COUNTESS DRACULA 1971

    Hammer's COUNTESS DRACULA has seemingly been one of those later efforts by the studio that's always had a bit of shaky reputation among the studio's fans, with taglines such as "boring" and "cheap looking" associated with it. Although marketed as vampire type movie (especially in the U.S. where Fox referenced blood drinking in its ad campaigns), it's actually of Hammer's excursions into historical type horror such as RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK - and like RASPUTIN does play up the horror elements in favor of historical fact.
    Based upon the story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory a 16th century Hungarian noblewoman who was accused of torturing and killing perhaps hundreds of young girls - including the oft repeated legend that she bathed in their blood to retain her youth (which would help tie her into the Dracula mythos and is what forms the basis for this Hammer film version). For many years this was unavailable on home video in the U.S. and thanks to some tantalizing stills of star Ingrid Pitt rising blood splattered out of her bathtub (which were oft repeated in several 1970's/80's horror magazines and books) it gained a reputation among young horror fans that perhaps made it invariably a letdown upon first viewing - probably seemingly at the time to play out like a costume drama with a bit of nudity and some blood thrown in.

    Much better then its somewhat ill-deserved reputation, hopefully Synapse's recently released blu-ray/DVD will help restore its standing amongst the Hammer folk. Filmed at Pinewood Studios it has a set design look unlike any other Hammer film and thanks to some left over sets from ANNA OF A THOUSAND DAYS it has a fairly sumptuous look for latter period Hammer (although Ingrid's bedroom/grotto looks like something from the Playboy mansion). In addition its helped immensely by excellent performances by its leads in the (very beautiful) form Of Ingrid Pitt (although sadly dubbed) and the always welcome presence of British character actor Nigel Green. We love Nigel Green around here and he sadly passed away soon after the release of COUNTESS DRACULA. Usually he played stern figures of British authority such as the heroic Colour Sgt. in ZULU (1964) or Gen. Wolseley in KHARTOM (1966) and even played a rather unlikely Hercules (but still highly entertaining one) in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963).

    The Polish born Ingrid Pitt had survived a Nazi concentration camp as a child and later escaped from the communist in Berlin by swimming across the river Spree. A much better actress then she was ever given credit for she had appeared in the rousing WWII adventure WHERE EAGLES DARE (1968) and later cemented her horror queen status in THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970) and THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1971), along with a part (most of which ended up being cut and subsequently lost) in the classic THE WICKER MAM from 1973.
    Pitt plays the aging & recently widowed Countess (here refereed to as Countess Elisabeth Nadasdy) who discovers after viciously slapping a young maid and having her blood splash upon her face discovers that bathing in the blood of virgins restores her youthful beauty. Finding the process only temporary she soon enlists the help of Captain Dobi (Greene) and her nurse Julie (Patience Collier) to help her procure local young girls. After an unsuccessful blood bath from a tavern wench she discovers that the blood of virginal women is required for the process to work (and plus requires naked sponge baths).
   Compounding her problems is the impending arrival of her daughter Ilona (played by a young and very beautiful Lesley-Anne Down) which the Countess solves by having the daughter kidnapped so that the elderly Elisabeth can pose as her and court the young Lt. Toth (Sandor Eles from THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN), plus keep all her late husbands inheritance for herself. The cast is rounded out by many familiar British faces including Peter Jeffery (Inspector Trout from DR. PHIBES) and Maurice Denham (THE DAY OF THE JACKAL) as a somewhat befuddled librarian.

   Pitt is really outstanding in this as she's able to invoke sympathy for a truly repellent character (in an early scene her coach brutally runs over a man and she ignores it) and does an excellent job portraying an older women who's intensely bitter that she is a no longer attractive. When she reverts back to her older persona you can't help but feel her anguish. If there is a drawback its perhaps at 34 years of age she was a bit to old to play the younger reincarnation of the Countess and the blu-ray does show-up the somewhat dodgy make-up effects on her old persona (which gets progressively uglier with each time back to her original look).
   Green as the loyal Capt. Dobi and the Countess's jilted lover (he's attracted to initially older Pitt) almost over shadows her as he stomps about throwing out some of the films best lines such as when a mother asks him the whereabouts of her missing daughter (who has become a victim of the Countess) and Greene jokingly replies "How should I know where she is, try the whorehouse !".

    Hungarian born director Peter Sasdy was one of later period Hammer's better directors, helming one of the outstanding entries in the Dracula cycle with 1970's TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA, along with 1971's excellent psychological horror HANDS OF THE RIPPER. As with his other works for Hammer COUNTESS DRACULA continues the common theme of his other films in that the sins of the elders come back to haunt the young which manifests itself in COUNTESS DRACULA's climax.
    Also with an excellent score by Harry Robinson and cinematography by Ken Talbot which all combined with Nigel Greene and a naked blood bathing Ingrid Pitt all add up to a bloody good time (especially with Synapse's beautiful blu-ray presentation). Pitt was enraged at the time when she found out her voice was dubbed and vowed never to work for Hammer or Sasdy again. Dinah Rigg was originally offered the lead part but declined because of the required nudity.

The real "Blood Countess" Countess Elizabeth Bathory de Ecsed 1560-1614

The Wicker Man - 1973

   Director Robin Hardy has posted some information over on the Studio Canal Facebook page concerning the upcoming Oct. blu ray release of his 1973 horror classic The Wicker Man. One of the truly great British horror films and featuring one of Christopher Lee's best performances, this is something to be very excited about.
   Edward Woodard plays a deeply religious police Sgt who travels to an island off the coast of Scotland to investigate the report of a missing child and finds himself face to face with the ancient pagan practices of the islanders (and a naked Britt Ekland). Lee plays the Lord of the island, plus there's also Ingrid Pitt who in her words at the time plays a "nymphomaniac librarian" (how 'bout that !) and a wonderful performance by Diane Cilento as the island's school teacher. Ekland plays Willow "the landlords daughter" and her then boyfriend Rod Stewart was reportedly (and as it turned out, most likely falsely) upset at her nudity in the film and this was played up in the films promotion.
   Although on the surface a simple plot, an extremely well written screenplay by Anthony Shaffer encourages multiple viewings as there's lots of strangle little things (and dialogue) going on here, which give hints to the film's powerful climax. Hardy and Shaffer did deep research into ancient pagan practices of the British Isles (in particular Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough). Also with an excellent score by Paul Giovanni (preformed by Magnet) consisting mainly of ancient British Isle folk music and period instruments.

     Sadly, The Wicker Man has had one of the more tragic distribution stories ever afforded a film. Hardy's original (and still somewhat compromised) cut ran 99 min and Lee claims that several important scenes were still missing. Roger Corman had expressed interest in distributing the film in America and a print was shipped off to him. In the the meantime the British distributor British Lion was being sold and the new owners were not happy with the finished product as they wanted a "happy ending" (which luckily did not come to pass). After viewing the print Corman suggested another 13 min be cut (Roger was always looking at a double feature for his films - hence everything had to come in below 90 min).
    He evidently passed on it but the new heads of the British studio took his suggestions and cut the film to 87 min with sequences re-arranged (which totally ruined the film's flow) and most of the nudity & sexual content gone. Afterward it was dumped on the lower half of a double bill with Don't Look Now for British audiences. Christopher Lee was ardent supporter of the film and called up several critics begging them to view the film and it recd. enthusiastic reviews but unfortunately faded into viewing obscurity.

     Over in America the film ended up at Warners, who did a small test market showing of it, then passed on it on to a small distributor named Abraxas in 1976. To their credit Abraxas was going to allow Hardy to try and re-assemble his cut, but all the footage had since been destroyed by the studio (allegedly dumped in a land fill and buried under the M3 Motorway). Since Corman's print was the only copy left of the "longish" cut a dupe was made and Hardy assembled a 95 min version. At the suggestion of Abraxas, Hardy left out the introductory footage on the mainland (which he was never too fond of anyways) and this version played in the U.S., with Cinefantastique magazine devoting an entire issue to it.

   StudioCanal of France (which now owned it) again attempted a full restoration in 2001, but by this time even Corman's print was nowhere to be found. Joe Dante recently said he had shipped the print off to Abraxas after they requested another copy and after their bankruptcy the print disappeared. ANOTHER new cut was assembled from a 1" tape master for the missing scenes, this time with the introductory footage put back in and this was released on DVD back in 2002.

   The big announcement from StudioCanal this week was that 35mm print of the 99 minute version had been found & Hardy was working on a restoration (yet again !) for a DVD/Blu release in Oct. (preceded by some U.K. theatrical showings in Sept). This will be Hardy's cut he did for Abraxas in '76, so more then likely some of the footage from the 2002 DVD will be missing (so hang on to those).
  Unfortunately Edward Woodard passed away in 2009 and Shaffer in 2001, but as Chris Lee and Robin Hardy are still with us, its always a good thing when a film can get a proper release with some of its principals around to enjoy it. A very unsettling film and perfect for Halloween viewing. Avoid at all costs the truly horrible 2006 remake - the less said about that the better.

Sound of Horror 1964

 
   This rather obscure 1964 B & W Spanish horror production gained some interest some years ago because of an early film appearance by future Jess Franco muse Soledad Miranda (Vampyros Lesbos & She Killed In Ecstasy 1970), in addition to it being Ingrid Pitt's (The Vampire Lover's 1970) film debut.

  While digging on mountain (using dynamite ?!) in Greece two archaeologists Dr. Pete Asilov (James Phillbrook) and Professor Andre (Arturo Fernandez) uncover a couple of petrified eggs in a cave. Not noticing that one cracks open and a reptile like creature emerges, then disappears. Later Andre's partner Dorman (Jose Bodalo) shows up with his girlfriend Sofia (Ingrid Pitt), his associate Strevos (Francisco Piquer)  and his driver Andre (Antonio Casas).  Dorman has half of a map then when matched up with the other half that Asilov shows that a treasure may be buried in a mountain. Later a mummified body (described as a "neanderthal man") is found along with some human bones. The group stays at a nearby villa with Andre's niece (Soledad Miranda) and an elderly housekeeper Calliope (Lola Gaos), who tells them about the ancient superstition of a monster guarding the mountain.
   While alone in the cave Strevos is attacked by an invisible monster and pretty graphically (for the time) killed. Soon the bodies began to pile up and the group realizes its being stalked by an invisible "dinosaur" thing.  Andre sacrifices himself while trying to seal the cave up with dynamite (Ahh..that's why they had it.) and the housekeeper is killed while fetching water at a well.  The premise of the movie does sound cheesy in a way (and it is), but it still seems to work in a rather odd/low budget way. The monster is never really seen except in some fleeting frame shots and at the end when its burned in a car, its seen in silhouette and a roar is heard throughout the movie as it approaches. The invisible concept was most likely done as a budget saving device, but there some kind of clever concepts used as a result of that. When axes are thrown at the creature and land with a thud, they hang in the air while the screaming roar is heard. At one point flour is spread on the ground to follow the monster's footsteps as they appear and there are some neat POV shots as it stalks thru the villa.  As an added plus Ingrid and Soledad  get to do a pretty cool go go dance together at one point.

    It's never really explained where the treasure came from (ancient Troy is mentioned at one point and then there's the "neanderthal" mummy ), and its not made clear if the monster is there to guard the treasure or if it just some invisible dinosaur.

   This appears to have played at some point as a double feature with Mario Bava's Kill Baby Kill (1966) - with a really ugly one sheet to promote it. The only available DVD that I know of is a budget release from Alpha that can usually be had for $5.00 or less. The transfer appears to be from a multi generation tape source (complete with VHS roll lines at the bottom of the screen).