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Scars of Dracula - audio commentary

Author	Comment
Abronsius	Scars of Dracula - audio commentary	Lead	[-]
(05/12/08 3:42 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Tags : None Can anyone confirm (or deny!) if the dvd currently on Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000KRMZQU/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE is the one with the Christopher Lee audio commentary on it? It is very reasonably priced at the moment and I only have a Region 4 version without the extra track. The amazon customer comments seem to refer to different versions of the dvd and the description by amazon does not mention it.Would dearly love to have that commentary...
Hamicus Helen		#1	[-]
(05/12/08 9:28 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Yes, I have that one. It has the commentary with Christopher Lee and Roy Ward Baker "You think that when you die you go to heaven. You come to us!"
Abronsius		#2	[-]
(05/13/08 3:53 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Thank you so much for your quick reply, Hamicus Helen. I've just ordered and am looking forward to the commentary track...
BijouBob8mm		#3	[-]
(05/13/08 9:56 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	It's a good, insightful commentary. Christopher Lee has often remarked how much he disliked this film, frequently commenting that he looked unhealthy rather than undead, etc. Because of his critical comments, I had to chuckle when--as the film winds down--Lee suddenly realizes he has never actually watched the whole thing before! I think the actor came away appreciating the production more than he originally had. (Which, to me, I would think only natural. Lee gets more dialogue and screen time, and it's the first film to show Dracula scaling the castle wall like a lizard, ala Stoker's novel.) Possibly Lee had been somewhat prejudiced in his earlier memories, as the film was initially planned without him, if I am remembering Hammer history correctly. Last Edited By: BijouBob8mm 05/13/08 9:59 AM. Edited 1 times.
M F Berry		#4	[-]
(05/13/08 11:25 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	It would have been cool if they had recruited special effects creator Roger Dicken to participate in the Scars of Dracula DVD commentary. He's a great storyteller, and very humorous and entertaining when relating stories of his film work -- absolutely one of the most purely fun interviews I've ever done. If he ever decided to make the rounds of the sci-fi/monster conventions, I feel sure he'd be a hit!
Rick Curzon		#5	[-]
(05/19/08 5:56 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I have always rather enjoyed this film despite several problems: some weak supporting playing, Christopher Matthews speedo underpants (decidedly not available in the 19th century), some weak effects etc. Great score, decent lead performances, Bob Todd, decent direction, the wall-scaling scene all more than make up for the shortcomings. I would rate it 3 out of 4 (good).
dobrien		#6	[-]
(05/21/08 2:56 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	It's an okay commentary, though Roy Ward Baker is tight-lipped about the film's quality and Lee goes off-topic for much of the time, hardly surprising given he's never watched the film before. It's one of my least favourite Hammer horrors, despite a solid cast and reasonable premise. Baker seems uneasy with the Gothic style and Anthony Hinds' script is often poor, with some ill-judged set-pieces (Dracula stabbing his disobedient vampire mistress to death; dismembered body parts dissolved in an acid bath (why?); the branding of Patrick Troughton). Dennis Waterman seems miscast, Jenny Hanley barely registers (her redubbed voice doesn't help) and Christopher Matthews is utterly charmless. James Bernard's score is quite good and I like the blood-dribbling rubber bat on a string, if not for the reasons intended. Lee wasn't intended to appear in 'Taste the Blood of Dracula' but - as far as I know - he was always meant to be in this one. Roger Dicken did a good interview about his work on 'Alien', for which he built the 'chest-burster' version of the monster. As I recall, he wasn't too impressed with the full-sized creature. I think the interview was in 'Cinefantastique'.
Joe Karlosi		#7	[-]
(05/21/08 5:17 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I think Lee actually liked it and concluded that it was better than he thought. I agree of course; one of Hammer's most underrated horrors. ---------------------- "It's MORE ... than a hobby!"
professor liebstrum		#8	[-]
(05/22/08 8:08 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	It would have been cool if they had recruited special effects creator Roger Dicken to participate in the Scars of Dracula DVD commentary. He's a great storyteller, and very humorous and entertaining when relating stories of his film work -- absolutely one of the most purely fun interviews I've ever done. If he ever decided to make the rounds of the sci-fi/monster conventions, I feel sure he'd be a hit! I've only ever been to 2 film conventions [at the end of the 70s] and Mr Dicken was a guest at the first. Very nice man. He bought along one of the puppets from one of the ERB films. It was an excellent model and looked better than it did on screen.
M F Berry		#9	[-]
(05/22/08 10:28 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	He bought along one of the puppets from one of the ERB films. It was an excellent model and looked better than it did on screen. Wow, I would have loved to have been there! About Mr. Dicken, his credited filmography is not that overwhelmingly huge, but just think of the diversity of work that's there: A groundbreaking and iconic sci-fi film (2001: A Space Odyssey) Hammer - Gothic horror (Scars of Dracula) Hammer - Prehistory fantasy (When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth) Horror from Tigon (Witchfinder General, The Blood Beast Terror) Dino-adventure from Amicus (The Land that Time Forgot) All-time classic horror/sci-fi (Alien) He also worked on the funniest stop-motion dinosaur movie ever made (Caveman), and even on Gerry Anderson's "Supermarionation" TV shows! Quite a remarkable cross-section of fantastica. (Say, maybe I should apply for a post as Roger's press agent ...) Professor L, I don't suppose by any chance you took any snaps at that film convention ...?
lsohgirl		#10	[-]
(05/22/08 10:54 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	We interviewed Dickens about "Scars" In LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS #13 (1996). Fun guy, loved these films, and helped us out a lot!
professor liebstrum		#11	[-]
(05/23/08 3:28 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Professor L, I don't suppose by any chance you took any snaps at that film convention ...? Ta-dahhhh! Pix courtesy of my friend Andrew who attended the Convention with me. Other guests included Terence Fisher, Milton Subotsky, Gerry Anderson, Anthony Daniels and Jackie Pearce. Great weekend. Was Warlords of Atlantis an ERB story? Perhaps I should have said Doug McClure film when I made my first post. I remember the Giant octopus as being pretty good Ps Great avatar, M F Berry , whats it from? Prof Last Edited By: professor liebstrum 05/23/08 8:19 PM. Edited 3 times.
M F Berry		#12	[-]
(05/24/08 2:01 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Hi Prof, *Great* pics! Thanks so much for posting them! What a weekend that would have been ... wish I had a time machine! About Warlords of Atlantis ... to paraphrase Douglas Adams, Warlords is sort of "the fourth book in the Kevin-Connor-Doug-McClure trilogy." In many ways it seems legitimate to categorize Warlords as a follow-up to The Land that Time Forgot, At the Earth's Core, and The People that Time Forgot, but in other ways it's not ... Things that are the same: - Stars Doug McClure - Directed by Kevin Connor - "Period adventure" style story - Same type of special effects techniques Things that are different: - Not based on ERB story - Amicus not involved (it was an EMI-Columbia collaboration) Roger Dicken, by the way, worked on The Land that Time Forgot and Warlords of Atlantis, but did not work on At the Earth's Core or The People that Time Forgot. When I interviewed Roger for The Dinosaur Filmography (which, as I mentioned in an earlier post, was a fantastically fun interview), he freely admitted that the Land that Time Forgot dinosaurs were "not perfect dinosaurs, by any stretch," but he also wanted to make sure everyone knew that he did not work on those, ahem ... unique monsters featured in At the Earth's Core! Oh, and my avatar? That's a still of the "paleosaurus" (with a car in its jaws) from one of my all-time favorite classic stop-motion dinosaur pictures, The Giant Behemoth. Mark
BijouBob8mm		#13	[-]
(10/11/35 3:12 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Speaking of Kevin Connor, grab up the newest issue of FilmFax. Nice interview with Connor, as well as AT THE EARTH'S CORE co-star Caroline Munro (which gives you a good sense of her sense of humor). Back to SCARS OF DRACULA...two words: Anouska Hemple.
dobrien		#14	[-]
(06/03/08 12:38 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	BijouBob8mm wrote: Back to SCARS OF DRACULA...two words: Anouska Hemple. Anoushka Hempel, in a long dark wig, channeling the spirit - or whatever - of Valerie Gaunt. 'Scars' has several nods to Hammer's first 'Dracula', which don't really work in its favour. Hempel is one of the best things in it, though the script does her no favours.
BijouBob8mm		#15	[-]
(06/03/08 1:02 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Just now realized I misspelled Anouska/Anoushka Hempel's last name in my previous post! I know she sometimes used an "h" in her first name, but had pretty much dropped it by the time SCARS came along. I think the dark hair worked for her in the film, but the script really didn't give her much to do. Actually, a lot of the scripts she had didn't show her off to best advantage, performance-wise. (Although she often adorned Gerry Anderson's UFO, she had a chance to emote more in her one episode outing on his SPACE 1999. Always thought that show would have benefitted from using her as a regular.) Anyone here ever see her in the 1974 series ZODIAC? I've seen stills, but never actually seen any of the episodes.
dobrien		#16	[-]
(06/03/08 3:46 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	'UFO' treated Hempel as little more than set dressing, judging from the episodes I've seen. I don't know much about 'Zodiac' or even if it still exists, given its vintage. As a Thames TV production, it has a better chance of survival than many BBC shows of this era. If it was made on film rather than videotape, it will probably exist. According to the Imdb, Hempel bought the British rights to a couple of her movies, 'Tiffany Jones' and 'Blacksnake', to prevent them from being shown in the UK again. I guess they wouldn't fit in with her current aristocratic status. By the way, did Hempel use her own voice in 'Scars of Dracula' or suffer a similar re-dub job to Jenny Hanley?
BijouBob8mm		#17	[-]
(06/03/08 4:52 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	'UFO' treated Hempel as little more than set dressing, judging from the episodes I've seen. I always kept hoping they'd at least send her up to the moonbase, so we could see her in one of those purple "anti-static wigs." I don't know if she was dubbed in SCARS or not, offhand. Yes, she did buy the rights to some of her more exploitive fare, some time back. Russ Meyer's BLACK SNAKE got a VHS release here in the States...I've heard, prior to her getting the rights to it, there was a brief PAL release as well. Probably someone's bootlegging it on DVD from the VHS.
dobrien		#18	[-]
(06/11/08 12:55 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	dobrien wrote: According to the Imdb, Hempel bought the British rights to a couple of her movies, 'Tiffany Jones' and 'Blacksnake', to prevent them from being shown in the UK again. I guess they wouldn't fit in with her current aristocratic status. Update: Hempel may have suppressed 'Tiffany Jones' but she certainly doesn't control 'Blacksnake'. It's available on DVD in the UK and I watched it yesterday. The film is best described as a curio, a supposed moral fable that combines solid technical credits with extreme shoddiness and crudity in other departments. Hempel gives a weak performance as a racist, nymphomaniac, whip-wielding sadist. Her more experienced co-stars look awkward and uncomfortable, suggesting that Russ Meyer's direction of his cast left something to be desired.

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Scars of Dracula - audio commentary

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