After a difficult journey, Jonathan Harker arrives at the remote Castle Dracula in the Carpathian mountains, ostensibly to index the library belonging to the elegantly aristocratic Count Dracula. But Harker’s real purpose is to destroy the Count, who he knows is in reality a four hundred year-old vampire, an undead being steeped in evil which feasts on the blood of its living victims. Harker’s quest is doomed to failure and puts his fiancée, Lucy, in peril of her life as Dracula, besotted by her photograph, makes her his prey. Only one man, Professor Van Helsing, possesses sufficient knowledge of the ways of the vampire to offer any hope of salvation…..
![3- D 1 3- D 1](https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/3-D-1-500x250.jpg)
Production Details
A Hammer Film production
Released by Universal Pictures
Copyright MCMLVIII by Hammer Film Productions – All rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate
RCA Sound System
Produced at Bray Studios
Colour by Technicolor 81 mins
Filming Began: 11th November 1957
UK Release: 16th June 1958 1957
Studio:
Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire
Location:
Bray, Berkshire – Country roads
Stills from film
Click an image for enlarged slideshow
Cast & Crew
Red = Uncredited
Crew | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Hidden | Death | Age | Hammer Credited | Hammer Uncredited | Total Hammer |
Assistant Director | Robert Lynn | 40 | 9 Jun 1918 | 15 Jan 1982 | 63 | 7 | 7 | ||
Assistant Make-up Artist | Roy Ashton | 49 | 16 Apr 1909 | 10 Jan 1995 | 85 | 36 | 4 | 40 | |
Associate Producer | Anthony Nelson-Keys | 46 | 13 Nov 1911 | 19 Mar 1985 | 73 | 41 | 41 | ||
Boom Operator | Claude Hitchcock | 39 | 8 Nov 1918 | 4 Oct 2010 | 91 | 14 | 4 | 18 | |
Camera Operator | Len Harris | 42 | 19 May 1916 | 21 Feb 1995 | 78 | 52 | 1 | 53 | |
Chief Electrician | Jack Curtis | 3 | 23 | 26 | |||||
Conductor | John Hollingsworth | 42 | 20 Mar 1916 | 29 Dec 1963 | 47 | 36 | 2 | 38 | |
Construction Manager | Michael Lyons | 10 | 10 | ||||||
Continuity | Doreen Dearnaley | 29 | 20 Nov 1928 | 3 Feb 1992 | 63 | 13 | 13 | ||
Director | Terence Fisher | 54 | 23 Feb 1904 | 18 Jun 1980 | 76 | 31 | 31 | ||
Director of Photography | Jack Asher BSc | 42 | 29 Mar 1916 | 1 Apr 1991 | 75 | 14 | 14 | ||
Draughtsman | Don Mingaye | 29 | 1 Jan 1929 | 8 Nov 2017 | 88 | 26 | 14 | 40 | |
Editor | Bill Lenny | 30 | 1 Jan 1928 | 1 Jan 2002 | 74 | 10 | 2 | 12 | |
Executive Producer | Michael Carreras | 30 | 21 Dec 1927 | 19 Apr 1994 | 66 | 82 | 5 | 87 | |
Focus Puller | Harry Oakes | 37 | 16 Jan 1921 | 11 Dec 2012 | 91 | 53 | 53 | ||
Grip | Albert Cowlard | 35 | 01 Jan 1923 | 10 | 10 | ||||
Hair Stylist | Henry Montsash | 52 | 17 Sep 1905 | 29 Sep 1974 | 69 | 16 | 16 | ||
Make-up | Phil Leakey | 50 | 4 May 1908 | 26 Nov 1992 | 84 | 48 | 48 | ||
Master Carpenter | Charles Davis | 8 | 8 | ||||||
Master Painter | Lawrence Wren | 11 | 11 | ||||||
Master Plasterer | Arthur Banks | 18 | 29 | 47 | |||||
Music Composer | James Bernard | 32 | 20 Sep 1925 | 12 Jul 2001 | 75 | 24 | 1 | 25 | |
Producer | Anthony Hinds | 35 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 84 | 1 | 85 | |
Production Accountant | W.H.V. Able | 63 | 1 Jan 1895 | 1 Jan 1975 | 80 | 4 | 4 | ||
Production Designer | Bernard Robinson | 45 | 28 Jul 1912 | 2 Mar 1970 | 57 | 46 | 3 | 49 | |
Production Manager | Don Weeks | 53 | 15 Nov 1904 | 1 Mar 1988 | 83 | 30 | 30 | ||
Property Master | Tom Money | 41 | 1 Jan 1917 | 1 Jan 1974 | 57 | 2 | 20 | 22 | |
Props Buyer | Eric Hillier | 38 | 1 Jan 1920 | 1 Jan 1975 | 55 | 16 | 16 | ||
Screenplay | Jimmy Sangster | 30 | 2 Dec 1927 | 19 Aug 2011 | 83 | 65 | 2 | 67 | |
Second Assistant Director | Tom Walls | 46 | 31 May 1912 | 28 Nov 1992 | 80 | 1 | 9 | 10 | |
Sound Recordist | Jock May | 53 | 1 Jan 1905 | 8 Jan 1991 | 86 | 30 | 1 | 31 | |
Special Effects | Les Bowie | 44 | 10 Nov 1913 | 27 Jan 1979 | 65 | 32 | 11 | 43 | |
Special Effects | Sid Pearson | 9 | 1 | 10 | |||||
Still Photographer | Tom Edwards | 1999 | 26 | 26 | |||||
Stunts | Nosher Powell | 29 | 15 Aug 1928 | 20 Apr 2013 | 84 | 3 | 5 | 8 | |
Stunts | Peter Diamond | 28 | 10 Aug 1929 | 27 Mar 2004 | 74 | 4 | 23 | 27 | |
Supervising Editor | James Needs | 38 | 17 Oct 1919 | 4 Feb 2003 | 83 | 110 | 1 | 111 | |
Wardrobe | Rosemary Burrows | 36 | 5 | 41 | |||||
Wardrobe | Molly Arbuthnot | 49 | 19 Dec 1908 | 31 Oct 2001 | 92 | 48 | 4 | 52 | |
Cast | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Hidden | Death | Age | Hammer Credited | Hammer Uncredited | Total Hammer |
Arthur Holmwood | Michael Gough | 41 | 23 Nov 1916 | 17 Mar 2011 | 94 | 3 | 3 | ||
Coach Driver | Antic Melkior | 22 | 14 Dec 1935 | 12 Jan 2022 | 86 | 1 | 1 | ||
Coach Driver | Guy Mills | 60 | 11 Jun 1898 | 15 Oct 1962 | 64 | 1 | 1 | ||
Coach Driver's Companion | Richard Morgan | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Coach Passenger | Judith Nelmes | 64 | 14 Sep 1893 | 16 Dec 1992 | 99 | 1 | 1 | ||
Coach Passenger | Stedwell Fulcher | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Count Dracula | Christopher Lee | 36 | 27 May 1922 | 7 Jun 2015 | 93 | 22 | 22 | ||
Doctor Seward | Charles Lloyd-Pack | 55 | 10 Oct 1902 | 22 Dec 1983 | 81 | 8 | 8 | ||
Fat Merchant | Humphrey Kent | 64 | 2 Nov 1893 | 19 Apr 1972 | 78 | 1 | 1 | ||
Gerda | Olga Dickie | 57 | 28 Aug 1900 | 7 Mar 1992 | 91 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Hearse Driver | John Mossman | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Inge | Barbara Archer | 25 | 01 Jan 1933 | 01.01.1933 | 91 | 1 | 1 | ||
Inn Customer | John Maxim | 32 | 20 Jul 1925 | 20 Jan 1990 | 64 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
Jonathan Harker | John Van Eyssen | 36 | 19 Mar 1922 | 13 Nov 1995 | 73 | 4 | 4 | ||
Lad | Paul Cole | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Landlord | George Woodbridge | 51 | 16 Feb 1907 | 31 Mar 1973 | 66 | 9 | 1 | 10 | |
Lucy | Carol Marsh | 32 | 10 May 1926 | 6 Mar 2010 | 83 | 1 | 1 | ||
Mina Holmwood | Melissa Stribling | 31 | 7 Nov 1926 | 22 Mar 1992 | 65 | 2 | 2 | ||
Official | George Benson | 47 | 11 Jan 1911 | 17 Jun 1983 | 72 | 2 | 2 | ||
Policeman | George Merritt | 67 | 10 Dec 1890 | 27 Aug 1977 | 86 | 3 | 3 | ||
Porter | Geoffrey Bayldon | 34 | 7 Jan 1924 | 10 May 2017 | 93 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
Priest | William Sherwood | 59 | 12 Sep 1898 | 30 Sep 1986 | 88 | 1 | 1 | ||
Professor Van Helsing | Peter Cushing | 45 | 26 May 1913 | 11 Aug 1994 | 81 | 24 | 1 | 25 | |
Tania | Janina Faye | 10 | 16 Apr 1948 | 16.04.1948 | 76 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Undertaker | Miles Malleson | 70 | 25 May 1888 | 15 Mar 1969 | 80 | 4 | 4 | ||
Vampire Woman | Valerie Gaunt | 25 | 26 Jun 1932 | 27 Nov 2016 | 84 | 2 | 2 |
Original Poster
Click to enlarge
Footnotes
Following hot on the heels of The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula was similarly slated by the critics as being over-gory, sadistic and thoroughly repugnant – Hammer ought to be ashamed of themselves and mend their ways!
Fortunately for us, however, Hammer could not help but notice the continuous sound of cash registers taking large amounts of money from cinemagoers round the world. Quite simply, it was clear that they were giving the public what they wanted – and, for that matter, the distributors; Dracula apparently single-handedly saved Universal from financial disaster. Hammer’s reaction to their critics was, therefore, quite wisely to stick two fangs up to them and redouble their efforts to produce films of this style!
Actor Michael Gough also appeared in Hammer’s The Phantom of the Opera (1962). His work in the horror/fantasy field also includes films for American producers Herman Cohen, Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky. For Cohen, he made the notorious shocker Horrors of the Black Museum (1959), Konga (1961), Black Zoo (1962), Berserk! (1967) and Trog (1970); for Hammer rivals Rosenberg’s and Subotsky’s Amicus company, he had roles in Doctor Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), The Skull (1965) and They Came from beyond Space (1967). In the 1990s, he gained a whole new audience as Alfred the butler in the “Batman” series of blockbuster movies.
Miles Malleson was a character actor who excelled at playing delightfully dotty eccentrics. He can also be seen in Hammer’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (1958), The Brides of Dracula (1960) and The Phantom of the Opera (1962).