MARK OF THE VAMPIRE

US, 1935, 68 minutes, Black and white.
Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allen Them, Bela Lugosi, Jean Hersholt, Henry Wadsworth, Donald Meek.
Directed by Tod Browning.

1931, Tod Browning made the classic Dracula, Bela Lugosi as the vampire. Browning continued to make such films as Freaks and Devil Doll, the latter with.Lionel Barrymore.

This is a contemporary vampire story, explicitly mentioning 1934. Much is made of the mythology of vampires, appearing as bats, punctures and draining blood, sleeping during the day… Much is made at the beginning of the film about superstitions, with local villagers cautious and praying and a tourist couple sceptical about everything.

The lord of the castle is killed, with punctures, drained and the.police chief is called in who is sceptical of vampires. A Professor is also called in who is well informed vampires, Lionel Barrymore. The daughter, Elizabeth Allen, in her grief in it seems to be led on by the vampire Count and his assistant. Her fiance also has puncture marks on his neck.

Also in the picture is Baron Otto, Jean Hersholt, who has inherited.care of the daughter. Various investigations, the professor hypnotising the Baron, his reliving the crime and the revelation that he had done the murder wanting to marry the daughter.

Very creeky, but entertaining, and the surprise twist at the end with Bela Lugosi and the revelation that he is impersonating the Count as a vampire!

1. A vampire film with a contemporary setting, 1934?

2. The vampire traditions, Bela Lugosi appearing on Dracula in 1931? Bram Stoker’s Dracula from 1897? Beliefs, superstitions, rational responses?

3. The village setting, castle, the visitors and their hearing about vampires? The locals and fears, prayers, rituals, superstitions?

4. The finding of the bodies, punctures, drained of blood? The vampire marks? Victims in the woods? Irina and her fiance, Irina herself?

5. The household, the servants, Baron Otto, his concern about his ward, the father and his will, administrator?

6. The Inspector, the investigation, the interrogations, rational, suspecting murder?

7. The professor, his being called in, his expertise, manner, interrogations, his working with the Inspector, his belief in vampires, his explanations?

8. Bela Lugosi as the Count, his assistant, echoes of Dracula, appearance, sinister, leading Irina?

9. The continued investigation, in the basement, the Baron afraid, the Professor and the body of the Count?

10. The behaviour of Irina, upset at her father’s death?

11. The revelation of the setup, the pretence, not telling the fiance, still grieving father’s death, the assistant brought in to impersonate her father, the inspector knowing what is happening, the Professor hypnotising the Baron, the re-enactments, pretending to make the vampire marks, capitalising on the reality of vampires in the district?

12. The joke at the end, the Count and his assistant as carnival actors and Lugosi saying that he would incorporate this performance in future acts?