NOW HE'S REALLY ANGRY! CUSHING LEE DRACULA HARKER HAMMER GIFS

NOW HE'S  REALLY ANGRY! Jonathan Harker in a dance with death! Never has Christopher Lee's DRACULA looked more feral than in the scene from Hammer films, 'DRACULA' /'HORROR OF DRACULA'  starring Peter Cushing as Van Helsing in 1958.

Actor John Van Eyssen did a great job of playing Harker, and went on to appear in only nine other feature films, then leave his acting career in 1961 and become the head of the Grade Organisation literary agency.  He then left the business in 65 to take up a position in the UK division of Columbia Pictures, eventually becoming Managing Director in July 1969. Finally in 1970, he was promoted to Worldwide Head of Production (ex-USA) and moved to New York.

After his tenure at Columbia, Van Eyssen became an independent producer, returning to the UK in 1991 to establish Britain's premier showcase for talented young filmmakers, the Chelsea Film Festival. Born Matthew John Du Toit Van in Africa in 1922, he died in 1995, aged 73 in London. Interestingly, his son, David Van Eyssen, is a US-based producer and director known for the web-series RCVR.

AND HERE'S ONE MORE FOR THE POT! Peter Cushing as Van Helsing on rushing to the celler of the Holmwood family home, finds DRACULA's hiding place, at first minus the Count. Until . . . . .

MORE DRACULA GIFS and trivia soon!

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REMEMBERING MELISSA STRIBLING

REMEMBERING: Melissa Stribling who was born today November 7th 1927. Stribling appeared in just the one film with Peter Cushing...but boy did she pick the right one! She also got to play in one of Hammer films most iconic scenes in their 1958 'Dracula', where Christopher Lee's Count, in the dead of night, visits her home and..without a word.. seduces her. The scene is so super charged with sexual tension, it almost crackles off the screen and as a result got the scissors treatment from the censors at the time. In 2013, in Hammer's restored print the exorcised footage was replaced, giving us the full picture of what Director Terence Fisher, Stribling and Lee had originally intended and created.

I've read in several reviews of 'Dracula' both from the time of the films' release in 58 and in more recent times, that Stribling was a curious choice for the role of Mina Holmwood, that compared to the likes of Valerie Gaunt and other Hammer actresses, even though she was only in early 30's when she appeared in Dracula, many thought her slightly ordinary and plain. I totally disagree...but if that was the case, I can't help thinking that, director Fisher's choice in Stribling was intentional. That subtext in the story of Arthur Holmwood's wife being frustrated and bored, suddenly being charmed and seduced by the exotic and erotic Count, Stribling was...the perfect choice.

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HAMMER FILMS: DRACULA 16MM FRAMES PETER CUSHING CHRISTOPHER LEE

EVEN DRACULA WAS SHOCKED! PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE: HAMMER FILMS JAPANESE PRINT IN 1958

WITH THE RELEASE OF THE BLU RAY IN MAY NEXT YEAR WE'LL FINALLY GET TO SEE WHAT ALL THE FUSS WAS ABOUT.