The Brides of Dracula
Encyclopedia
- For the characters from the novel, see Brides of DraculaBrides of DraculaThe Brides of Dracula are characters in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. They are three seductive female vampire "sisters" who reside with Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania, where they entrance male humans with their beauty and charm, and then proceed to feed upon them...
.
The Brides of Dracula is a 1960 British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Hammer Horror film directed by Terence Fisher
Terence Fisher
Terence Fisher was a film director who worked for Hammer Films. He was born in Maida Vale, a district of London, England.Fisher was one of the most prominent horror directors of the second half of the 20th century...
. It stars Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
as Van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
; Yvonne Monlaur
Yvonne Monlaur
Yvonne Monlaur is a retired French film actress of the late 1950s and 1960s best known for her roles in the Hammer horror films.Her father's a Russian count; her mother's a ballet dancer....
as Marianne Danielle; Andrée Melly
Andrée Melly
Andrée Melly is an English actress.She appeared in many British films, including the 1954 comedy The Belles of St Trinian's and the 1960 Hammer Horror film The Brides of Dracula...
as her roommate, Gina; Marie Devereux; David Peel
David Peel (actor)
David Peel was a British film and television actor.He was born in London on June 19, 1920. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and was a minor player in a few films. In 1960, he was cast in the starring role of Baron Meinster in Hammer Film Productions The Brides of Dracula...
as Baron Meinster, a disciple of Count Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
; and Martita Hunt
Martita Hunt
Martita Hunt was an English theatre and film actress.-Early life:Hunt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 January 1900 to British parents Alfred and Marta Hunt...
as his mother.
It is a sequel to Hammer's original Dracula
Dracula (1958 film)
Dracula, also known as Horror of Dracula in the United States, is a 1958 British horror film. It is the first in the series of Hammer Horror films inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Carol Marsh, Melissa Stribling and...
(USA: Horror of Dracula) (1958). Alternative working titles were Dracula 2 and Disciple Of Dracula. Dracula does not appear in the film (Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
would reprise his role in the 1966 Dracula: Prince of Darkness
Dracula: Prince of Darkness
Dracula: Prince of Darkness is a 1966 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Studios. The film was photographed in Techniscope by Michael Reed, designed by Bernard Robinson and scored by James Bernard.-Plot:...
) and is mentioned only twice, once in the prologue, once by Van Helsing.
Shooting began for The Brides of Dracula on 16 January 1960 at Bray Studios
Bray Studios (UK)
Bray Studios is a film and television facility at Bray, near Windsor, Berkshire, England. The films Alien and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were shot there...
. It premièred at the Odeon
Odeon Cinemas
Odeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas, one of the largest in Europe. It is owned by Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group whose ultimate parent is Terra Firma Capital Partners.-History:Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch...
, Marble Arch on 6 July 1960.
Opening Sequence
The film begins with a shot of a gloomy wood (Black ParkBlack Park
Black Park is a Country Park in Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England to the north of the A412 road between Slough and Iver Heath. It is managed by Buckinghamshire County Council...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
) as a voice-over intones:
- "TransylvaniaTransylvaniaTransylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, land of dark forests, dread mountains and black unfathomed lakes, still the home of magic and devilry as the nineteenth century draws to its close. Count Dracula, monarch of all vampires is dead but his disciples live on to spread the cult and corrupt the world"
Plot
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France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
schoolteacher from Paris en route to take up a position in Transylvania, is abandoned in a village by her coach driver. At the local inn, she ignores the warnings of the locals and accepts the offer of Baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
ess Meinster to spend the night at her castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
.
At the castle, she sees the Baroness's handsome son, whom she is told is insane and kept confined (his leg is chained). When she sneaks to meet him, he says his mother usurped his rightful lands and pleads for her to help. She agrees, and steals the key to his chain from the Baroness' bedroom. Upon discovery of this, the Baroness is horrified; yet when her son appears, she obeys him and goes into the next room. Later, the servant Greta (who has taken care of the Baron since he was a baby) goes into hysterics. She forces Marianne to look at the Baroness' body, and the puncture marks in her throat. Marianne flees into the night. She is found, exhausted, by Dr. Van Helsing. She doesn't remember all that has happened, nor is she familiar when asked with the words "undead" or "vampirism." He escorts her to the school where she's to be employed.
When Van Helsing reaches the village inn, he finds there is a funeral in progress. A young girl has been found dead in the woods with wounds upon her throat. He contacts Father Stepnik, who turns out to have asked the expert on vampirism to come here. Father Stepnik has suspicions about the castle and the Baroness. That night, Baron Meinster's first victim rises from her grave, aided by Greta, as witnessed by Van Helsing and the priest. Van Helsing goes to the castle and discovers the Baroness has now risen as a vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
, full of self-loathing and guilt. After sunrise the next morning, he "releases" her with a wooden stake.
The Baron, meanwhile, visits Marianne at the school and asks her to marry him. She accepts, much to the good-natured envy of her roommate Gina. Once Gina is alone, however, Baron Meinster appears and consumes Gina's blood. When Van Helsing comes for a visit the next day, he finds the school in a small uproar over Gina's death. Van Helsing gives instructions about the body — to be kept away from the school and with people watching it until he returns. As it happens, Marianne is alone with the coffin at sunset. In a scene derived from M. R. James' "Count Magnus", the locks on the coffin fall off (without unlocking), and Gina rises. She talks soothingly to a terrified Marianne, asking forgiveness for "letting him love me," and asking to kiss her. She also reveals the whereabouts of the Baron, who is hiding at the old mill.
Van Helsing discovers the body of the stablekeeper, Severin, and enters the stable just in time to see Gina escaping. Marianne doesn't want to believe the Baron is a vampire, but she does tell Van Helsing what he needs to know. The vampire hunter
Vampire hunter
A vampire hunter or vampire slayer is a character in folklore and fiction who specializes in finding and destroying vampires, and sometimes other supernatural creatures....
goes to the old mill and is confronted by both of Meinster's "Brides"
Brides of Dracula
The Brides of Dracula are characters in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. They are three seductive female vampire "sisters" who reside with Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania, where they entrance male humans with their beauty and charm, and then proceed to feed upon them...
as well as Greta—who, as a human, isn't repelled by the cross. Greta is killed in a fall but the cross falls into the well below the mill and is now out of Van Helsing's reach as the Baron arrives, brandishing a length of chain. In the fight that follows, the Baron bites Van Helsing and leaves him. When Van Helsing wakes, he realizes what has happened. He heats a metal tool in a brazier until it is red-hot, then cauterize
Cauterize
Cauterize was an alternative rock band from Canada, active from 1995 to 2007.In 2003, Cauterize’s first single Something Beautiful was released, with its only music video, was broadcast on the web site muchloud.com...
s his throat wound and pours holy water
Holy water
Holy water is water that, in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Oriental Orthodoxy, and some other churches, has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose of baptism, the blessing of persons, places, and objects; or as a means of repelling evil.The use for baptism and...
on it to purify it; the wounds immediately disappear.
Baron Meinster, meanwhile, goes to Marianne and forces her to come with him to the old mill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
. He intends to bite and turn her into a vampire in front of Van Helsing. Van Helsing throws holy water into the Baron's face, which sears him like acid. Meinster kicks over the brazier of hot coals, starting a fire. While the Baron flees outside, Van Helsing takes Marianne up into the mill, then out via the huge sails, which he moves to form the shadow a gigantic cross
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
. The shadows falls on Baron Meinster, who is killed by it, and Meinster's vampire brides die in the fire.
Cast
- Peter CushingPeter CushingPeter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
(Doctor Van Helsing) - Martita HuntMartita HuntMartita Hunt was an English theatre and film actress.-Early life:Hunt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 January 1900 to British parents Alfred and Marta Hunt...
(Baroness Meinster) - Freda JacksonFreda JacksonFreda Maud Jackson was an English stage actress who also worked in film and TV. Born in Nottingham, she was famous for her stage role as the cruel landlady Mrs. Voray in the play No Room at the Inn in the mid-1940s; she appeared in the film adaptation of 1948...
(Greta) - Yvonne MonlaurYvonne MonlaurYvonne Monlaur is a retired French film actress of the late 1950s and 1960s best known for her roles in the Hammer horror films.Her father's a Russian count; her mother's a ballet dancer....
(Marianne) - David PeelDavid Peel (actor)David Peel was a British film and television actor.He was born in London on June 19, 1920. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and was a minor player in a few films. In 1960, he was cast in the starring role of Baron Meinster in Hammer Film Productions The Brides of Dracula...
(Baron Meinster) - Miles MallesonMiles MallesonWilliam Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, particularly known for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the...
(Dr. Tobler) - Henry OscarHenry OscarHenry Oscar was an English stage and film actor.Born as Henry Wale, he changed his name and began acting in 1911 and appeared in a wide range of films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much , Fire Over England , The Four Feathers , Hatter's Castle ,...
(Herr Lang) - Mona WashbourneMona WashbourneMona Washbourne was an English actress of stage, film and television.Mona Washbourne began her entertaining career training as a concert pianist. While performing on stage in the early 1920s, she found that she liked acting and became an actress...
(Frau Lang) - Victor BrooksVictor BrooksVictor Brooks was a British film and television actor. He appeared in the television series Raffles, in the recurring role of the Albany porter.-Filmography:Film*The Hostage *The Birthday Present...
(Hans) - Michael RipperMichael RipperMichael Ripper was an English character actor born in Portsmouth.He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. He played one of the two murderers in Richard III. Ripper became a mainstay in Hammer Film Productions...
(Coachman) - Andree MellyAndrée MellyAndrée Melly is an English actress.She appeared in many British films, including the 1954 comedy The Belles of St Trinian's and the 1960 Hammer Horror film The Brides of Dracula...
(Gina) - Fred Johnson (Cure)
- Norman PierceNorman PierceNorman Pierce was a British actor, born in Southport, Lancashire.-Selected filmography:* Everything Is Thunder * This Green Hell * Saloon Bar * Uncensored * Front Line Kids...
(Landlord) - Vera Cook (Landlord's wife)
- Marie Devereux (Village girl)
- Michael Mulcaster (uncredited) (Latour)
- Henry Scott (uncredited) (Severin)
Production
- Most of the interior shots were done at Bray StudiosBray Studios (UK)Bray Studios is a film and television facility at Bray, near Windsor, Berkshire, England. The films Alien and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were shot there...
. The exterior shooting locations were in nearby Black ParkBlack ParkBlack Park is a Country Park in Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England to the north of the A412 road between Slough and Iver Heath. It is managed by Buckinghamshire County Council...
and Oakley CourtOakley CourtOakley Court is a Victorian Gothic country house set in overlooking the River Thames at Water Oakley in the civil parish of Bray in the English county of Berkshire. It was built in 1859 and is currently a luxury hotel. It has been often used as a film location.-History:The Court was built in 1859...
. - The ending was to have originally had the vampires destroyed by a swarm of bats. This ending was rejected by Peter Cushing as being too magical for the Van Helsing character. The concept of this ending was used three years later for the climax of Hammer's The Kiss of the VampireThe Kiss of the VampireThe Kiss of the Vampire also known as Kiss of Evil, is a 1963 British vampire film made by the film studio Hammer Film Productions...
. - "My own personal involvement in a film like Brides was always 100 percent, not because I felt it to be my duty but because I felt very strongly that the pictures were mine. No doubt Terry [Fisher] thought they were his and Jimmy SangsterJimmy SangsterJames Henry Kinmel Sangster was an English screenwriter and director, known for his work for horror film producers Hammer Film Productions, including scripts for The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula .Sangster originally worked as a production assistant at...
thought they belonged to him. And Peter CPeter CushingPeter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
knew they were his." — Producer Anthony Hinds - Christopher Lee was approached to reprise his role as Dracula for this film but turned it down and the script was reshaped by Jimmy Sangster.
- Jimmy Sangster, director Terence Fisher and even Peter Cushing were reportedly involved in rewriting the script.
Novelization
- A paperback novelization of the film by Dean Owen was published by Monarch BooksMonarch BooksMonarch Books were an American publishing firm in the late 1950s/early 1960s which specialised in pulp novels. They were based in Derby, Connecticut....
in 1960, and features an entire subplot about a character named Latour, who summons the mystical bats to provide the ending not used in the film.
DVD release
- A region 1 DVD edition of the film (in a two double-sided disc box set, along with seven other Hammer classics originally distributed by Universal International) was released September 6, 2005.
- A region 2 DVD edition of the film was released October 15, 2007.