Christopher Lee in "Horror of Dracula"

What is it about vampires and libraries? They go together like fangs and fang-fiction. Of course, when Jonathan Harker is the librarian (and secret vampire hunter) at Castle Dracula, you can expect more than just bibliobanter.

Horror of Dracula (1958), originally released as Dracula in the UK, was the first of the Hammer Films Dracula movies starring Christopher Lee. This movie made a star of Christopher Lee, who had been told by casting directors that he did not look “English” enough. (His ancestors were Italian and Romany).

It was also the first Dracula filmed in Technicolor. It made full use of red liquids—from the blood dripping on a crypt during the opening credits to its more appropriate reappearances throughout the picture. Color added a new dimension to the horror movie and secured its survival in the 1960s. In 1931, Bela Lugosi never showed his fangs or bit anyone on camera; with the liberating use of color, Lee regularly showed his teeth and had no problem offering women his vampire kiss.

This cinema card was produced in October 2000 by the Centre Pompidou in Paris to publicize its showing of horror films in its “Hommage à la Hammer.”