steel. It kills the engineer to learn about the technological capabilities of the human race. Each becomes a logical step. The bacteriologist is killed to reveal the witnesses to the images in the creature's eye. The random American woman at first is a dinner companion of the engineer, and then later is the witness to the engineer's death, and then finally become the woman who attracts the lascivious attentions of Telly Savalas's Captain Kazan. 

Maybe I'm used to other films of the era, which tend to use bit parts more cavalierly. Often, in say, Hammer films, the minor roles are there basically to react to the story. Michael Ripper's characters are there to tell you what you already know... that the creepy fellow that moved into the house is a foreigner who imports Egyptian antiques, or the the villagers never visit Dracula's castle, or that its foolish to go outside at night. There may be extras who are there for Dracula to kill in order to show how dangerous he is, or random villagers to cower in fear or act suspicious of whatever Baron Frankenstein is up to,,, but they never really have an impact of the story. At least, not in the way that they do here. Every one person who has a line of dialogue in Horror Express interacts organically with the story. They could easily have switched the American woman out and had three separate women in all those scenes, and in other films, they very much might have done that. This 'economy of supporting characters' works well with a scenario set on a train, where you SHOULD be limited in the number of available people.

The movie also plays with ideas of faith vs science, but in fairness, it never really gives faith a fair shake. The monk SHOULD represent Faith, but instead, very quickly flips from faith in God to faith what he perceives as the Devil. He is in the employ of the Count and Countess, who don't seem to value his input very much, and who delight in tormenting him by deliberately IGNORING his advice. The Countess even playfully asks not only her husband but the Monk which dress she should wear to impress Saxton (and it seems implied that she is wearing it in an attempt to seduce him to a degree... the husband is amused by this, and seems to treat it as a game... the monk is angered and horrified.) Later however, The Countess herself echoes a sentiment of faith when Saxton mentions Evolution, and she says "I've heard of evolution... it is immoral!" however, this is brushed aside easily by Saxton who just responds with "It is a fact, and facts are neither moral or immoral." There is a lot of this sort of dismissal that goes on in this film... later when the monk offers himself up to the Creature, who has thus far only been assimilating people useful to him, the creature itself dismisses him by saying essentially "You have nothing of value in your head, why would I want you?" 

The film is not without its problems and plot holes. How, for example, are people in the train sending messages outside the train about whats happening? Why does Moscow get involved and order the train derailed? (Which, in itself is an error, since the Capitol of Russia in 1906 was St Petersburg.) Why, when the creature transfers its mind into Inspector Mirov, does he acquire the hand of the creature as well? Why is Telly Savalas chewing the scenery like it is made of candy? Who cares.. its a tremendously fun ride.