Today's MONSTERMONDAY features something that has been part of Hammer
films lore for as long as I can remember. With the emergence of unseen
publicity stills and contact sheets from Hammer films 1958 Dracula, the
prompting of all kinds of theories around the missing or censored shots
from the final cut of the film can be read on many forums on the net.
The release of the remastered blu ray a few years ago, caused a few of
us to smile smugly about the inclusion of the footage of Dracula's disintegration.
We suspected it was shot, the problem was finding it! Most of that
hunch was based on a colour photograph of Lee's Dracula in the final
moments of the film, lying on the floor wearing make up that hinted of
another stage in his grisly death appearance.
The still of John Van Eyssen as Jonathan Harker in our banner, hints at maybe
something similar. We know the character is bitten by Valerie Gaunt, we
see Peter Cushing's Van Helsing stake him, finding him in the castle
crypt and judging by Van Helsing's grimace on looking on his vampire
state, he wasn't a pretty sight! For whatever reason, what Van Helsing
saw, was snipped out of prints for the European market. Though, it could
have been included in the Japanese print, which provided the source of
the missing footage of Dracula's death. As reels 1,2,3 were rendered
unusable and damaged after finding the print, the scene where this shot
appeared in the feature, was lost to us. Many argue the point that this
shot was never included in ANY print, it was never shot...but I'll go
with the point I made when the Dracula death photograph was
found...Director Terence Fisher I suspect, would not have spent time
setting up this scene, without shooting it. Time was premium at Hammer
and was never wasted. Cushing himself has stated multiple takes were
rare, because of costs...and I can't see Anthony Hinds signing off on a
SFX - Make Up head of Harker, with no intention of using it! Hammer did
not waste money on a budget that was already tight...
VALERIE
GAUNT as the Vampire Woman from
Hammer films'Dracula' / 'Horror of
Dracula' (1958)
...and Harker's VAMPIRE undead-head at the left
of the
photograph...
Still it looks great, a pity we have yet to see this shot in the film.
There is further evidence of this make up head in a publicity photograph
of Valerie Gaunt, included in the thread below. It's an interesting pic
and story...and for that reason alone, we present it as this week's
icky item for #MONSTERMONDAY ...what do you think? - Marcus
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