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 Credits |
Art Director | Scott MacGregor | 55 | 22 Oct 1914 | 1971 | 56 | 14 |
Assistant Director | Derek Whitehurst | 41 | 2 Oct 1928 | 6 Dec 2005 | 77 | 16 |
Based on the character created by | Bram Stoker | 122 | 8 Nov 1847 | 20 Apr 1912 | 64 | 6 |
Construction Manager | Arthur Banks | 18 | ||||
Continuity | Geraldine Lawton | 1 | ||||
Directed by | Peter Sasdy | 34 | 27 May 1935 | Living | 85 | 6 |
Director of Photography | Arthur Grant, BSc | 55 | 1915 | 1972 | 57 | 30 |
Dubbing Mixer | Dennis Whitlock | 42 | 1928 | 2008 | 80 | 13 |
Editor | Chris Barnes | 32 | 1938 | 5 Jun 2009 | 71 | 21 |
Hairdressing Supervisor | Mary Bredin | 1 | ||||
Make-up Supervisor | Gerry Fletcher | 62 | 26 Feb 1907 | 1 | ||
Music Composed by | James Bernard | 44 | 20 Sep 1925 | 12 Jul 2001 | 75 | 24 |
Musical Supervisor | Philip Martell | 62 | 6 Oct 1907 | 11 Aug 1993 | 85 | 103 |
Produced by | Aida Young | 49 | 11 Aug 1920 | 12 Aug 2007 | 87 | 8 |
Production Manager | Christopher Sutton | 38 | 1 Sep 1931 | Living | 89 | 7 |
Recording Supervisor | A.W. Lumkin | 56 | 2 Feb 1913 | 25 Oct 1985 | 72 | 30 |
Screenplay by | John Elder (Anthony Hinds) | 47 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 84 |
Sound Editor | Roy Hyde | 49 | 15 Feb 1920 | 28 Jun 1985 | 65 | 30 |
Sound Recordist | Ron Barron | 46 | 10 Dec 1923 | 15 Dec 1973 | 50 | 4 |
Special Effects | Brian Johncock | 30 | 29 Jun 1939 | Living | 81 | 2 |
Wardrobe Master | Bruno Owen-Smith | 3 |
Cast
Character | Actor | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Appearances |
Alice Hargood | Linda Hayden | 16 | 19 Jan 1953 | Living | 68 | 2 |
Chinese Girl | Lai Ling | 1 | ||||
Cobb | Michael Ripper | 56 | 27 Jan 1913 | 28 Jun 2000 | 87 | 34 |
Count Dracula | Christopher Lee | 47 | 27 May 1922 | 7 Jun 2015 | 93 | 22 |
Dolly | Madeline Smith | 20 | 2 Aug 1949 | Living | 71 | 3 |
Father | Keith Marsh | 44 | 1926 | 1 Jan 2013 | 87 | 3 |
Felix | Russell Hunter | 44 | 18 Feb 1925 | 26 Feb 2004 | 79 | 1 |
Jeremy Secker | Martin Jarvis | 28 | 4 Aug 1941 | Living | 79 | 1 |
Jonathan Secker | John Carson | 42 | 28 Feb 1927 | 5 Nov 2016 | 89 | 4 |
Lord Courtley | Ralph Bates | 29 | 12 Feb 1940 | 27 Mar 1991 | 51 | 5 |
Lucy Paxton | Isla Blair | 25 | 29 Sep 1944 | Living | 76 | 2 |
Maid | Shirley Jaffe | 36 | 1934 | Living | 87 | 1 |
Martha | Gwen Watford | 42 | 10 Sep 1927 | 6 Feb 1994 | 66 | 2 |
Paul Paxton | Anthony Corlan | 22 | 9 May 1947 | Living | 73 | 3 |
Samuel Paxton | Peter Sallis | 48 | 1 Feb 1921 | 2 Jun 2017 | 96 | 2 |
Snake Girl | Malaika Martin | 1 | ||||
Son | Peter May | 2 | ||||
Vicar | Reginald Barratt | 49 | 25 Jan 1920 | 10 Jun 1977 | 57 | 1 |
Weller | Roy Kinnear | 35 | 8 Jan 1934 | 20 Sep 1988 | 54 | 2 |
William Hargood | Geoffrey Keen | 53 | 21 Aug 1916 | 3 Nov 2005 | 89 | 4 |
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