Quatermass 2 (1957)

Starring Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sidney James, Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn
Directed by Val Guest
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Professor Quatermass stumbles upon a factory protected by armed guards which he discovers is connected to projectiles descending to Earth, and hiding a secret that could menace the world.

The second of Hammer's adaptations of Nigel Kneale's Quatermass serials brings back Brian Donlevy as the driven rocket scientist.  Although Donlevy's been criticized for turning Quatermass into a more forceful bully than his portrayers on television, in my opinion, he provides the dramatic thrust the film needs, enlivening the tale, particularly with most of the filming taking place in routine settings, such as an oil refinery.  James Bernard's eerie music helps as well.  Kneale and director Guest collaborated on the script, and it's a great story, with special effects that hold up pretty well in the terror-fraught climax.  With most of the film involving largely faceless villains, I don't think it fares quite as well as the earlier The Quatermass Xperiment, with Richard Wordsworth's transforming menace, but it's certainly another work of quality, thanks to Donlevy, Kneale, Guest, and the Hammer cast and crew.

The Satanic Rites Of Dracula (1973)

Starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Michael Coles, William Franklyn, Freddie Jones
Directed by Alan Gibson
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Lorrimer Van Helsing is brought in to assist the authorities in investigating a house where several British officials have been participating in satanic rites, and finds Count Dracula is involved.

Lee, Cushing, Coles, and director Gibson return for another modern day Dracula film after Dracula A.D. 1972, with the focus less on the "satanic rites" of the title, but a scheme by the Count to decimate the Earth.  Lee is his usual foreboding self and even gets to do a Bela Lugosi impression, while Cushing has some memorable scenes showcasing the character's fiery determination.  Van Helsing's granddaughter is recast with Joanna Lumley, who certainly looks beautiful, but lacks the personality Stephanie Beacham brought to the role in the previous film.  I liked the mystery angle of Don Houghton's story, but thought Gibson's direction of it gave the film a more plodding pace than previous efforts, and found many of cinematographer Brian Probyn's camera setups lacking in building excitement or suspense.  John Cacavas' score has a wonderfully evocative main title, but I was a little disappointed by the rest of it.  The climax of the film which has Dracula largely subdued by a disappointing new idea for a vampiric weakness is also disappointing, but it's still Cushing and Lee, and there's some memorable images and scenes, and I wouldn't want to be trapped in that basement with all those vampire ladies.

The Snorkel (1958)

Starring Peter Van Eyck, Betta St. John, Mandy Miller, Gregoire Aslan, William Franklyn
Directed by Guy Green
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A clever sociopath murders his wife and makes it look like a suicide, fooling the police, but not his stepdaughter, who's convinced of his guilt, and tries to find a way to prove it.

Van Eyck makes a smooth villain in this suspense thriller from Britain's Hammer Films, and the filmmakers hook viewers early with the intricately planned and silently photographed murder, in which the killer uses a snorkel to breathe the harmless outside air while his wife asphyxiates on vapors from the gas lamps he turns on.  From there the race is on to see if the stepdaughter can find the evidence to expose him, or if he'll knock her off first, setting the stage for the finale in which one of them overplays their hand.  Although the rest of the film doesn't quite deliver as well as the opening scene does, this is enjoyable fare, with a story that avoids using the more relentless twists to be found in Hammer's thrillers to come.