Reviews
The Red Pony (1949)
REMEMBER:This is a MOVIE,not a BOOK.If you want the book go and read it
This version of The Red Pony is a Great Film experience for one and all. Robert Mitchum,Myrna Loy,Louis Calhern and Margaret Hamilton all make for an Excellent cast. With An Excellent score,atmospheric shooting and actors who are truly committed to their roles... This film can hardly miss...and it doesn't! Others on this site have complained that "it's not as good as the book". Which is a fair criticism ...if this was the book you were reading,however it's a different form of art than the book this art is the movie.So often what works in a book will not work in a movie. Robert Mitchum is such an underrated actor and he proves that he can hold his own with any of these Great stars featured in this film. His scenes with the little boy are heartwarming. For a touching film that gives you John Steinbeck's story of The Red Pony from a slightly different perspective(with John Steinbeck having authored this script).This film will touch you as well as make you feel like you really know all of these characters(and sympathize with many of them).Also it should be noted that this part of rural America is beautifully captured in this quaint,memorable and very touching film.This is a beautiful film that is not to be missed. I give it a 9.
Strange Invaders (1983)
The Resurrection Of 1950's Science Fiction
Strange Invaders is an enjoyable(1983) Science - Fiction film that stars Paul Le Mat and Nancy Allen.
It begins with a small town in the 1950's suddenly taken over by aliens. In 1983,LeMat who's a college Professor has an ex-wife played by Diana Scarwid who comes from this small town and when Mr.Le Mat goes to this small town, he finds that this community still functions as if time has stood still and remains stuck in the 1950's.
Soon after he arrives, his dog is turned into a ball of glowing energy and he must steal a car to escape the residents who have proved to still be aliens who are willing to try and kill him.
Le Mat arrives back in New York City consults an F.B.I official(Louise Fletcher) about it but receives no satisfaction.Finally he's forced to go to a gossip paper about what he's found and meets with(Nancy Allen-looking stunning)who has an important position at this paper.That evening,Miss Allen has her apartment infiltrated by a female alien who presumably kills her landlord(Wallace Shawn).
The next day,Mr.Le Mat goes back to the worried Allen's office and both go out together that evening and fall in love. Some of the aliens from the little town Le Mat has just escaped from; come looking for him. The aliens kidnap his daughter and try to kill his new love -Nancy Allen. Both Allen and Le Mat leave New York City with F.B.I Fletcher in hot pursuit.
Allen and Le Mat meet with Michael Lerner who's a mental patient who turns out not to be crazy but helpful in their plight to return to the little town where Le Mat had escaped from and years before,Lerner's own family had been taken from him by the aliens inhabiting this town . When they return to the town,they are met with hostile opposition from the U.S. Government and the aliens who attempt to take Le Mat and his ex-wife's(Scarwid is an alien) little girl because she is half alien! An alien official (in a projected image)tells all of his followers of soon to be future plans ....that include taking Le Mat's little girl back to their planet! There is a wonderful chase scene involving Nancy Allen and the little girl as they try to escape the marauding aliens. Le Mat and his little girl are taken aboard a spaceship,they escape from the alien ship and normalcy is returned to one and all in this little town.
Strange Invaders is a really wonderful, science -fiction film.It has a Superb fifties feel to it as well as a great supporting cast of character actors such as Kenneth Tobey,June Lockhart,Wallace Shawn,Fiona Lewis,Mark Goddard and veteran character actor Charles Lane as Professor Hollister(a trusted colleague of Paul Le Mat's character).
This film is an enjoyable experience that's done somewhat tongue in cheek while still paying great homage to classic 1950's science-fiction.This film received an 8 because of it's pacing which tends to be a bit awkward at times. In closing,another real plus for Strange Invaders is it's marvelously dramatic score which is well done by John Addison. This is (overall) a wonderful piece of science -fiction...very imperfect,but it's fun and worth watching.
Victor Frankenstein (1977)
A/K/A Terror Of Frankenstein
This title suggests a very traditional Frankenstein film and Per Oscarsson's makeup is similar to Universal's defining appearance for the Frankenstein Monster that Make-up Wizard Jack Pierce created for Boris Karloff in 1931.Plus,Mr.Karloff gives the defining performance as the Frankenstein Monster in that film as well as it's sequels-The Bride Of Frankenstein(1935) and in his final performance as the Frankenstein Monster in The Son Of Frankenstein(1939). Every performer has since had to follow in those asphalt spreader's boots....which is almost an impossible task.
However in 1977,Calvin Floyd decided to make this superb film with his wife Yvonne Floyd that is a Swedish-Irish production. Terror Of Frankenstein is the result and it is this writer's opinion that it's the best version of the very difficult Mary Shelley novel which was first known as The Fate Of Frankenstein Or The Modern Prometheus.This Classic novel was written in the early part of the 19th century. This is not Kenneth Brannagh's film(thankfully). Terror Of Frankenstein in it's own way is a disturbing adaption that while closely following a classic piece of literature,this filmmaker was able to find a way to tell a story about a man and his genius dooming himself,his family,his friend and his creation ...all because this man's genius wasn't farsighted enough to handle an enormous mistake...that mistake was the Frankenstein Monster.This film stars: Leon Vitali in an excellent performance as Victor Frankenstein, Per Oscarsson as Frankenstein's Monster, Stacy Dorning as Elizabeth Frankenstein and Nicholas Clay as a superbly cast and unique version of Henry Clerval.
This Frankenstein is set in the 19th century as well ...and Victor Frankenstein follows the philosophy of alchemists.Soon after this film begins, Victor wants to study in Ingolstadt at a medical university where he can advance in his studies. Frankenstein rents his own rooms there and after studying life in closer detail,he decides to create life in a dead man who's made up of other parts of dead men.The creation scene is not a moment to equal the Universal or Hammer scenes of Frankenstein creating life from the dead...it's really a scene of surprise as this gigantic,patchwork man comes to life while Frankenstein realizes that his enormous man is not a man who's perfect in every bit of his being;HE'S AN 8 FT.TALL,BLACK-LIPPED,MOANING,MONSTER!(later in this film the audience is given a chance to look at the creation scene in greater depth and detail) Victor Frankenstein is terrified by his creation and passes out on his bed from fright. Frankenstein is later visited by Henry Clerval who takes his friend back to the Frankenstein family home.
While Victor Frankenstein is recovering at his family home,his little brother William is murdered for no apparent reason. Later,Frankenstein is forced to meet with his Monster who's now verbally adept and begging his creator for a mate. Frankenstein relents and goes to a remote area of Scotland where he begins working on a mate for his Monster...but he stops when he realizes how this creation could create evil for mankind if the Monster and this mate were to give birth to an entire race of monsters! The Monster begs Frankenstein to continue but the creator cannot and will not continue.The Monster(with this new turn of events) warns Frankenstein,"I will be with you on your wedding night". Victor prepares to return to his home while the Monster murders Henry Clerval. Victor and Elizabeth's wedding ceremony is played not with a sense of joy but with a sense of doom as the scene is played from Victor's feelings and point of view as he and Elizabeth are walking toward the altar.The musical score and the way Victor keeps looking around the church allows the viewer to know he's not forgotten his Monster's warning while high pitched musical notes suggest a foreboding menace is all around them and can strike at anytime.
On their wedding night,the Monster keeps his promise and murders Elizabeth by strangling her to death. Victor Frankenstein has to bury the last of his family and takes it upon himself to follow The Monster to the arctic. Finally Frankenstein comes upon a ship that's trapped in the ice.Frankenstein is now showing the effects of everything that he's been through.He's put on a bed in the Captain's quarters. That evening,the Monster comes aboard the ship and both creator and creation bitterly face each other but it's Victor Frankenstein who reaches out for his creation in a fit of rage screaming,"MONSTER!!"Frankenstein now dies and the Monster tells the ship's captain that he has nothing left to live for.This Frankenstein Monster leaves the ship and ventures off into the arctic never to be seen again. Per Oscarsson's Monster is an intelligent and cunning being whose brain works perfectly. This writer declares that this film is superb but not excellent. Even if the viewer watches this film only once...it is still worth the experience.Don't miss this Classic.
The City of the Dead (1960)
A/K/A Horror Hotel
Horror Hotel(United States title)was made in 1960 in England. This amazing little film takes place in America's New England but was made entirely inside the soundstages of Shepperton Studios in England. Most of the cast is English and when this film was made it would have been considered a "B" picture due to it's being only 76 minutes long. The chilling tiny village of Whitewood through most of the film is constantly shown in the darkness with fog covering all of it's ground with most of the thick mist stopping at the cast's knees. One of the few good people to live in Whitewood is an ancient minister who's blind(he admits that his sight was taken away by the Devil) but continues to guard his always empty church while his good and pretty granddaughter-Patricia Russell(Betta St.John) runs a bookstore in this village that has only 2 customers in this store throughout the entire film. Most of the villagers in Whitewood are a tiny amount of people who are grotesque when the camera shows them in closeups. Nan Barlow(Venetia Stevenson) decides to visit this eerie little village when her Professor(Christopher Lee) declares that he's from Whitewood and that Nan should go there because it would be an excellent place for her to get information about witchcraft since that's what his student is doing her paper on. This perky,pretty blond leaves for Whitewood. She arrives there,begins her studies and perishes in a terrible satanic end. No sign is ever seen of her again...except her locket. Nan's brother -Professor Barlow(Dennis Lotis) visits Lee's Professor Driscoll along with her boyfriend - Bill Maitland(Tom Naylor). Each decides to leave for Whitewood while not realizing their fates.Bill Maitland is almost killed in a crash near the village while Nan's brother-Professor Barlow investigates this evil village's secrets ...with help from St.John's- Pat.
This film moves at a breathless pace and one never feels it's too short or long...it's perfection from start to finish. The coven of witches meeting in Whitewood decide to make Pat and Professor Barlow their next sacrifices in the village graveyard. They are about to be sacrificed on a stone slab as the coven follows it's evil guidelines carefully as the town clock must toll thirteen! Horror Hotel is a motion picture that does not disappoint in any of it's grim black and white screen time.Some people cringe at the idea of watching a black and white film of any type but this writer can only agree with a fellow writer who declared that this movie makes the most of it's chilling black and white look. If this film was ever colorized it would take away a large chunk of it's effective creepiness....plus it would be a crime!This is a classic that should not be missed since it is now available on DVD.
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
A/K/A The Brain Of Frankenstein
This film is a Classic!Many people consider it to be Abbott And Costello's best!
In 1948,Bud Abbott And Lou Costello were against doing Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein.Why?Because they were burlesque comedians who had performed their classic routines for years in front of audiences so they were very uncomfortable with new material that had not been tested.The team knew where every laugh was at in "Who's On First?"However,in 1942 Abbott And Costello considered doing a live Broadway show that would've had Frankenstein's Monster,Count Dracula and the Wolf Man in it.But at that time,Jack Pierce the Make-up Wizard was consulted because he was creator of the physical appearances of these classic monsters ...consequently,the show was never done and the Great Jack Pierce was forced into retirement when Universal became Universal-International in 1947.The Great Mr.Pierce wouldn't change his ways because the new heads of Universal-International would have nothing to do with the Make-up Wizard's excellent,but time consuming Art.So in 1948, Bud Westmore was the head Make-up man at the new Universal-International studios. Robert Lees,Fredric I. Rinaldo and John Grant wrote the script and Charles Barton continued on a winning streak to direct the team.But as shooting time began Lou Costello still had no faith in the script so in one scene when Bud's Chick Young and Lou's Wilbur Grey deliver the crated bodies of Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula and Glenn Strange's Frankenstein Monster to MacDougal's House Of Horrors John Grant stepped into the Lou Costello role with Bud Abbott continuing to play his role of the straightman.Both Abbott and John Grant(who was six feet tall with gray hair) went through the scene while Lou roared with laughter at John Grant playing the Lou Costello role.Mr.Costello happily did the scene after that demonstration.In fact,Glenn Strange had said,"... that it was the most enjoyable film that he'd ever worked on".Film purists have a tendency to run down this great film, but it is this writer's most favorite film of all time.Why?I love Abbott And Costello and I love Frankenstein's Monster.It's perfection from the opening scenes with Lon Chaney Jr. as Lawrence Talbot in London,England desperately trying to get through to La Mirada,Florida ...to the closing scenes of the team having escaped in a rowboat after the Frankenstein Monster has chased them out of the castle,down the side of a hill and onto a dock where they escape by boat. My enthusiasm has never ebbed for this classic film from when I first heard about it over thirty years ago. The American Film Institute think it's a treasure as well because they picked it as one of their 100 greatest film comedies of all time.
House of Frankenstein (1944)
Boris Karloff Returns To The Series
Boris Karloff returns to Universal's Frankenstein series,but keeping his promise of never to play the Frankenstein Monster again. Karloff had strong affection for the part and he was too appreciative for all the Monster had done to make him famous.Karloff was even against the changes made to the character in the Bride Of...('35) and the Son Of...('39);so it's very understandable that he'd never actually play the Monster after the 1939 film.Boris Karloff could see that the role would degrade to merely a sidekick for other Universal monsters such as The Wolf Man and later Count Dracula in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein(1948).
As House Of Frankenstein begins,we discover that Karloff is Dr. Gustav Niemann who has long been imprisoned in the Neustadt Prison with a hunchbacked killer named Daniel played by J.Carrol Naish.Neimann is the epitome of a mad scientist(having once given a dog the brain of a man) with his ancient jail cell covered in chalk writings,drawings and mathematical equations while he speaks reverently of the late Baron Henry Frankenstein.Lightning strikes the old prison and destroys both the Dr.'s and Daniel's cells ...allowing them to escape together.After helping Professor Bruno Lampini(George Zucco) get his wagons unstuck from a rain drenched road,they murder him and his driver and take over the traveling show. Karloff carries in the traveling show the skeleton of Count Dracula(John Carradine)who he allows to return to life as long as the vampire does his bidding.This section of the film is an excellent way to start this Monster movie off with a bang!John Carradine makes a superb Dracula with gray hair,a gray moustache and a top hat turned slightly to the side.This Dracula seduces Anne Gwynne by allowing her to see the supernatural world that he's returned from.But she's his downfall because he kidnaps her which causes Niemann and Daniel to abandon him. Dracula dies from the sun's rays hitting him before he can get to his coffin. Carradine gives one of the absolute best interpretations ever of the Count...he's in too little of this film.
Neimann travels to the village of Frankenstein now where Daniel meets a gypsy girl(Elena Verdugo)who's injured after being beaten by a male gypsy.Dr.Neimann and Daniel inspect the Castle Frankenstein's ruins,but as they search the duo come upon a ice cavern that holds the frozen bodies of Frankenstein's Monster(Glenn Strange) and the Wolf Man(Lon Chaney Jr.).They build 2 fires to set the frozen Monsters free because Neimann wants to get his hands on Henry Frankenstein's notes. Larry Talbot(Chaney)agrees to help Niemann in his search because the Mad Dr. has promised to build Talbot a brain that will relieve him of his werewolfism. The group returns to Niemann's old laboratory with Karloff's Niemann only interested in working on the Frankenstein Monster while the Mad Scientist lies to Talbot who continues to go through his nightly changes as he turns into the Wolf Man and kills.Niemann and Daniel go to Visaria and murder 2 men who helped to put the Dr. in Jail.Their brains are to actually go into the Frankenstein Monster and the Wolf Man because Niemann wants them to suffer! Ultimately,he brings the Monster back to full strength while the gypsy girl(who has fallen in love with Talbot)is attacked by the Wolf Man(who kills Verdugo's gypsy)...but she kills the Wolf Man with a silver bullet.Both Die.Daniel is heartbroken and takes the girl's dead body back to Niemann to revive.However,the Dr. refuses.Karloff's Gustav Niemann is only interested in his own depraved wants.So Daniel attacks him and as the 2 fight,Glenn Strange's Frankenstein Monster bursts his bonds.The Monster attacks Daniel,throws him through a laboratory window to his death.The Visaria villagers storm Niemann's laboratory and chase the Monster(carrying Dr.Niemann) into some quicksand where both perish. House Of Frankenstein is a fun film that's a classic in a minor way because this film is very much a B film...but it is hard to dislike (although very contrived).At one point, the film was to even have had the Mummy in it...but the makers decided against that idea, ultimately. Had a little more thought and screen running time been given to it,House Of Frankenstein(1944)might've ended up being as celebrated as the first 3 films in the Frankenstein series...but this Frankenstein film is still worth watching.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
The Greatest Version Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
This M-G-M 1941 version of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson story is cinema at it's greatest and is largely overlooked possibly because of it's depth. This writer has never seen a more malignantly evil Mr.Hyde played to his truly wicked best by the great Spencer Tracy. Tracy's film is essentially a slowed down and very carefully thought out remake of the 1932 Frederic March version.In the Tracy version, there is very unique casting by allowing Ingrid Bergman to play the slutty Ivy while Lana Turner plays the proper and rich Beatrix. In this film,Tracy's Dr.Jekyll is a man deeply in love with the proper Lana Turner whom he is denied even the ability to show affection for in public by her prudish Father played by Donald Crisp.It is at a dinner party that Tracy's Jekyll takes the guests into his confidence by telling them all about his scientific work in trying to separate the evil side from man's good.However,everyone at the party is stunned by Tracy's frank ideas of the good and evil in mankind.
Later Dr.Jekyll and his friend Dr.John Lanyon(Ian Hunter)are walking through an area of London where they meet Ingrid Bergman's well played Ivy who's being attacked by two roughnecks.The doctors chase them away and then take a presumably hurt Ivy back to her rooming house.It is only Tracy's Jekyll who's invited into her room where he examines her and is tempted by this sexy woman. Tracy's Jekyll is a brooding character who works in a Gothic laboratory night and day with his chemicals to create a new formula for separating good into evil and evil into good.This first appearance of Tracy's Mr.Hyde is relatively unremarkable, but there is a difference.Tracy's Hyde looks somewhat different with a full head of dark hair,his eyes have a wild look about them,while his nostrils are flared and his teeth look different.His voice is gravelly as he stares into a mirror(as Hyde) and asks with a gleeful excitement, "can this be evil?"
Jekyll's fiancée(Turner) is taken to Europe for an uncertain amount of time by her untrusting Father,as the brooding Jekyll who while missing his love takes the chemicals again and but turns into a more physically different Mr. Hyde.This time Mr.Hyde goes out among the public by going to a risqué show at a music hall/pub and sees Ivy working there. Hyde insists Ivy drink with him,she does, he starts a fight,gets her fired and afterward,he begins keeping Bergman's Ivy in rooms that are finely furnished for his own pleasures as Mr.Hyde.Mr.Hyde seems to get whatever he wants ...even if it's at the expense of viciously hurting others.Ivy's girlfriend is shocked to see wounds left by Hyde's cruel pleasure across her friend's back. Shortly afterward,Ivy goes to see Dr.Jekyll about her nerves and the wounds on her back.It's at this point that Jekyll promises Ivy that Hyde will never again bother her.Jekyll stops taking his formula,his fiancée and her Father return from Europe and plans are made for their immediate marriage.
As a finely tailored Dr.Jekyll(in top hat and tails) walks to his fiancée's home for a dinner to announce their upcoming marriage,Tracy must stop and sit on a park bench and unexpectedly becomes an even more deranged looking Mr.Hyde!He jumps up and runs toward an unknown destination. The destination is Ivy's apartment.Where he kills her.Tracy's Hyde has no way of turning back into Jekyll so he turns to his friend Dr.Lanyon by writing him a note and begging him to go and get specific chemicals from Jekyll's laboratory and who he should give them to. As soon as Lanyon returns to his home he's met by a more deranged looking Hyde who now has wildly dishevelled hair,darkened teeth,wrinkles around his eyes and refuses to tell him where Jekyll is.Hyde is forced to drink the chemicals in front of Dr. Lanyon and Lanyon watches with a shock as Hyde turns back into Jekyll. Says Lanyon,"you've committed the supreme blasphemy!" Jekyll admits that he has no control over when he will turn into Mr. Hyde now. Later,he visits his fiancée's home explaining to her that they must end their relationship.He leaves going out into the garden where his now ex-fiancée lays crumpled on the steps crying hysterically.We see Tracy's Jekyll almost leaving the garden then he turns and goes back to her.All we see of him now are his hands,shoes, legs,and the lower part of an Inverness cape he's wearing. We see those parts of him as his hysterical Beatrix crawls over to him,grabs his hands and holds them while she continues to weep.But she looks up at her beloved who smiles at her with the horrible face of Mr.Hyde looking every bit like he's escaped from a classic Universal Chiller with dishevelled dark hair,animal-like teeth and wild,evil -looking eyes. She screams for her Father as she faints in Hyde's arms.Immediately her Father runs out onto the patio,Hyde throws the girl onto the patio and begins to tussle with her Father.He ends the Father's small show of force and throws him into the garden.Hyde jumps on top of the Father and beats him to death with his alter ego's cane...breaking it in the process. Later when the police arrive with Dr.Lanyon to investigate the murder scene,it is the Dr. who tells them that Jekyll did it.The police and Dr.Lanyon go to Jekyll's and even find a normal looking Dr. Jekyll who is standing weakly in his laboratory. Lanyon approaches Jekyll and announces,"... that he's the murderer!"But Jekyll stands in front of his friend,police and butler as he declares,"I'm not the murderer!I'm Dr.Henry Jekyll!I'm Dr.Henry Jekyll!I'm Dr.Henry Jekyll...!"The entire time he says this Tracy's Jekyll is turning back into Mr.Hyde.Hyde runs through the laboratory busting glass with a makeshift club. Finally,Hyde grabs a dagger off of his laboratory wall as he walks towards Dr.Lanyon!Lanyon shoots Hyde and his corpse turns back into Dr. Jekyll. Victor Fleming directed Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman in this Masterpiece.
Dracula (1958)
Peter Cushing Was Dr. Van Helsing
The Horror Of Dracula(1958)is considered by this writer to be the best version of all of the cinematic versions of Dracula to date.
Peter Cushing deservedly so is listed as the star of this film as he portrays the best version of Dr. Van Helsing ever put on the screen. Cushing plays an eminent man who is highly educated in medicine,theology,.....and ridding the world of Vampirism.He appears to be a man in his forties,who's dapper in appearance but is also courageous,sympathetic,athletic and can fight any vampire to the death.Peter Cushing IS THE ULTIMATE DR. VAN HELSING.
Christopher Lee gives an excellent interpretation of Count Dracula like none that has ever been seen before.Lee's Dracula appears to be the true nobleman at the beginning of this film who greets the newly arrived Jonathan Harker(John Van Eyssen) with an air of mild arrogance but also supposed appreciation because this version of Harker is supposed to be someone who can arrange and take care of the Count's enormous library of books in Castle Dracula,but Harker is actually working with Dr.Van Helsing to rid the world of vampirism.However,it is Harker who ultimately falls victim to Lee's Dracula when the Count is in his more vicious state where he has gore dripping from his fangs,his eyes are blood red and he hisses like some wild animal;this is the Count Dracula who is present through the rest of this classic film.Jonathan Harker seemingly disappears until Dr.Van Helsing arrives at Castle Dracula,enters Dracula's crypt but finds his friend (now a vampire) sleeping in Dracula's coffin.The Dr. takes it upon himself to destroy his now undead friend.
Cushing's Van Helsing arrives at his late friend's fiancée's family home to explain to them about Harker's death without going into much detail.Not surprisingly,Arthur Holmwood(Michael Gough)is angered by the Dr.'s unspecific details of Harker's death and cremation.However,his wife Mina Holmwood(Melissa Stribling) is understanding and even calls upon the good Dr.for a second opinion to speak with him about her sister in-law Lucy(Carol Marsh) who is suffering from a case of anemia!
Cushing's Van Helsing cannot save the young lady's life because the Holmwood's maid(Olga Dickie) ignores Dr.Van Helsing's instructions which in turn makes it possible for Lucy Holmwood to allow Dracula into her bedroom... where she is found dead the next morning.
A few days after Lucy's death,the maid's daughter(Janina Faye)is lured by an undead Lucy Holmwood back to the vampire's crypt,but she is stopped by Van Helsing as he presses a crucifix to this vampire's forehead causing Lucy to scream and run into the family crypt. Later on that morning,Holmwood watches in shock and horror as the Dr. drives a stake into the heart of the undead Lucy.Arthur Holmwood now understands the importance of Dr. Van Helsing's work.
The Dr. and Holmwood join forces to stop Count Dracula.As they begin working together,Dracula lures Mina to a funeral parlor where he's hiding in! He makes her his next meal...ultimately,kidnapping her as they rush back to his castle.Van Helsing and Holmwood arrive at Castle Dracula as the vampire is burying the helpless Mina in an open grave!The vampire stops,runs inside his monolithic castle, but Cushing is in unstoppable pursuit of the fiend. The finale of this film with Dr.Van Helsing and Count Dracula fighting to the death was suggested by Peter Cushing who asked the film's director Terence Fisher if they could have a scene that would,"be some sort of Douglas Fairbanksian scene?"So in the finale when he's trapped by Dracula,Cushing's Van Helsing jumps onto a long rectory table, runs down it and leaps as far as he can from it toward a pair of long curtains that he pulls off of a pair of the castle's window's which allows sunlight to flood the room and causes Dracula to fall to the floor.As the vampire tries to crawl away,Cushing's Dr.Van Helsing paralyzes Dracula as the Dr. puts two candlesticks together that form a cross which ultimately causes the evil Count's demise ...leaving nothing but dust,hair and Dracula's signet ring.The Horror Of Dracula is sheer cinema magic from beginning to end.
This is why Hammer Films is famous.