The Big Picture
- Peter Cushing's talent and accomplishments in the horror genre are incomparable, captivating audiences with his regal bearing, mastery of tone, and dignified grace.
- The Brides of Dracula is a masterpiece that epitomizes all of Hammer Film Productions' hallmarks, showcasing Cushing's versatility and selling itself on the strength of his returning hero.
- Cushing's portrayal of Dr. Van Helsing in Brides of Dracula is a standout performance, showcasing his commitment to accuracy and his ability to captivate the audience with his physicality and precision.
The man who killed Dracula, created Frankenstein's monster, sneaked in turns as Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes, and bossed around Darth Vader: Peter Cushing could, and did, do everything. A rare talent, the gentleman of horror's accomplishments encompass such a magnitude, the mind boggles to comprehend. Although Cushing's expansive oeuvre was mostly confined to the horror genre, he never failed to fulfill a single, simple decree: be captivating. His regal bearing, intuitive mastery of tone, and dignified grace arrest viewers like a black hole sucking in matter, even if a movie didn't deserve his commitment. Menacing or amiable, it doesn't matter. Decades of adulation (and being Christopher Lee's bestie) argue for themselves.When it comes to which classic Hammer Horror film was Cushing's best, it's easy to nominate an obvious choice. Surely it's The Curse of Frankenstein, right? With no shade intended toward the opulent masterpiece that is Curse, the correct answer is The Brides of Dracula. The 1960 sequel to Hammer Film Productions' smash hit Horror of Dracula might have been a cash cow in lesser hands. Instead, it epitomizes and distills all of Hammer's hallmarks into a product that’s so damn good, it’s hard to find fault. The studio's creative reinvention of the Dracula novel continues with a unique vampire story that could've stalked its way out of any epochal Gothic book. Most notably, Brides marks the one time Cushing returned to the Van Helsing role and the only Hammer Dracula to which Christopher Lee's vampiric maelstrom didn't return. Brides of Dracula had to sell itself on the strength of its returning hero rather than the appeal of its titular villain. Spoiler: it does. Just because it's “the sequel without Dracula” doesn’t mean Hammer spared expense. Brides even goes further than Horror of Dracula by employing Cushing's unfairly underutilized versatility. In short, Brides walked so Crimson Peak and The Invitation could run, but Brides ran an Olympic Gold Medal marathon.
‘Brides of Dracula’ Perfected the Quintessential Hammer Atmosphere
When Hammer Film was in its prime, they mixed spectacle with purpose. Brides of Dracula's opening credits prime the audience with ominous string music and a title card outlined in lurid red (get it? It's blood!). It's silly by today's standards, but who cares? In the 1960s, Hammer Horror was cool. What holds up remains perfectly epic, like Brides starting in a fog-drenched forest of barren tree limbs. A young woman finds herself alone in a strange Eastern European village, and the setting is a recipe for a diabolically entertaining disaster. Brides was director Terence Fisher's sixth film with Hammer, and it retains the pacing blueprint he established with Curse of Frankenstein. The taut mood's impeccable because Fisher takes his time layering atmosphere with naturalistic character beats. Run-of-the-mill dialogue is engaging because the scenes unfold strategically. There's a delectable mystery afoot, an escalating tension, with Fisher slowly pulling back the curtain.The woman stranded by her frightened coach driver is Marianne (Yvonne Monlaur), a French schoolteacher traveling to Transylvania for work. Marianne tries to secure lodging at the nearest inn but the innkeepers turn her away. As Marianne contemplates her next move, the villagers' unspoken anxiety reaches a boiling point when an imperious woman drops by. The source of their terror is the Baroness Meinster (Martita Hunt), a noblewoman living alone in her secluded mountain castle. She takes to Marianne's manners and insists she stay the night, promising to escort her to her school in the morning. Suddenly, the innkeepers have a free room, but there's no refusing the Baroness's iron will.Marianne's stay at the Meinster castle unfolds with the portentous siren song of the original Dracula's prologue, but the castle's colorfully intricate sets sing the loudest. Hammer's production design is a character in its own right. Lush purple curtains drape from the ceiling. Candles, cobwebs, and a winding stairway sprawl across hostile architecture. The wood shows wear and tear. Everything has a grounded sense of placement. The same intentionality goes for the costuming, which conveys character through lace detailing and muted tones.
Peter Cushing Doesn’t Miss a Beat in ‘Brides of Dracula'
That evening, Marianne spots a man from her ivy-covered terrace. The no-first-name Baron Meinster (David Peel) is the Baroness's son and has an unfortunate "illness": he likes blood and hates sunlight. His mother keeps him locked in a room but can't bear to kill him, so she brings him pretty girls to feed on. Marianne was his next intended victim, but she's appalled by the Baroness's behavior and helps the Baron escape. In so doing, she falls for his sad boy charms.After she unwittingly releases a monster, Marianne flees into the woods and collapses from exhaustion. Enter the dashing Dr. Van Helsing (Cushing), who swoops to her rescue. Many superb actors have played the world's most famous vampire hunter (Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins), but they've got nothing on Peter Cushing. The actor was so committed to accuracy that a surgeon trained him for the role of Victor Frankenstein, and Cushing wields his honed skills with the precision of a scalpel. But instead of Frankenstein's amoral, self-aggrandizing malevolence, Van Helsing exudes genteel warmth. He's a composed English gentleman cast in a magnificent savior role, and it fits Cushing like a glove. Beyond his natural charisma, there's a magnetism to how the actor holds himself. He cut his teeth in the theater world, and he retains that arresting physicality but knows how to act for the camera: intimate, precise, and concentrated. Only Cushing could fight a felt bat prop and make it ring true. He respects his audience, and it shows. Marianne's lady employer calls Van Helsing charming. Ma'am, that's a century's worth of understatements.Just like Curse of Frankenstein, Brides of Dracula is especially powerful for its silence. When Van Helsing investigates the Meinster castle, the score drops. His cautious footsteps and a ticking clock dominate the soundscape. Terence Fisher's camera follows Van Helsing at a close glide, stopping when he pauses. You'd need an obsidian knife to slice through the thick atmosphere. Later, when Van Helsing searches for the Baron in an abandoned mill, it's the kind of disquiet that film schools should teach. Cushing's painstaking style fused with Fisher's finesse is the perfect meeting of form and function.
In ‘Brides of Dracula,’ Peter Cushing Got To Play the Hero
Even though it's unfair to compare the Baron with Christopher Lee's monstrously alluring Dracula, the former doesn't bring much to the table. Brides' most unsettling moments are a wolf howling offscreen, horses neighing uneasily, and the Baron's servant Greta (Freda Jackson) lying on a fresh grave and coaxing out a newborn vampire. Unfortunately, Marianne still thinks the Baron's the GOAT and accepts his marriage proposal when he shows up at her school. (Behold, it's the "we fell in love within five minutes" logic.)Van Helsing's gallant instincts activate once he hears the news. The fact he swept Marianne into his arms the first time they met was situationally debonair, but Brides' third act lets Cushing excel at a role rarely offered to him: the romantic hero. Van Helsing tends to Marianne's safety with a gentleness that bleeds through the screen. He carries her with unfair effortlessness, and there's tender face-cupping action. (Get out of here with that nobility!) Between his intellectual empathy and his stylish Victorian fashion, Van Helsing cuts a striking figure. The diagnosis is silver fox.Nothing, however, compares to the finale. Van Helsing suddenly becomes Dr. Badass when he and the Baron engage in an action-heavy scuffle. And when the Baron bites him (gasp!), what does Van Helsing do? He cauterizes the wound with a fire-hot piece of metal and dumps holy water over it. It's charming fun aided by how Cushing's intense resolve never falters. His posture's weary, but Van Helsing still jumps onto a windmill so his weight can turn the angle of its shadow into a cross. Thank you, Hammer Film, for this gift. Once the Baron's taken out, Marianne sprints in for an emotional hug. Embracing is all the pair do, but those tender gazes make it obvious Van Helsing got the girl. This movie's joyful surprises don't stop until the credits roll.In another universe (one I'd like to visit), the world got a Van Helsing franchise. Peter Cushing was able to play against type at the same time he churned out six flawless Frankenstein performances. Heroes do pepper Cushing's resume, but those lightning-in-a-bottle villains always steal the spotlight — an entirely fair spotlight. Nonetheless, the default idea of Peter Cushing as "the bad guy" makes Brides of Dracula a special entry in the Hammer canon. As a film, it's part of the studio’s golden age when their peerless and lurid gall influenced future generations. Eventually, Hammer fell into lazy repetition, and as his primary employer, that meant Cushing never received the diverse roles his singular talent deserved. But we'll always have Brides of Dracula. It's a moment frozen in amber, where Cushing got to play in a different sandbox but still bring the hurricane force of his craft to bear. He always did; it's why superlatives like idolized, cherished, and adored never feel out of place for horror's gentlest maestro.
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