When Was The First Showing of Dracula in Color?

The first color showing of Dracula was in 1958. That was the year that Hammer Film Productions released The Horror of Dracula, starring Sir Christopher Lee as Count Dracula. This movie also featured Lee’s close friend Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing.

The Horror of Dracula is an important movie for a number of reasons. This was the first color film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic gothic horror novel, it introduced many of the classic vampire tropes modern viewers take for granted, and it was an early collaboration between Lee and Cushing.

The Story

Vampires Running Amuck

The story begins with a vampire hunter named Johnathan Harker traveling to Castle Dracula disguised as a librarian. His real intention is to kill Dracula, but this gets thwarted when a woman in the castle who claims to be a prisoner is revealed to be another vampire. She bites Johnathan.

Johnathan knows he is in danger, so he writes to his old friend Dr. Van Helsing. He then descends into the crypts to fight the vampires. He kills the woman but before he can stake Count Dracula, Dracula rises from his coffin and traps Harker in the dungeon.

Van Helsing soon arrives but realizes he is too late to save his friend. He kills Harker in his vampire form but Count Dracula has already escaped the castle. He travels to inform Harker’s family (his wife Lucy, and his in-laws Arthur Holmwood and Mina Murray).

Unfortunately, Lucy is mysteriously ill, and we soon learn that Count Dracula is visiting her and biting her at night. Van Helsing gives Lucy garlic to keep by her bed, but Lucy makes the housekeeper remove the garlic. Lucy then dies and becomes a vampire.

Van Helsing and Arthur go to the graveyard and see vampire Lucy rise from the grave. Van Helsing uses a cross to prevent Lucy from attacking Arthur, and after she returns to her coffin, the men drive a stake through her heart.

Hunting Vampires

After dispatching vampire Lucy, Arthur and Van Helsing start looking for Dracula. During their search, Dracula comes to the house to visit Mina, and bites her. Van Helsing later gives Mina a cross to wear for protection, and the cross burns her.

The men realize that Dracula is hiding in the basement, but by the time they get down there, both Dracula and Mina have disappeared.

The vampire hunters race Dracula back to his castle, with Mina in tow. Dracula must get back into his castle before sunrise. When they get to the castle, Arthur saves Mina and Van Helsing chases Dracula inside. They battle for a few moments, then Van Helsing tears a curtain down and uses a cross to force Dracula into the sunlight.

The sunlight instantly kills Count Dracula, leaving only his clothes behind as he turns into ash.

Background

Bram Stoker published Dracula in 1897 and changed the world forever. The novel quickly became the basis for a widely popular stage play, and an unauthorized silent film adaptation called Nosferatu starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok.

The first official adaptation of the novel came in 1931 when Universal Pictures released Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi. The movie was an instant hit, just like the novel, and lead to a series of sequels.

By the 1950s Hammer Film Productions decided that the world was ready for another adaptation of Dracula. Inspired by the success of The Curse of Frankenstein, they went to work putting together the first color film adaptation of the novel.

Cast

• Peter Cushing – Doctor Van Helsing, a vampire hunter.
• Christopher Lee – Count Dracula
• Michael Gough – Arthur Holmwood
• Melissa Stribling – Mina Holmwood
• Carol Marsh – Lucy Holmwood
• John Van Eyssen – Johnathan Harker
• Valerie Gaunt – Bride of Dracula

Differences Between the Movie and the Novel

There are substantial differences between the novel and the movie. Some of these differences include:

• Instead of Transylvania and England, the plot of the movie takes place in the Black Forest.
• In the novel, Johnathan Harker does not know about vampires. He is simply a solicitor selling Dracula real estate. In the movie, he is a vampire hunter posing as a librarian.
• Likewise, in the novel, Van Helsing is an eccentric, elderly vampire hunter. In the movie, he is a strapping young action hero.
• Dr. Seward is a major character in the novel but has only a minor role in the movie.
• There are three “Brides of Dracula” in the novel, and only one in the movie
• Several characters are omitted entirely, most notably an asylum inmate named Renfield.

Legacy

The Horror of Dracula was a wildly popular movie and it helped turn its stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing into horror movie icons. This was one of the most popular “Hammer Horror” movies produced by Hammer Film Productions, and it inspired several sequels.

The Horror of Dracula also contributed to vampire pop culture. The stereotypical horror movie vampire is a combination of Bela Lugosi’s portrayal in the 1931 Universal Horror Dracula and Christopher Lee’s interpretation in Horror of Dracula.

Some of the innovations that Horror of Dracula made are that this was the first time that Count Dracula was shown with sharp fangs and red eyes. This was also the first movie that did not feature Dracula using a heavy Hungarian accent (partly because Christopher Lee hated the script and refused to speak most of the lines).

Additionally, Horror of Dracula was one of the first movies to portray Dracula as excessively tall and physically imposing.

Final Thoughts

The Horror of Dracula is an important film for several reasons. This was the first time that Bram Stoker’s novel received an in-color film adaptation. This was also an early collaboration between Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, who became one of horror’s most prominent acting duos.

The Horror of Dracula also helped codify a lot of vampire imagery. Among other things, this was the first time that Count Dracula was portrayed as tall, with red eyes, sharp fangs, a hint of overt sexuality, and without a strong accent.

Aside from the 1931 Universal adaptation with Bela Lugosi, there has never been a more important Dracula movie than The Horror of Dracula.