The Horror of Dracula (1958)

Sometimes I think I should read Bram Stoker's Dracula, if just for a point of reference on the departures taken by subsequent film versions. In this the first of nine Dracula films made by the UK's Hammer Studios, there is no Renfield character, instead our Johnathan Harker (John Van Eyseen) is neither solicitor or estate agent, but a 'librarian' whom Dracula has hired to catalogue his extensive collection of books. Harker is not English either, rather he lives in the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the 1880's, and his librarian duties are a cover for his working with Doctor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) to flush out and killer Dracula. Unfortunately for Harker he is made a vampire before he has a chance to kill to Dracula, this is because of the amature mistake of trying to kill Dracula's mate (Valerie Gaunt) before killing Dracula. Well Dracula is pretty upset that his mate was killed, so he decides to take Harker's fiance (Carol Marsh) as her replacement. Van Helsing is eventually able to convince Marsh's skeptical brother Michael Gough (whose usually so good with a Batmen) to let him intervene. In double revenge Dracula decides that he will now take Gough's wife Melissa Stribling as his own. In the end Dracula is of course vanquished, seemingly into dust, but we know clever screenwriters would later find ways of resurrecting him. This is an enjoyable Dracula, for me have the fun comes half from the great character actors, including Christopher Lee as Dracula, and the other half from the distinctive Hammer color palate and production design. ***