The Brides of Dracula: Vampire Polygamy Kicks Off the Swinging Sixties
On this day in 1960 the British film The Brides of Dracula made it’s American debut. The film was produced by the beloved Hammer Film Productions which did some amazing horror and science fiction work in the 50s with films like The Quatermass Xperiment and The Curse of Frankenstein. Although by 1959 they started to revert to sequels and by 1974 had produced a total of 9 Dracula flicks. Of course in this case the Dracula title is slightly dishonest as the lead vampire Baron Meinster (played by handsome David Peel) was in fact just a mere disciple of Count Dracula as seen in this trailer:
Sadly Christopher Lee as Dracula is lacking from this film, which means by default the real star of this gothic tale is Peter Cushing who plays Van Helsing. The leading lady Marianne is played by super sexy French actress Yvonne Monlaur, although I have to say that the brides tend to steal the scenes. My personal favorite here is Freda Jackson who even in this trailer stands out with her delivery of the line “Don’t be afraid, she’s DEAD!” By the way it should be noted that Freda Jackson would also go on to play a bit part in the science fiction series Blake’s 7 (series 2, episode 12).
