Watch Countess Dracula (1971) Online
Wednesday, August 6, 2014 by stream
Countess Dracula (1971)iMDB Rating: 6.0Date Released : 11 October 1972
Genre : Horror
Stars : Ingrid Pitt, Nigel Green, Sandor Elès, Maurice Denham. In medieval Europe aging Countess Elisabeth rules harshly with the help of lover Captain Dobi. Finding that washing in the blood of young girls makes her young again she gets Dobi to start abducting likely candidates. The Countess - pretending to be her own daughter - starts dallying with a younger man, much to Dobi's annoyance. The disappearances cause mounting terror locally, and when she finds..." />
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In medieval Europe aging Countess Elisabeth rules harshly with the help of lover Captain Dobi. Finding that washing in the blood of young girls makes her young again she gets Dobi to start abducting likely candidates. The Countess - pretending to be her own daughter - starts dallying with a younger man, much to Dobi's annoyance. The disappearances cause mounting terror locally, and when she finds out that only the blood of a virgin does the job, Dobi is sent out again with a more difficult task.
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Review :
COUNTESS Dracula (Peter Sasdy, 1971) **
This isn't one of the best Hammers: unusual and atypically authentic but basically unremarkable. The Bathory legend is rendered silly, mainly because it was almost completely re-invented for the screen: the subject matter may have been controversial for its day but Hammer treat it like another Transylvanian vampire, which is a shame, complete with the ridiculous title!
Leads Ingrid Pitt and Nigel Green are quite good: their characters are well-rounded and their relationship is believable. Maurice Denham is amiable, though his comic sage is a bit overstated for the purpose, then suddenly turning conspirator which leads to his unlucky end. Lesley-Ann Down's role as the young Countess is hopelessly under-developed.
Apart from Pitt's few instances of exposed flesh, the film's nude content is entirely gratuitous, as was Hammer's style at this late vintage of their life-span; the violence is occasionally effective (for instance, Nike Arrighi's murder) but mostly rather tame. One other thing which annoyed the hell out of me was that servant woman who kept asking about her missing daughter!
The finale, while effective, is preposterous for a couple of reasons: having been suspected of mass murder, the Countess would certainly not have been allowed to celebrate her wedding on such a grand scale; even worse, her apparent decision not to 'bathe' on such a momentous occasion is incomprehensible, so that the pay-off is entirely predictable! Compared to other filmizations of the Bathory legend, and DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971) in particular, this take on the 'facts' emerges as both hokey and extremely old-fashioned!
The transfer is pretty good for a 30 plus-year film (it seems to have been quite well preserved); ditto for the audio. The theatrical trailer is quite unusual and, frankly, it's better and wittier than the film proper! The commentary is very interesting and well-paced (though lack of a mention of the other Bathory films or Pitt's obvious dubbing is sorely felt, also moderator Jonathan Sothcott and director Sasdy's discussion about a certain shot's presence, or not, in the final version of the film); it ends on a bit of a scuffle, however, between Sasdy and Pitt (who seems to bear some kind of a grudge against the script) which somewhat dampens the otherwise warm and nostalgia-filled talk!
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