Dracula Chelsea 73 / Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), British, Pre-production flyer

Dracula Chelsea 73 / Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), British, Pre-production flyer

Artist: Tom William Chantrell (1916-2001)

Unframed: 11 x 8 1/2 in. (28 x 21.6 cm)

Framed: 17 x 14 1/2 in. (43.2 x 36.6 cm)

This piece is a pre-production flyer for the Hammer film, that was eventually released as Dracula A.D. 1972. It was designed to be used to help secure funding for Hammer Studios film projects. The working title of the film was Dracula Chelsea '73, as the film is set in Chelsea, London. However as the studio wanted to appeal to a worldwide audience, they changed the title to Dracula A.D. 1972.

Exceptionally rare British poster, that has only surfaced a couple of t.mes s.

This Hammer horror film was directed by Alan Gibson and stars Christopher Lee (in his sixth title role), Peter Cushing and Stephanie Beacham. In this the seventh Hammer film to feature Dracula, Hammer wanted to update the story, and so brought Dracula back to life in 1970s London, where Count Dracula Unlike earlier films in Hammer's Dracula series, Dracula A.D. 1972 had (at the t.mes of filming) a contemporary setting, in an attempt to update the Dracula story for modern audiences. Dracula is brought back to life in modern London and preys on a group of young partygoers that includes the descendant of his nemesis, Van Helsing.

It is the seventh Hammer film featuring Dracula, and the sixth to star Christopher Lee in the title role. It also marked the return of Peter Cushing as Van Helsing for the first t.mes since The Brides of Dracula (1960), and was the first to feature both Lee and Cushing in their respective roles since Dracula (1958).