HORROR OF DRACULA On 35mm!

 

Last night I had the rare opportunity to see a 35mm Technicolor print of HORROR OF DRACULA in Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The showing was part of the Chicago Film Society's "Technicolor Weekend" series, in which a number of classic features were shown in their original color prints--a unusual treat in today's digital age. 

A lady from the Chicago Film Society gave an introduction before the showing, and she explained that this print of HORROR OF DRACULA came from a private collector, who couldn't remember where it came from. It was the real deal--it opened with the Universal-International logo, and it was the full version of the movie, or at least the full American version of the film. 

The print had not been restored or remastered in any way--it had some scratches on it, and there were times when the focus wavered a bit, and it had some wear--but it was a glorious experience to see one of my favorite movies shown in this manner. 

One thing I noticed in particular was how deep and vivid the colors were. if you've seen HORROR OF DRACULA you know that the main titles are in red--and this was a very rich red. The settings and the costumes came off magnificently. The sound was very clear and direct--James Bernard's fabulous punctuation of a score came out wonderfully. 

Once again, this wasn't the version that the present-day Hammer is preparing to put out on home video soon. This was the 1958 HORROR OF DRACULA, shown to American audiences....and I can assure you, there was absolutely no blue tint!!!!

Now....I have to cover the audience reaction, which was notable, to say the least. 

First of all, the seating accommodation in the theater in which it was shown wasn't large, but nearly every seat was filled. I assumed there might be plenty of other Hammer fans in the audience....but as the movie was rolling along, there were plenty of snickers and laughs. There were even some laughs during the climax!

I certainly didn't expect people to worship this film, but some in the theater were laughing at it most of the time. I thought maybe a big-city audience made up of cineastes would put HORROR OF DRACULA in the proper context, but maybe I was expecting too much. (Michael Gough's performance as Arthur Holmwood really got blasted--the audience laughed at nearly everything he said and did.) 

And to top it off, I wore my Peter Cushing shirt to the event.....and no one acknowledged it. Maybe it was because I was also wearing a White Sox hat, or maybe I'm just weird to begin with--heck, I don't know. 

Even though the audience didn't react the way I thought it should, I don't regret driving all the way out to Chicago and dealing with tolls and bad traffic--when are you going to be able to see a Peter Cushing-Christopher Lee film in original 35mm Technicolor? Seeing HORROR OF DRACULA on the big screen in an actual theater was truly tremendous.