Taste the Blood of Dracula – 1970

A Hammer Film production released through Warner-Pathe Dimibutors Limited (UK) and Warner-Seven Arts (USA)
Copyright MCMLXIX Hammer Film Productions limited – All rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate No. 22364
The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the name, character, or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional
RCA Sound Recording
Produced at ttle Elstree Studios of Associated British Productions Ltd, Hertfordshire, England
Technicolor 95 mins
Storyline
The film opens with a prologue in which shady salesman Weller witnesses the destruction of Dracula (as shown in “Dracula has Risen from the Grave”) and collects the vampire’s blood. The action then moves to seemingly respectable Victorian England, where pillars of society William Hargood, Samuel Paxton and Jonathan Secker travel to London, a journey they make every month ostensibly to do charity work with the poor. However, the real reason for the trip is to indulge in sex orgies at a brothel run by the seedy Felix, who introduces them to the debauched Lord Courtley. Challenging them to plumb even lower depths of depravity, Courtley takes them to Weller’s shop and persuades them to buy Dracula’s blood for use in a sickening Satanic Black Mass ritual…..
Watch the trailer on YouTube



Crew
Function | Credited | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Productions | |||
Click a link for more info | Credited | Uncredited | Total | ||||||
Art Director | Scott MacGregor | 55 | 22 Oct 1914 | 1971 | 56 | 14 | 1 | 15 | |
Ast. Director | Derek Whitehurst | 41 | 2 Oct 1928 | 6 Dec 2005 | 77 | 16 | 16 | ||
Based on characters by | Bram Stoker | 122 | 8 Nov 1847 | 20 Apr 1912 | 64 | 6 | 6 | ||
Construction Manager | Arthur Banks | 18 | 29 | 47 | |||||
Continuity | Geraldine Lawton | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Director | Peter Sasdy | 34 | 27 May 1935 | 88 | 6 | 6 | |||
Director of Photog. | Arthur Grant BSc | 55 | 1915 | 1972 | 56 | 30 | 30 | ||
Dubbing Mixer | Dennis Whitlock | 42 | 1028 | 2008 | 80 | 13 | 1 | 14 | |
Editor | Chris Barnes | 32 | 1 Jan 1938 | 5 Jun 2009 | 71 | 21 | 12 | 33 | |
Hairdressing S/visor | Mary Bredin | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Make-up Supervisor | Gerry Fletcher | 63 | 26 Feb 1907 | 2 | 2 | ||||
Music Composer | James Bernard | 44 | 20 Sep 1925 | 12 Jul 2001 | 75 | 24 | 1 | 25 | |
Musical Supervisor | Philip Martell | 62 | 6 Oct 1907 | 11 Aug 1993 | 85 | 104 | 1 | 105 | |
Producer | Aida Young | 49 | 11 Aug 1920 | 12 Aug 2007 | 87 | 8 | 6 | 14 | |
Production Manager | Christopher Sutton | 38 | 1 Sep 1931 | 88 | 7 | 7 | |||
Recording Supervisor | A.W. Lumkin | 57 | 1 Feb 1913 | 25 Oct 1985 | 72 | 30 | 30 | ||
Screenplay | Anthony Hinds | 47 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 84 | 1 | 85 | |
Sound Editor | Roy Hyde | 50 | 15 Feb 1920 | 28 Jun 1985 | 65 | 30 | 1 | 31 | |
Sound Recordist | Ron Barron | 46 | 9 Dec 1923 | 15 Dec 1973 | 50 | 4 | 4 | ||
Special Effects | Brian Johnson (as Johncock) | 30 | 29 Jun 1939 | 84 | 3 | 7 | 10 | ||
Wardrobe Master | Brian Owen-Smith | 3 | 3 | ||||||
Uncredited | |||||||||
Boom Operator | Keith Batten | 29 | 1941 | 82 | 6 | 6 | |||
Camera Operator | Neil Binney | 38 | 1 Jun 1931 | 92 | 17 | 10 | 27 | ||
Clapper Loader | Peter Carmody | 26 | 1944 | 79 | 6 | 6 | |||
Draughtsman | Alan Cassie | 29 | 5 Jul 1940 | 83 | 2 | 2 | |||
Focus Puller | Bob Jordan | 16 | 16 | ||||||
Matte Painter | Les Bowie | 56 | 10 Nov 1913 | 27 Jan 1979 | 67 | 32 | 11 | 43 | |
Matte Painter | Peter Melrose | 40 | 1 Jan 1930 | 93 | 1 | 4 | 5 | ||
Painter | Michael Finlay | 22 | 23 Apr 1948 | 75 | 19 | 19 | |||
Second Ast. Director | Joe Marks | 41 | 6 Feb 1929 | 20 Oct 2019 | 90 | 6 | 6 | ||
Second Ast. Director | Nicholas Granby | 24 | 19 Nov 1945 | 77 | 6 | 6 | |||
Special Effects Ast. | Terry Schubert | 32 | 1938 | 85 | 6 | 6 | |||
Special Effects Ast. | Bob Archer | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Special Effects Team | Mike Tilley | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Stunts | Peter Diamond | 40 | 10 Aug 1929 | 27 Mar 2004 | 84 | 4 | 23 | 27 | |
Third Ast. Director | Lindsey C. Vickers | 30 | 1940 | 83 | 7 | 7 |
Cast
Character | Actor | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Productions | |||
Click a link for more info | Credited | Uncredited | Total | ||||||
Alice Hargood | Linda Hayden | 17 | 19 Jan 1953 | 70 | 2 | 2 | |||
Chinese Girl | Lai Ling | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Cobb | Michael Ripper | 57 | 27 Jan 1913 | 28 Jun 2000 | 87 | 34 | 2 | 36 | |
Count Dracula | Christopher Lee | 47 | 27 May 1922 | 7 Jun 2015 | 93 | 22 | 22 | ||
Dolly | Madeline Smith | 20 | 2 Aug 1949 | 73 | 3 | 3 | |||
Father | Keith Marsh | 44 | 1 Jan 1926 | 28 Jan 2013 | 86 | 3 | 3 | ||
Felix | Russell Hunter | 45 | 18 Feb 1925 | 26 Feb 2004 | 81 | 1 | 1 | ||
Jeremy Secker | Martin Jarvis | 28 | 4 Aug 1941 | 81 | 1 | 1 | |||
Jonathan Secker | John Carson | 43 | 28 Feb 1927 | 5 Nov 2016 | 89 | 4 | 4 | ||
Lord Courtley | Ralph Bates | 30 | 12 Feb 1940 | 27 Mar 1991 | 78 | 5 | 5 | ||
Lucy Paxton | Isla Blair | 25 | 29 Sep 1944 | 78 | 2 | 2 | |||
Maid | Shirley Jaffe | 36 | 1 Jan 1934 | 89 | 1 | 1 | |||
Martha | Gwen Watford | 42 | 10 Sep 1927 | 6 Feb 1994 | 75 | 2 | 2 | ||
Paul Paxton | Anthony Corlan | 22 | 9 May 1947 | 75 | 3 | 3 | |||
Samuel Paxton | Peter Sallis | 49 | 1 Feb 1921 | 2 Jun 2017 | 89 | 2 | 2 | ||
Snake Girl | Malaika Martin | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Son | Peter May | 2 | 2 | ||||||
Vicar | Reginald Barratt | 50 | 25 Jan 1920 | 10 Jun 1977 | 57 | 1 | 1 | ||
Weller | Roy Kinnear | 36 | 8 Jan 1934 | 20 Sep 1988 | 54 | 2 | 2 | ||
William Hargood | Geoffrey Keen | 53 | 21 Aug 1916 | 3 Nov 2005 | 89 | 4 | 4 | ||
Uncredited | |||||||||
Bordello Girl | Amber Blare | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Bordello Girl | Josie Grant | 3 | 3 | ||||||
Bordello Girl | Vicky Gillespie | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Cafe Royal Patron | John Tatham | 58 | 29 Jul 1911 | Dec 1996 | 85 | 1 | 8 | 9 | |
Cafe Royal Patron | Juba Kennerley | 72 | 4 May 1898 | Jan 1991 | 92 | 3 | 3 | ||
Lady at Funeral | Pauline Chamberlain | 37 | 2 Oct 1932 | 14 Jan 2021 | 88 | 5 | 5 | ||
Mission Hall Diner | Jim O'Brady | 62 | 13 May 1907 | 1 Jan 1991 | 83 | 18 | 18 | ||
Mission Hall Diner | Dido Plumb | 64 | 23 Jun 1905 | 4 Mar 1991 | 85 | 10 | 10 | ||
Mission Hall Guide | Daniel Brown | 5 | 5 | ||||||
Mission Hall Vagrant | Jimmy Charters | 7 | 7 | ||||||
Prostitute | June Palmer | 29 | 1 Aug 1940 | 6 Jan 2004 | 63 | 1 | 1 | ||
Stunts | Eddie Powell | 43 | 9 Mar 1927 | 11 Aug 2000 | 73 | 2 | 11 | 13 | |
Stunts | Peter Brace | 45 | 30 Aug 1924 | 29 Oct 2018 | 94 | 3 | 3 |
Production
FILMING BEGAN | 27 October 1969 | |
UK RELEASE | 7 May 1970 | |
STUDIO | Elstree Studios of Associated British Picture Corporation, Hertfordshire, England | |
LOCATION | Aldenham Country Park, Hertfordshire, England | |
Scratchwood, Hertfordshire, England | ||
St Andrew's Church, Totteridge Lane, Totteridge, London, England | ||
Tykes Water Lake & Bridge, Aldenham Country Park, Hertfordshire, England | Horse riding scene |
Footnotes
The American distributor would not accept Hammer’s original idea to have a Dracula film without Dracula and it took quite a lot of persuasion to convince Christopher Lee to resurrect a character with which he was becoming increasingly disenchanted.
This was the first of three films directed for Hammer by Hungarian Peter Sasdy, the others being “Countess Dracula” (1970) and “Hands of the Ripper” (1971). For Christopher Lee’s Charlemagne company, he also directed “Nothing but the Night” (1972, starring Lee and Peter Cushing).
This was also the first Hammer film for actor Ralph Bates, who later appeared for them again in “The Horror of Frankenstein” (1970), “Lust for a Vampire” (1970), “Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde” (1971) and “Fear in the Night” (1972). He later starred in BBC TV’s sitcom “Dear John”, before his premature death in 1991.
He was married to actress Virginia Wetherell, who appears in Hammer’s “Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde” and “Demons of the Mind” (both 1971).
Linda Hayden enjoyed a short career in horror films and also appeared in Tigon’s “Blood on Satan’s Claw” (1970) and the American International/Amicus co-production “Madhouse” (1974, starring Peter Cushing and Vincent Price).
Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection