Merry Christmas: Lou Costello sings "White Christmas" (1952) ["The Colgate Comedy Hour]

A Kind-Of Christmas Movie: Remember the Night (1940)

Preston Sturges was having a hard time during the creation of this classic Christmas film against Paramount producer Al Lewin. "Writing [...] almost caused me to commit hara-kiri several times, but I postponed it for some later assignment. The trouble was in finding a way to get some pizazz into the story." (Sturges, Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges: His Life in His Words) Initially inspired by personal experience, falling in love with second wife and socialite Eleanor Hutton on a road trip to Palm Beach (which would also be mirrored in "The Palm Beach Story"), the problems laid in motive. 

"When I had Fred MacMurray, as the district attorney, take Barbara Stanwyck, the girl on trial for theft, up to the mountains to reform her, the script died of pernicious anemia. When I had him take her up because his conscience bothered him having had her trial continued after the Christmas season, it perished from lack of oxygen. When I had him take her up by charitable impulse and the Yuletide spirit, it expired from galloping eunuchery. So I thought of a novelty. The district attorney takes her up to the mountains for the purpose of violating the Mann Act."

Once in production, director Mitchell Leisen (who also directed "Easy Living") further pared down "Remember the Night" so much, it would push Sturges into both writing and directing his films from that point on. Leisen found MacMurray's dialogue "a bit theatrical, and the wordiness of the dialogue demanded a certain articulate quality on the part of the actor that MacMurray simply didn't have. Cutting MacMurray's lines down to the minimum, Leisen played up the gentle strength MacMurray could project so well." (Remember the Night (1940) - Articles - TCM.com) "The girl on trial for theft," Stanwyck's Lee Leander would end up being the main focus, the crime being committed at the beginning of the film causing both the audience and Fred MacMurray's  John Sargent to hate to only evolve into loving her at the end of the film. Ironically, Sturges would end up winning for Best Original Screenplay that year.

"Remember the Night" was 8 days ahead of schedule and 50,000 under budget thanks to Leisen's leading lady. ""[She] was the greatest," he said. "She never blew one line through the whole picture. She set that kind of pace and everybody worked harder, trying to outdo her. She was always right at my elbow when I needed her. We never once had to wait for her to finish with the hairdresser or the make-up man." While on set, Sturges would even pitch her the idea to write a screwball comedy just for her which would become the great "The Lady Eve."

The end result had pickpocket Lee stealing a bracelet from a jeweler for no good reason. We never find out the reasoning why she did it, but it takes her directly into court before Christmas complete with an idiot for a lawyer and an assistant District Attorney who doesn't want the Christmas spirit to infect the jury. Halting the trial, Sargent finds himself feeling guilty for leaving Lee in jail over the holiday and gets a bondsman to set her bail until the next trial. But she has nowhere to go in New York City with her hotel room rent overdue, so Sargent finds himself taking her back to their mutual home state of Indiana. 

Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times would consider "Remember the Night" as "the real curtain-raiser for 1940." "It is a memorable film, in title and in quality, blessed with an honest script, good direction and sound performance. Its character drawing is deft and in splendid proportion. The incidents chosen to work the changes in the hearts and minds of the central folk are apt and aptly presented. Rarely has a theme been so smoothly advanced and so pleasantly played out so sensible and credible a conclusion." Sturges best described his own film as "love reformed her and corrupted him, which gave us the finely balanced moral that one's man meat is another man's poison, or caveat emptor. As it turned out, the picture had quite a lot of schmaltz, a good dose of schmerz and just enough schmutz to make it at the box office."

#ManCrushMonday #HolidayEdition 6 Times Bing Crosby Made Christmas Happen

"O Sanctissima" 

from "The Bells of St. Mary's" (1945)

"White Christmas" 
from "White Christmas" (1954)

"Ave Maria"

from "Going My Way" (1944)

"White Christmas"
from "Holiday Inn" (1942)


"Silent Night"
in Promotion for "Going My Way" (1944)

"Adeste Fidelis" 

from "The Bells of St. Mary's" (1945)

Deathmatch: Holiday Inn (1942) vs. White Christmas (1954)

History

"Holiday Inn" was always to star Bing Crosby, composer Irving Berlin practically insured it in pitching the idea to director Mark Sandrich during a chance meeting. Having already moved from RKO (having helmed three other Astaire-Rogers vehicles there) to Paramount, Sandrich was immediately swayed insisting his new studio had to get the currently freelancing Fred Astaire to play opposite Crosby. It was a difficult endeavor, Paramount believing the song and dance man to be too expensive and outside their budget. But Sandrich got his wish, announcing to the press that "I call this picture the A B C of American musical comedy. Astaire, Berlin, Crosby. Get it?" ("Holiday Inn")
With Crosby and Astaire in place, actresses were a harder casting. Two of Astaire's dancing partners, Ginger Rogers and Rita Hayworth, were mentioned, but Paramount put their foot down. As long as expensive Astaire was in the feature and having to pay hefty paychecks to both Fred and Bing, it was a budgetary decision to cast unknowns. The role of Linda Mason, a new dancing partner for Bing's Jim Hardy, went to Marjorie Reynolds and the ex-dancing partner and Broadway diva Lila Dixon went to Virginia Dale. 
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor just around the time production went underway in late 1941 and costume designer great Edith Head and her wardrobe department felt the pinch in the rationing of materials. According to one press release, claiming one of Reynolds's gold-beaded outfits had used on one the last beads in Hollywood, "beads or such garments [had] been strung by the Czecho-Slovakians [sic] for generations, and the stringing part is unknown in the United States. With importing of the beads a thing of the past, American designers have used up all there are."
"Holiday Inn" would find itself at number 8 in the top grossing movies of 1942 receiving positive reviews. Theodore Strauss of "The New York Times" called "Holiday Inn" "very easy and graceful; it never tries too hard to dazzle [...] skipp[ing] back over the year in an affectionate and light-hearted spirit." ("Movie Revew -- THE SCREEN; Irving Berlin's "Holiday Inn," Co-Starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, Has Navy Benefit Premiere at Paramount - NYTimes.com") "A winner all the way" with "sterling" performances by the male leads, compliments the Harrison's Reports. Film Daily pronounced it "a completely satisfying musical filled with crisp comedy, fetching music, snappy dance routines, first-rate acting, smart story touches and lavish and beautiful settings."

Twelve years later, Paramount wished to recreate the "A B C of American musical comedy" once more but now the irony laid in the budget than the casting.  Crosby, wanting to spend more time as a father to his two sons after his wife's tragic passing, left just around the time Astaire had terminated his contract with Paramount in favor of making "Daddy Long Legs" with 20th Century Fox. A few weeks later, Crosby returned to the news that Astaire would be replaced by Donald O'Connor. But after being injured, O'Connor would end up being replaced by comedian Danny Kaye. Kaye would cost Paramount "200,000 plus ten percent of the gross." ("White Christmas (1954) - Articles - TCM.com")
"White Christmas" came out of the box office in high numbers but mixed reviews. Bosley Crowther from The New York Times considered the "colors on the big screen" as "rich and luminous, the images clear and sharp, and rapid movements are got without blurring -- or very little -- such as sometimes is seen on the large screens. Director Michael Curtiz has made his picture look good. It is too bad that it doesn't hit the eardrums and the funnybone with equal force." Variety was more forgiving. "Crosby and Kaye, along with VV, keep the entertainment going in this fancifully staged [...] production, clicking so well the teaming should call for a repeat... Certainly he (Crosby) has never had a more facile partner than Kaye against whom to bounce his misleading nonchalance." But the film had the people as the top moneymaker of 1954, earning $12 million in theatrical rentals. 

Story

In "Holiday Inn," Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby), Ted Hanover (Fred Astaire), and Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale) have been in a musical act for many years. Jim and Lila have been romantically intertwined and while he plans to marry her and retire to a farm in Connecticut, but Lila has different plans. Not wanting to give up her career, or romantic affair with Ted, she dumps him... on Christmas Eve.

Hardy retires regardless and tends to his farm for a year until coming back into New York City the next year on Christmas Eve. This time, he has plans to turn the farm into a "Holiday Inn," which would only be open on public holidays complete with a floor show. Ted and his manager Danny Reed (Walter Abel) finds the idea ridiculous but wish him luck. 

When Reed goes to the flower shop to get flowers for Lila for Ted, he gets accosted by the florist (Marjorie Reynolds) who knows hin as a talent agent and is determined to be a singer. Reed immediately offers her a spot at Ted's nightclub. Linda pretends to be a celebrity playing hard-to-get and Hardy, already an established business owner. Linda joins him at the farm the next day ready to work where they build this club from the ground up complete with a performance and song for each holiday of the year... until Ted comes back and wreaks havoc in more ways than one.

Previous WW2 soldiers Captain Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Private Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) end up becoming a famous entertainment duo turned Broadway producers after the war. It becomes slightly annoying for Bob, who is ready to settle down from the hectic urban life, especially when Davis constantly reminds him he saved his life from an explosion at the army camp in manipulating decisions in his direction. 

One such decision is having to check out who they believe an old soldier buddy's sisters singing duo (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen). It is instant chemistry between Bob and Betty with Davis ecstatic he can get the overbearing stiff off of his hands for awhile. 

It is further serendipity when they find out the sisters are heading up to the Columbia Inn in Vermont which is owned by their former commander Major General Waverly (Dean Jagger). Intrigued and without their sleeping rooms on the train with Davis offering them to the sisters, the boys find themselves helping the man they used to serve with a "let's make a show" arc for the rest of the film as Bob and Betty's relationship grows then falters to only to grow all over again.

Deathmatch Round

I personally couldn't choose one over the other. There are elements I enjoy and love from both of them. 

Favorite Underrated Song: 

"Minstrel Number: I'd Rather See a Minstrel Show/Mr. Bones/Mandy" from "White Christmas" 

"Choreography" from "White Christmas"

Favorite Bing Crosby role: 

Captain Bob Wallace from "White Christmas"

Favorite Acting Performance: 

Rosemary Clooney as Betty Haynes "White Christmas"

Favorite Underrated Acting Performance: 

Dean Jagger as Major General Thomas F. Waverly from "White Christmas"

Favorite Costume:

Rosemary Clooney in Edith Head in "White Christmas"

Favorite Dancing Moment: 

Fred Astaire's Drunk Dancing in "Holiday Inn"

Favorite Underrated Dancing Moment:

"Be Careful, It's My Heart" from "Holiday Inn"

Favorite Christmas-sy Moment:

from "White Christmas"

Favorite Dancing Performance:  

"The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing" from "White Christmas"

"I Can't Tell a Lie" from "Holiday Inn"

"Let's Say it in Fireworks" from "Holiday Inn"

Favorite Underrated Dancing Performance:

"Abraham" from "White Christmas"

Favorite Supporting Character:

Mary Wickes as Emma Allen in "White Christmas"

Cartoon Friday: Mickey's Good Deed (1932) [Walt Disney Productions]

#WomanLoveWednesday #HolidayEdition A Judy Garland Christmas

#ManCrushMonday #HolidayEdition "Ronald Colman reads Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol"

Cartoon Friday: Winter (1930) [Silly Symphonies, Walt Disney Productions]

Happy Thanksgiving: Soup's On (1948) [Walt Disney Company]

TCM Christmas Schedule 2016

Thursday, December 1st

Christmas Classics

The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)

7:00 The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)

9:00 It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)

11:00 O. Henry's Full House (1952)

1:15 am Meet John Doe (1941)

3:30 Fitzwilly (1961)

Sunday, December 4

[Wish your friendly blogger a Happy Birthday today]

Never Say Goodbye (1946)

6:45 am Never Say Goodbye (1946)

8:30 A Carol for Another Christmas (1964)

10:00 Little Women (1933)

12:00 pm A Night at the Movies: Merry Christmas! (2011)

Monday, December 12

Christmas Classics

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

7:00 pm Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

9:00 In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

11:00 A Night at the Movies: Merry Christmas! (2011)

12:15 am Bachelor Mother (1939)

1:45 Bundle of Joy (1956)

3:30 Susan Slept Here (1954)

Thursday, December 15

Christmas Classics

Desk Set (1957)

7:00 pm The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

9:00 Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

11:00 Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

12:45 Desk Set (1957)

2:45 Period of Adjustment (1962)

Sunday, December 18

A Christmas Carol (1938)

6:30 am The Great Rupert (1950)

8:00 A Christmas Carol (1938)

9:15 All Mine to Give (1957)

11:00 In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

Thursday, December 22

Christmas Classics

Remember the Night (1940)

7:00 pm Holiday Affair (1949)

8:45 Remember the Night (1940)

10:30 A Christmas Carol (1951)

12:15 am Babes in Toyland (1934)

1:45 Little Women (1949)

4:00 A Night at the Movies: Merry Christmas! (2011)

Saturday, December 24

Holiday Affair (1949)

5:45 am Tenth Avenue Angel (1948)

7:00 Meet John Doe (1941)

9:15 Scrooge (1970)

11:15 It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)

1:15 pm Holiday Affair (1949)

3:00 The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

5:00 Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

7:00 Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

9:00 The Dolly Sisters (1945)

11:00 In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

1:00 am The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)

3:00 Bell, Book and Candle (1958)

5:00 Going My Way (1944)

10 "Chicken Soup" Films That Will Last You Through the Winter

Chicken Soup Movie. "Films that make you feel better when you're sick, and others that you might discover when you're housebound." (48 Chicken Soup Movies)

[click on title for trailer or full movie]

The Lady Killers (1955)

Old Mrs. Wilberforce finds her world completely upside-down when a new tenant (Alec Guinness) turns out to be plotting a heist with three other criminals.

The Grass is Greener (1960)

The wife of a British Earl (Deborah Kerr) finds herself attracted to a Texas Oilman (Robert Mitchum) who visits their estate with a tourist group, When she leaves her boring husband (Cary Grant) a friend and rather annoying old flame (Jean Simmons) comes back into his life then manners and hijinks ensue.

Miranda (1948)

A regular everyday Doctor (Griffith Jones) finds himself fishing bait while on a fishing trip by a beautiful blond mermaid (Glynis Johns, "Mary Poppins") who convinces him to take her home with him.

Kiss Me Kate (1953)

Divorced actors Fred Graham (Howard Keel) and Lilli Vanessi (Kathryn Grayson) still harbor feelings for one another while starring in a musical production of "The Taming of the Shrew" even with mobsters and Graham's younger girlfriend and co-star running around both on stage and off.

My Man Godfrey (1936)

It all started with a scavenger hunt which brings a "forgotten man" Godfrey Park to the rich and elite Bullock family. The older daughter (Gail Patrick) despises him for his status, the mother too ditzy to notice anything, the father (Eugene Pallette) too befuddled by all that high powered estrogen, but  there is something about the younger daughter (Carole Lombard) he rather likes. 

Here Comes the Groom (1951)

Part comedy, part musical, and part pure Frank Capra wit, a hard-nosed reporter (Crosby) finds himself adopting two children while on location in an orphanage in France. Now the problem is Pete can't keep them unless he gets married so his sights land on his ex-love Emmadale (Jane Wyman) who will be getting married soon if he doesn't do something about it.

You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

In order for his youngest two daughters to marry their respective beaus despite wanting all three to marry in succession, nightclub owner Eduardo Acuna (Adolphe Menjou) decides to melt his oldest daughter's heart to the idea of love. While the flowers and anonymous notes work, it is accidentally allowing an annoying out of work dancer (Fred Astaire) to play messenger which takes the situation to an even stranger place. 

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

In one of Jack Benny's rare opportunities to act, a subpar Shakespearean actor and troop-manager  in Nazi-occupied Poland discovers his actress wife (Carole Lombard) having an affair with a lieutenant. When a Polish Resistance leader comes to town with intentions of sweating out his wife in search for Lieutenant Sobinski and his men, Tura and his theater company is forced to leap into action to save Maria and getting the hell out of the country.

Summertime (1955)

A middle-aged woman (Hepburn) on her first vacation out of the United States discovers herself and her first love in Venice. 

Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964)

Poetically shot before and after the assassination of JFK, "Robin and the Seven Hoods" is a parody on the great English legend now based in 1930s Chicago full of guns, violence, and jazz as well as three out of the five members of the infamous Rat Pack. 

Cartoon Fridays: Jerky Turkey (1945) [Metro Goldwyn Mayor]

#WomanEmpowermentWednesday Anita Loos

Anita Loos
(1889-1981)

• First screenplay adapted to the screen was "My Baby" (1912) starring Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore
• First staff script writer at Triangle Film Cooperation and paid $75 a week plus a bonus for every produced script
• Assisted the French author Colette in adapting "Gigi" to the stage and launching the career of Audrey Hepburn
• Praised by MGM producer Samuel Marx as "a very valuable asset for MGM, because the studio had so many femme fatales [...] that we were always on the lookout for 'shady lady' stories. But they were problematic because of the censorship code. Anita, however, could be counted on to supply the delicate double entendre, the telling innuendo."
• Received $25 dollars for her first screenplay "He Was a College Boy" to Biograph Company
• First screen credit was for "MacBeth" (1916)
• Photoplay Magazine dubbed Loos "The Soubrette of Satire"
• First film with MGM was an adaptation of Katherine Brush's "Red-Headed Woman" starring Jean Harlow and Charles Boyer
• Got Aldous Huxley his screenwriting job at MGM
• Helped launch the career of Douglas Fairbanks, having written his first five films
• Best known for writing "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" which opened on stage in 1926 and spurned two films adaptation in 1928 (now lost) and the 1953 Marilyn Monroe vehicle.

#ManCrushMonday 10 Times Jimmy Stewart Owned the Screen

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Harvey (1950)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Bell, Book and Candle (1958)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Rose-Marie (1936)

Shenandoah (1965)

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Remake this, Not This!: Kiss Me Kate (1953)

Remake This...

The 1953 film adaptation of the musical was received lukewarmly, having been considered the first 3D musical. "Kiss Me Kate" earned $2,011,000 both in the US and Canada as well as $1,106,000 internationally, but reviews earned mixed messages. "For the voices and the playing of Miss Grayson and Mr. Keel as the acting team who work out their own domestic squabbles in romping through Shakespeare's "Shrew" are juicy and uninhibited, the costumes and settings are fine and the performers who accompany the principals are in joyous and compatible gear," Bosley Crowther of The New York Times explained. But Variety praised "under George Sidney's skilled direction, Kate unfolds smoothly all the way as it goes back and forth from the backstage story to the play within the play and works in the numerous - and brilliant - Cole Porter tunes."

Dream Cast:

Catherine Zeta Jones as Lilli Vanessi (Katherine)
Hugh Jackman as Fred Graham (Petruchio)
Kate Hudson as Lois Lane (Bianca)
Ryan Gosling as Bill Calhoun (Lucentio)
Christopher Walken as "Lippy"
Nathan Lane as "Slug"

...Not This!

A Star is Born (2017)

5 Times When... Rita Hayworth Dazzled

Gilda (1946)

The Lady of Shanghai (1947)

You've Never Been Lovelier (1942)

Gilda (1946)

You've Never Been Lovelier (1942)

So... About Last Night: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

"[Lou Costello]  came charging in the office one day and said, "My [five-year-old] daughter could write a better script than this. You're not serious about making it, are you?" But Robert Arthur and Universal were insistent on making a more contemporary version of the two Burlesque comedians smash hit "Hold that Ghost" (1941) going through as many two script outlines before settling on the writing team of Frederic I. Rinaldo and Robert Lees. The Universal monster movie was already slowly on the decline, having not made huge numbers in the box office since "The Bride of Frankenstein" in 1935!

Originally entitled "The Brain of Frankenstein," the comedy horror resurrected Bela Lugosi to his last A-list film and Lon Chaney Jr. to the role of Lawrence Talbot/The Wolf Man for the first time since 1945's "House of Frankenstein." Boris Karloff, however, did not come back as Frankenstein's Creature, but made up for it in promotion as well as being one third of "Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff" in the coming year. Glenn Strange would reprise his role as The Creature and Vincent Price made a cameo at the end in accordance with 1940's "The Invisible Man Returns."

This was all Bud and Lou's film, eventually titled the simpler "...Meet Frankenstein," and the studio was their house full of gags between scenes. Out of respect for Chaney and Strange's makeup, pie fights would never land on any of the monsters but they still would occur. "One day, Lenore Aubert, wrapped in a mink, put a leash on Strange and, accompanied by Bud, Lou, and Lon in full make-up, took the Monster out for a stroll on the lot just in time for the studio tour tram." ("Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein  (1948) - Articles - TCM.com") Regular costar Bobby Barker would randomly pop up in scenes or caskets surprising either of the duo and the cast.  Card games and exploding cigars were often the norm. Glen Strange found himself a victim of the giggles more often than necessary.

Lugosi, however, was a staunch professional, not partaking in the tomfoolery. Suffering from addiction to painkillers due to contracting sciatica from war injuries, and finding himself more often on the stage than the well-paying screen, the great "Count Dracula" was beginning to be worn down. According to director Charles Barton, "[...] there were times I thought Bela was going to have a stroke on the set. You have to understand that working with two zanies like Abbott and Costello was not the normal Hollywood set. They never went by the script and at least once a day, there would be a pie fight." Lugosi would later explain to The New York Times, "There is no burlesque for me. All I have to do is frighten the boys, a perfectly appropriate activity. My trademark will be unblemished."

"...Meet Frankenstein" was an immediate hit with audiences and critics alike, earning $2,250,000 in 1948 and would land at 51 in the "Top Grossers of 1948" in Variety. (Variety (January 1949)) Unfortunately, The New York Times would bemoan "most of the comic invention in "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" is embraced in the idea and the laugh. The notion of having these two clowns run afoul of the famous screen monster is a good laugh in itself. But take this gentle warning: get the most out of that one laugh while you can, because the picture [...] does not contain many more." "The comedy team battles it out with the studio's roster of bogeyman in a rambunctious fracas that is funny and, at the same time, spine-tingling" reviewed Variety. The Hollywood Reporter considered the film as "a crazy, giddy show that combines chills and laughs in one zany sequence after the other." "Nobody excels Costello as strangulated, speechless terror. Nobody can top Abbott at failing to see the cause for it. No one can beat Frankenstein, Dracula, The Monster, and Dr. Moray at engendering it separately and together behind Abbott's back, but always in Costello's full view" congratulated the New York Star. Regardless, one of the final major Universal horror films would usher in a new era courtesy of Hammer Productions.

Opinion: Christopher Lee's Contribution to the Character of Dracula

Bela was the gentleman Dracula with the cape and slow phonetically spoken English, Max Schreck the pure image of evil and the plague, Carlos Villarias the suave and debonair Dracula pre-Gary Oldman, but where does Christopher Lee belong in the continuum? He is capable of fantastic and debonair movement yet when the bloodshot eyes are in attack mode, he is the pure image of evil, Lee is a lusty sort of Dracula, his seduction skills carefully orchestrated full of a melancholy yet a more physically violent type that Lugosi could never be.

This is the thing about Lee as Dracula, he barely has to speak to come across as commanding. Perhaps it is his 6'5" height (which got him the job in 1957's "The Curse of Frankenstein"), posture and body language of a nobleman, shoulders forward in an intimacy with Jonathan Harker in the first movie and an extraordinary sadness and melancholy in his eyes during all of "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave" (1968). But with what little dialogue he is given, it is spoken with a great command. In his first scene, Lee's musically trained intonation is both quick and hurried, almost as if one is meant to pay more attention to his rather deadened yet strangely intimate gaze. Even a flash in his eyes towards Jon Van Eyssen's Harker immediately gives away not just attraction, but the weakness for Mina's bare skin.


But as the films progress, the dialogue all but diminishes and little flashes of that nobleman presence all but disappears to only reappear every so often. "All they do is write a story and try and fit [Dracula] in somewhere, which is very clear when you see the films. They gave me nothing to do! I pleaded with Hammer to let me use some of the lines that Bram Stoker had written." ("Total Film - The Total Film Interview - Christopher Lee") In his second film as the Count, Lee all but gave up on the dialogue he was given. "I read the script and the lines were literally unsayable. They were not Bram Stoker. This was a great fight I used to have over the years with Hammer, I kept on saying why don't you use Stoker's words, Stoker's dialogue, if you like. [...] So I said I'm sorry, I'm not saying these lines so that you could get a terrific laugh." ("Christopher Lee on Bela Lugosi, Dracula, and Hammer scripting - YouTube")

But what came out of classy abhorrence resulted in a stunning animalistic performance in "Dracula, Prince of Darkness" (1966) in which Lee never once spoke except for hissing noises when provoked "with teeth bared like some kind of wild, ravenous animal. His predatory behavior carries an overt sexual threat." ("Dracula, Prince of Darkness") This only makes the scene when he compels and bares his chest to Suzan Farmer's Diana Kent strangely tentatively and melancholic yet carnal all at once. Gone are all prior scenes of the overuse of widened eyes and bared teeth and here is Dracula, whether in manipulation or sincerity, with an odd terror in his eyes that was not reserved for Barbara Shelley's more willing role of Helen.

Personally, I have to believe this odd melancholy is what separates Lee from the rest of the Draculas in film history. There is almost a formula all of the movies carry and it's focused on the vampire easily feasting on the more willing victim when pining for the second. In "Horror," naturally, it's Mina for Lucy," "Prince of Darkness" Helen for Diana, "Risen From the Grave," Zena for Maria and so on. But there's something incredibly striking in the latter film. Waiting for Maria to invite him into her room for her to become fully his, Dracula steps out from the darkness, a strange shade perhaps purposefully  brightens across his eyes. Usually in the other films, Hammer has made the eyes an important feat of their vampire, always keeping them at eye level if not further up to show dominance and height over a victim. But here they are as sad than when he revealed himself to Helen in "Prince of Darkness." But is it sincerity or purposeful manipulation? Either way it's beautiful and shows something quiet before Dracula's natural violence.

The eyes have been important to the art of the Dracula films, especially since Hammer Productions is specific in their visuals ranging from bright blood to their use of Eastman color in each frame. In the video "Dracula, Prince of Darkness: Behind the Scenes at Bray," Lee, over commentary, laments having to wear "contacts with salt underneath them" which are the now iconic red contact lenses only placed in for close up shots when he compels or acts out. The difference quickly turns from those sad and soulful eyes. During the hypnotic finale in "Horror" as Dracula is dragging and gripping onto van Helsing's neck, his body language is as slow and calm as his eyes when we first met him. It's as if partaking or violently taking over humans is like sipping a fine wine. His height is gloriously taken advantage of in dominance and poise as Peter Cushing's body language is erratic and angry in comparison.

But not everyone appreciates this incarnation of the famous vampire. 1958 critic A.H. Weiler of the New York Times describes Lee's performance as "grim but not nearly so chilling as Bela Lugosi in the title role." Thankfully, in the trade journals from 1958, Lee "is a real fright as that royal fiend" and time has made fans out of many within the cult of Hammer. "One moment he is a perfect gentleman with manners and courtesy, the next moment he is transformed into an almost-rabid monster, displays raw, animalistic instincts like never before. He possesses a more sexual, sinister element..." ("Retro Review: Horror of Dracula - Daily Dead") Six days after Lee's death in 2015, Tim Stanley of the Telegraph perfectly memorialized that "no other actors [...] have captured the ambiguity of Dracula like Lee did. Through association he is, like the vampire, immortal."

Films Available Online

1. The Horror of Dracula (1958)
2. Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)
3. Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968)
4. Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
5. Scars of Dracula (1970)
6. Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
7. The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)

Cartoon Friday: Lonesome Ghosts (1937) and Trick or Treat (1952) [Walt Disney Productions]

Bela Lugosi's Finest Moments

All the acting in his eyes in "Invisible Ghost" (1941)

Rare physicality in "Dracula" (1931)

Having the ability to hold it together during

an improvisation

Intensity from being a protagonist for most

of the movie

Overall presence

Absolute grace in movement...

...and those eyes!!

from "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman" (1943)