Countess Dracula (1971), dir. Peter Sasdy, Hammer Film Productions
We'll be ending our look at Hammer with this one. They made quite a few about Dracula, why not one about Countess Elizabeth Bathory?
The Count Fernec Nadasdy is dead. His widow, Elizabeth (Ingrid Pitt) has to divide the estate evenly between herself and her daughter Ilona (Lesile-Anne Down). This please only a few, the least is Captain Dobi (Nigel Green). He was the count's right hand for over twenty years and the only thing he gets is a suit of armor?
He'd also been sleeping with the countess for twenty years too. While he assumes this whole deal frees up the countess, he is shocked when she's makes it clear she fancies the young trooper Toth (Sandor Eles). She's old enough to be the boy's mother, but she is undeterred.
That night, a servant girl does the unforgivable sin of making the countess' bath water too hot. One lashing later, the countess makes a shocking discover! It seems a fair amount of blood, when applied to the skin, removes all traces of aging.
So she decides to pass herself as Ilona, all the better to seduce Toth!
Not bad, although Toth and Ilona have the charisma of wet socks. Pitt steals the show as the countess. Green acts more as the jilted lover, which is a neat subversion to the whole dynamic.
No comments:
Post a Comment