The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Dracula and the Turn of the Tide
What connects a vampire count and feuding fishing families? Five miles of coastline, storms at sea, and two contrasting imaginations.
From the collection of:
Overview
The association of Whitby with Bram Stoker’s Dracula is fairly well-known; the writer Leo Walmsley less so. Michael Clegg takes us on a journey around the places that inspired both authors, Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay, just five miles apart on the Yorkshire coast. With the help of excerpts from two films based on their novels, ‘Turn of the Tide’ (1935), and ‘Scars of Dracula’ (1970), Clegg provides a guide to their work and the very different tales they have to tell.
What also connects the stories of Bram Stoker and Leo Walmsley is a common theme: intrusion of the foreign. In the case of Dracula, this is obvious enough, with the arrival on the shore at Whitby of an undead from Eastern Europe. Yet for the parochial small village of Robin Hood’s Bay, even those from nearby Whitby might be considered foreigners. The novels of Walmsley depict the insularity of this community, especially in his semi-autobiographical novel, ‘Foreigners’: "You might have your father and your grandfather born in the place and yet you’d still be a foreigner, unless you did everything exactly the same way they did it." And of course Bram Stoker, being Irish, would have been viewed as much more so.
Related
Watch for free
The Mistletoe Bough The Mistletoe Bough
Fantasy 1904 9 mins Silent
Discover a haunted gem, the earliest film of the Christmas ghost story The Mistletoe Bough. Guaranteed to spook a whole new generation over a hundred years after its creation. With new music by Pete Wiggs of Saint Etienne, commissioned by the BFI.
Watch for free
Cross-Roads Cross-Roads
Horror 1955 19 mins
Christopher Lee in perhaps his earliest supernatural screen role, as a ghost who returns from the grave to seek revenge.
Watch for free
Prelude Prelude
Horror 1927 7 mins
A man hallucinates being buried alive after reading an Edgar Alan Poe story.
Watch for free
The Testament of Caleb Meke The Testament of Caleb Meke
Amateur film 1969 25 mins Location: Bangor
A young man is left an old mansion in his uncle’s will. Too late he discovers that he's also inherited a legacy of witchcraft and demonology!
Watch for free
A Visit to Whitby (1913) A Visit to Whitby (1913)
Documentary 1913 3 mins Location: Whitby
Early film footage of the place where Bram Stoker's Count Dracula legendarily arrived in the UK.
Watch for free
The Tomb of Frankenstein The Tomb of Frankenstein
Amateur film 1964 26 mins Location: Comber
A strange old hermit uses witchcraft to give life to the Frankenstein monster. Will the creature be his instrument of revenge, or will it turn on its creator?
Watch for free
Cook's Tour Cook's Tour
Amateur film 1968 7 mins Location: Whitby
The bicentenary of Captain James Cook’s first epic naval voyage is celebrated by Whitby townspeople in this jubilant short film.
Watch for free
Whitby June-July 1945 Whitby June-July 1945
Amateur film 1945 10 mins Silent Location: Whitby
Despite being shot during the closing stages of the Second World War, Whitby appears full of tranquillity and peace.
Watch for free
Yorkshire Riviera Yorkshire Riviera
Amateur film 1958 19 mins Silent Location: Redcar
A nostalgic dip and drive around the North Yorkshire coast in the sun-kissed 50s.
Watch for free
By Gosh It's Hot/A Day Out at Whitby By Gosh It's Hot/A Day Out at Whitby
Home movie 1964 31 mins Silent Location: Leeds
Eating, dancing in the front room, playing football in the garden, walking around Whitby, a birthday party, a wedding – just being common people, only with a Jewish twist.
Watch for free
Prospect of Whitby Prospect of Whitby
Documentary 1965 23 mins Silent Location: Whitby
Whitby seen through the work of Frank Meadows Sutcliffe.
Watch for free
Stranger on the Shore: Hounds of Whitby Stranger on the Shore: Hounds of Whitby
Short documentary 2016 11 mins Location: Whitby
The second in Michael Smith and Maxy Bianco's trilogy of films on Britain's coastal edgelands, in which they explore the spooky enchantment of Whitby.
Watch for free
On Falling - Exclusive Q&A On Falling - Exclusive Q&A
Inside Film 2025 30 mins
Writer-director Laura Carreira talks to Nia Childs about her debut feature, On Falling.
Watch for free
Layla - Exclusive Q&A Layla - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2025 27 mins
Writer, director and performer Amrou Al-Kadhi talks to Rico Johnson-Sinclair about their debut feature.
Watch for free
All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2025 28 mins
Payal Kapadia discusses her Cannes prize-winning and Bafta-nominated drama with Ashanti Omkar.
Watch for free
Khichdi Khichdi
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins
The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.
Watch for free
Dr XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology Dr XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology
Documentary 2023 15 mins
A satirical take on the healthcare service announcements of the 1960s and 70s.
Watch for free
Every Moment Counts Every Moment Counts
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 9 mins
A short animation that offers a window into the world of children’s palliative care.