MOVIES & MANIA score:
Countess Dracula is a 1971 British horror movie primarily based on the legends surrounding the “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Báthory. It’s in some ways atypical of Hammer’s canon, trying to broaden their output from Dracula and Frankenstein sequels. Filmed in 1970, it was launched in January 1971.
The movie was produced by Alexander Paal and directed by Peter Sasdy, each Hungarian émigrés working in England.
Plot:
In seventeenth century Hungary, Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy (Ingrid Pitt) and her mattress companion and steward, Captain Dobi (Nigel Inexperienced), are snubbed in a will on the expense of the younger and the too outdated to learn. The Countess takes it moderately higher than Dobi as she has not too long ago found the key to eternal youth, a fast tub within the blood of murdered younger ladies.
Alas, the fridge is empty of such commodities and the impact is disappointingly short-lasting, so she retains her maintain on Dobi while enlisting him to furnish her with the required native younger girls. Her rejuvenated younger self takes benefit but additional of the scenario and embarks on a sexual affair with simpering Lieutenant Toth (Sandor Elès), the son of a well-known basic who is raring to equally make his mark.
To remain in her youthful state, it begins to require ever extra victims and the path or cold corpses is starting to arouse suspicion. To throw locals off the scent, she assumes the id of her daughter, Ilona (Lesley-Anne Down) who has been absent for a while, squirrelled away by her mom in a hut within the forest, lest anybody discover it odd that they’re a surprisingly related age.
Nonetheless, the resident of the fortress library, Fabio (Maurice Denham), begins to suspect one thing dodgy is afoot, not least when he almost stumbles upon an unlucky assembly between native buxom harlot, Ziza (Andrea Lawrence), Toth and the Countess, an encounter which Ziza doesn’t fare effectively in.
Upon discovering that really, solely virgins delay the youthful look, but extra assaults happen however it’s all an excessive amount of for Fabio who realises he should inform Toth – alas, too sluggish and he meets his finish by the hands of Dobi who has been blackmailed into defending the Countess any manner he can.
A barely hurried marriage is organized between Toth and Elisabeth however lo’! Ilona makes a shock look. The congregation can solely stand aghast as Elisabeth’s ageing/marrying/slaying dilemma begins to unravel earlier than them…
Purchase Blu-ray: Amazon.co.uk
Audio commentary with Ingrid Pitt and horror specialists Kim Newman and Stephen Jones.
Unique Theatrical Trailer
Archive interview with Ingrid Pitt (Tonight, 1999, 6min)
50 Years of Hammer – information function in regards to the celebrations (Meridan TV, 1999, 2min)
Thriller episode: The place The Motion Is that includes Ingrid Pitt (60min). The entire collection can also be out there by Community
Conceptions of Homicide episode: Peter And Maria: a 1970 play about mass homicide with Nigel Inexperienced (25min)
Intensive picture galleries (New and in HD)
Commemorative booklet
Our evaluate:
A very unusual entry into Hammer’s canon, at a time when their star was nonetheless shining brightly. Enjoying moderately extra like a historic yarn (more-so than the likes of Rasputin) than a horror movie, not to mention a vampire movie, there may be a lot to admire right here however it’s in the end a disappointing, unsatisfying expertise.
Sasdy proved himself to be a director of some model for Hammer’s personal Fingers of the Ripper from the identical yr however Countess Dracula suffers from being overly ponderous, seemingly unable to determine on historic accuracy, flashes of flesh or geysers of blood – finally it panics however too late for a discernible decision.
These anticipating fangs, fog and fluttering bats will definitely be dissatisfied – this concentrates on the Countess’ plight, as she sees it, giving all of the characters an honest fist of stating their ethical standpoint however it turns into unnecessarily wordy and redundant comparatively early.
It’s troublesome to root for the Countess, killing and preening; Dobi reveals actual promise as a personality however is diminished to a stooge; Toth is a sap of the best order and wishes a superb telling off leaving solely a librarian and a neighborhood tart as characters of actual curiosity.
Although an unique imaginative and prescient and alluring mysterious each on-screen and in ‘real-life’, solely the actually courageous of coronary heart would name Ingrid Pitt a superb actress, although she is served effectively by agreeable ageing results courtesy of Tom Smith, who labored on a number of Hammer movies and afterward the likes of The Shining and Return of the Jedi.
Certainly, Pitt herself was a alternative for Diana Rigg who in the end declined the function. Sandor Elès (The Evil of Frankenstein) presumably makes the lower because of being Hungarian, while Nigel Inexperienced (The Masque of the Purple Dying) reveals actual promise however was sadly lower down on the age of solely forty-seven the next yr.
Maurice Denham primarily channels Merlin and Lesley Anne-Down in the end has little or no to do – way more attention-grabbing is ravishing Andrea Lawrence, who hopped, skipped and jumped from On the Buses to I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight and Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell.
The moderately unconvincing mountains of Japanese Europe are, in fact, Pinewood Studios, however the interiors are maybe the movie’s best asset, being leftover from the 1969 historic big-budget manufacturing Anne of the Thousand Days.
Although there’s a cheap quantity of flesh on show, the murders are comparatively few on-screen – that stated, there are some juicy moments involving a hair-pin and a properly judged scene of Elisabeth bathing which is extra wistful than gratuitous.
Harry Robertson’s rating performs effectively alongside the relative drama on-screen, a mixture of sturdy orchestral sweeps and using a Hungarian cymbalom (like a harpsichord) so as to add some flavours of the unknown atmosphere.
The dialogue is basically forgettable, other than some slutty banter and Ziza uttering a barely credible ‘juicy pair’ line however there’s something in regards to the movie that lingers within the reminiscence and, although not particularly successful, a mark of Hammer’s bravery that this appeared when it did.
Daz Lawrence, MOVIES & MANIA
” …intriguing for its emphasis on corruption and decay moderately than vampirism. Pitt is great because the baleful Countess.” Geoff Andrews, Time Out Movie Information e-book
Purchase: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
Solid and characters:
Ingrid Pitt … Countess Elisabeth
Nigel Inexperienced … Captain Dobi
Sandor Elès … Imre Toth
Maurice Denham … Grasp Fabio
Persistence Collier … Julie
Peter Jeffrey … Captain Balogh
Lesley-Anne Down … Ilona
Leon Lissek … Sergeant of Bailiffs
Jessie Evans … Rosa
Andrea Lawrence … Ziza
Susan Brodrick … Teri
Ian Set off … Clown
Nike Arrighi … Gypsy Lady
Peter Could … Janco
John Moore … Priest
Filming areas:
Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England
Technical specs:
1 hour 33 minutes
Eastmancolor
Side ratio: 1.66: 1
Audio: Mono
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