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Countess Dracula (1970)
Country
of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1970
Running Times: 93 mins
Format: Eastmancolor 35mm
Ratio: 1.37:1
Sound:
CREDITS
PRODUCTION
Production Company: Hammer
Producer: Alexander Paal
Production Manager: Christopher Sutton
SCRIPT
Script: Jeremy Paul
Story: Alexander Paal, Peter Sasdy
Idea: Gabriel Ronay
DIRECTION
Director: Peter Sasdy
Assistant Director: Ariel Levy
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Ken Talbot
Camera Operator: Ben Withers
EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Henry Richardson
MUSIC
Musical Supervisor: Phillip Martell
Music: Harry Robinson
SOUND
Sound Recording: Kevin Sutton
Dubbing Mixer: Ken Barker
Sound Editor: Al Streeter
Sound System: RCA Sound System
COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Make Up Supervisor: Tom Smith
Hairdressing Supervisor: Pat McDermot
Costume Designer: Raymond Hughes
Wardrobe Master: Brian Owen-Smith
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Bert Luxford
DESIGN AND SET
CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Philip Harrison
Construction Manager: Arthur Banks
OTHER CREW
Continuity: Gladys Goldsmith
Choreography: Mia Nardi
LOCATIONS
Studio: Pinewood Studios,
Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
CAST
Ingrid Pitt (Countess Elisabeth Nadasdy)
Nigel Green (Captain Dobi)
Sandor Eles (Imre Toth)
Maurice Denham (Master Fabio)
Lesley-Anne Down (Ilona)
Patience Collier (Julie)
Peter Jeffrey (Captain Balogh)
Leon Lissek (Sergeant of Bailiffs)
Jessie Evans (Rosa)
Andrea Lawrence (Ziza)
Susan Brodrick (Teri)
Ian Trigger (clown)
Nike Arrighi (gypsy girl)
Peter May (Janco)
John Moore (priest)
Joan Haythorne (2nd cook)
Marianne Stone (kitchen maid)
Sally Adcock (Bertha)
Anne Stallybrass (pregnant woman)
Paddy Ryan (man)
Michael Cadman (young man)
Hulya Babus (belly dancer)
Lesley Anderson, Biddy Hearne, Diana Sawday (gypsy
dancer)
Andrew Burleigh (1st boy)
Gary Rich (2nd boy)
Albert Wilkinson, Ismed Hassan (circus midgets)
Charles Farrell (the seller)
PLOT SUMMARY
In 18th century Hungary,
the aged and recently widowed Countess Elizabeth Nadasdy
accidentally discovers that the blood of virgins can
restore her long-lost youth. Before long, none of the
virgin girls in the local vicinity are safe from
Nadasdy's blood-lust...
CAPSULE REVIEW
Not Hammer's best by a
long chalk, but never less than watchable, Countess
Dracula can boast solid direction, though the patchy and
rather prosaic script is a liability and a dubbed Ingrid
Pitt is less effective here than in her other Hammer film
of the same year, The Vampire Lovers.
AVAILABILITY
UK
Theatrical Distributor: The Rank Organisation
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
Australia
Rating: M
Sweden
Rating: 15
UK
Rating: 18
USA
Rating: PG
TIMELINE
1970
December
21: UK - rated X by the BBFC (for theatrical release, with cuts)
1971
February
14: UK - theatrical release
October
28: Sweden - theatrical release
1972
October
Day Unknown: USA - theatrical release
1987
July
1: UK - television broadcast (on Thames Television)
1993
December
3: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)
1996
December
19: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)
1998
January
3: UK - television broadcast (on Channel Four)
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Comtesse Dracula - French title
Draculan himo - Finnish title
Jag ett monster - Swedish title
La morte va a braccetto con le vergini - Italian title
LINKS
SEE ALSO
Ceremonia sangrienta (1973)
REFERENCES
MAGAZINES
Cinefantastique vol.2
no.4 (Summer 1973) p.32 (USA)
review
Filmfacts vol.15 no.19
(1972) pp.473-474 (USA)
credits, reprinted reviews
Films and Filming vol.17
no.8 (May 1971) p.96 (UK)
review
Hollywood Reporter vol.223
no.21 (12 October 1972) p.4 (USA)
review
The House That Hammer Built no.7
(February 1998) pp.405-408 (UK)
illustrated credits, synopsis, review
Kine Weekly no.3304 (6
February 1971) p.8
review
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.38
no.446 (March 1971) p.47 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review
Today's Cinema no.9828 (4
August 1970) p.6
credits
Today's Cinema no.9880 (12 February 1971)
p.8 (UK)
review
BOOKS
Ten Years of Terror: British Horror Films of the
1970s by Harvey Fenton and David Flint (eds) pp.21-23 (Guilford:
FAB Press (2001) ISBN: 0-9529260-8-3)
illustrated credits, review (by Harvey Fenton)
KEYWORDS
elizabeth bathory; blood; eternal youth; gypsies; aristocracy
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