Dracula (1958)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1958
Running Times: 77m (Germany - theatrical)/77m 58s (UK - video)/82m (UK - theatrical)/83m (USA - theatrical)
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: Technicolor
Ratio: 1.33:1 (negative ratio)     1.75:1 (intended ratio)
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Director: Terence Fisher

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Hammer Film Productions
Executive Producer: Michael Carreras
Producer: Anthony Hinds
Associate Producer: Anthony Nelson-Keys
Production Manager: Don Weeks

SCRIPT
Script: Jimmy Sangster
Novel: Bram Stoker

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Bob Lynn
Continuity: Doreen Dearnaley

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Jack Asher
Camera Operator: Len Harris
Stills: Tom Edwards (uncredited)
Sound Mix: RCA Sound System

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Supervising Editor: James Needs
Editor: Bill Lenny

MUSIC
Music: James Bernard
Conductor: John Hollingsworth

SOUND
Sound Recordist: Jock May
Sound System: RCA Sound System

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Make Up: Philip Leakey
Hair: Henry Montsash
Wardrobe: Molly Arbuthnot

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Sydney Pearson, Les Bowie (uncredited)

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Bernard Robinson
Art Director: Bernard Robinson

LOCATIONS
Locations: Black Park Country Park, Buckinghamshire, England, UK; Bray Studios, Berkshire, England, UK

CAST

Peter Cushing (Doctor Van Helsing)
Christopher Lee (Count Dracula)
Michael Gough (Arthur Holmwood)
Melissa Stribling (Mina Holmwood)
Carol Marsh (Lucy)
Olga Dickie (Gerda)
John Van Eyssen (Jonathan Harker)
Valerie Gaunt (vampire woman)
Janina Faye (Tania)
Barbara Archer (Inga)
Charles Lloyd Pack (Dr Seward)
George Merritt (policeman)
George Woodbridge (landlord)
George Benson (frontier official)
Miles Malleson (undertaker)
Geoffrey Bayldon (porter)
Paul Cole (lad)
Stedwell Fulcher (man in coach) *
Humphrey Kent (fat merchant) *
Guy Mills (coach driver) *
Dick Morgan (coach driver's companion) *
Judith Nelmes (woman in coach) *
William Sherwood (priest) *
John Mossman (hearse driver - uncredited)
* = scenes cut from US release print

Posing as a librarian, Jonathan Harker travels to the castle of Count Dracula in Transylvania hoping to destroy the vampire. But his mission fails when he himself is turned by the Count and his colleague, Doctor Van Helsing is forced to destroy him. Van Helsing travels to the town of Karlstadt where Harker's fiancé, Lucy, has been targeted by a vengeful Dracula...

The definitive screen Dracula make take considerable liberties with the original novel but it remains one of the key horror movies, one that consolidated Hammer's position in the global market and one which even 40 or more years later is still regarded as one of the finest of genre movies. Lee is stunning as a much more erotically charged Dracula than Lugosi could even have imagined while Cushing is the perfect foil as the crusading Van Helsing. Quite simply brilliant.

Spain
Theatrical Distributor: Hispamex

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Rank Organisation
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video (S036162)

USA
Theatrical Distributors: MCA/Universal Pictures (1958); Goldstone Film Enterprises (1963)
Video Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment Inc
Laserdisc Distributor: Warner Home Video (11499 (1992))

Finland
Rating: banned in 1958

Germany
Rating: 16

Norway
Rating: 16

UK
Rating: X (1958); 15 (1997)

USA
Rating: unrated

1959
Hugo Awards, USA
Best Dramatic Presentation - nominated

1958
May
8: USA - theatrical release

June
16: UK - theatrical release

1996
August
2: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer at the Barbican season
3: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer at the Barbican season
4: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer at the Barbican season
5: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer at the Barbican season
17: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer at the Barbican season
29: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer at the Barbican season

1997
February
27: UK - rated 15 by the BBFC (for video release)

October
16: France - shown at the Cherbourg-Octeville Festival of Irish and British Film

2000
May
1: UK - video release (Warner Home Video (S036162))

November
9: Iceland - theatrical release

2002
August
2: Greece - theatrical re-release

The chill of the tomb won't leave your blood for hours... after you come face-to-face with DRACULA!

The TERRIFYING lover who died - yet lived!

Don't dare see it alone!

Who Will Be His Bride Tonight?

Le cauchemar de Dracula - French title
Dracula il vampiro - Italian title
I Draculas klor - Swedish title
Horror Draculi - Polish title
Horror of Dracula - US title

SEQUELS
The Brides of Dracula (1960)
Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966)
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Scars of Dracula (1970)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974)

SEE ALSO
Aquí huele a muerto... (pues yo no he sido) (1989)
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
Dracula vs Frankenstein (1971)
Gebissen wird nur nachts (1970)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
The Magic Christian (1969)
Matinee (1993)
One More Time (1970)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Tempi duri per i vampiri (1959)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
100 Years of Horror (1996)
Fade to Black (1980)
Innocent Blood (1992)
The Many Faces of Christopher Lee (1996)
Peter Cushing: A One-Way Ticket to Hollywood (1989)

REFERENCES

PERIODICALS

Avant-Scene du Cinema no.160/161 (July/September 1975) pp.31-42, 59-75; 76 (France)
reprinted script; review

Classic Television no.5 (June/July 1998) pp.10-25 (UK)
illustrated synopsis, article

Dark Terrors no.16 (December 1998) pp.19-34) (UK)
illustrated production notes, review

Empire no.222 (December 2007) p.60 (UK)
illustrated review (by Alan Morrison)

Film Review February 1997 p.63 (UK)
note

Film Review April 1999 pp.80-85 (UK)
illustrated article

Filmfax no.61 (June/July 1997) pp.41, 42 (USA)
illustrated credits, review

The House That Hammer Built no.2 (April 1997) pp.66-83 (UK)
illustrated credits, synopsis, review

The House That Hammer Built no.10 (October 1998) pp.91-106 (UK)
illustrated article

The House That Hammer Built no.11 (February 1999) pp.137-176 (UK)
illustrated article, interview

Photon no.27 (1976) pp.22-35 (USA)
review

Sight and Sound vol.7 no.6 (June 1997) p.66 (UK)
illustrated review

book into film, Dracula, vampires, castles, remakes, coffins, crosses, vampire slayers

Last Updated: 25 April, 2010