Mark of the Vampire

Plot synopsis:
Sir Karell Borotyn [Holmes Herbert] has been murdered just two weeks before the wedding of daughter Irena [Elizabeth Allan] to fiance Fedor Vincenti [Henry Wadsworth]. Sir Karell's body was found with two marks on his neck and drained of blood. The superstitious villagers suspect vampirism and finger the town vampires Count Mora [Bela Lugosi] and his daughter Luna [Carroll Borland], but Police Inspector Neumann [Lionel Atwill] can't buy that. After months of investigation, however, Sir Karell's death is declared 'cause unknown', Irena goes to live in the house of guardian Baron Otto von Zinden [Jean Hersholt], and the wedding plans continue as before.One morning, Fedor stumbles in with two marks on his neck, complaining that he fell and hit his head outside of the now-deserted Borotyn castle where Mora and his daughter are supposedly living. Irena is attacked one evening by Mora's daughter, and Neumann calls in vampire expert Professor Zellen [Lionel Barrymore]. When Sir Karell's signature is found on a lease signed after his death and when Irena claims to have heard her father's voice, Neumann and Otto dig up Sir Karell's coffin and find it empty. Shortly thereafter, the maid and butler see Mora in the house and the Professor sees Mora and Sir Karell walking together in the garden, so Neumann and Otto go snooping at the castle. There, they find Mora, his daughter and Sir Karell. That night, Mora's daughter again attacks Irena. Determined to find and destroy the vampires, Neumann, Otto, and the Professor go to the castle, but Mora's daughter leads Irena there, too. Fedor follows and almost destroys the plan.The plan: The Professor (actually Chief Inspector of Prague Police) hypnotizes Otto into re-enacting Sir Karell's murder. It turns out that Otto drugged Sir Karell and murdered him because he wanted Irena for himself. Mora, his daughter Luna, and "Sir Karell" turn out to be actors from Luna's Bat Woman Theatre, hired by the police to ferret out Otto. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Tags: cult, murder

Review:
Fortunately, luck was still on his side as in 1935 he was allowed to direct a remake of his successful silent "London After Midnight", a movie that would reunite Browning with Dracula himself: Bela Lugosi."Mark of the Vampire" is the story of the tragedy surrounding the wealthy Borotyn family.
The patriarch, Sir Karell Borotyn (Holmes Herbert) has been murdered under mysterious circumstances, and soon everyone in town suspects it was the work of Count Mora (Bela Lugosi) and his daughter Luna (Carroll Borland), as these two deceased nobles are rumored to awake by night as vampires and wreak havoc in the small superstitious village.
Inspector Neumann (Lionel Atwill) doesn't believe in this, as he suspects there is a more mundane motif for the murder of the rich old man, however, when Sir Karell's only daughter Irena (Elizabeth Allan) becomes the vampires' new target, Insp.
Zelin (Lionel Barrymore) to solve the mystery before someone else gets killed.As written above, "Mark of the Vampire" is essentially a remake of the now lost classic "London After Midnight", although this time Browning enhances the horror elements of the story by focusing on the couple of vampires and their actions instead of the mystery of the plot.
The story is pretty convoluted and very clever for its time, with a nice use of black humor (some even see it as a satire of horror films of it's time) and very surprising plot twists to keep the mystery a secret until the end.
Jean Hersholt, Donald Meek and Ivan Simpson have nice turns in supporting roles, with Meek and Simpson delivering some nice comedy that seems to parody stereotypes of horror films of its time.Sadly, the film (or what was left of it) suffers from many flaws that effectively make the brilliant parts of it look bad, leaving the final product as simply a slightly better than average 30s movie.
To make things worse, the performances of Elizabeth Allan and Henry Wadsworth (the main romantic couple of the movie) are atrociously poor, paling in comparison to the work of the rest of the cast."Mark of the Vampire" is a very good film of Browning's short post-"Freaks" career, as despite being plagued by many problems, it still works as a nice tale of mystery and horror.
Lionel Atwill as a stern police inspector and gentle Jean Hersholt as a befuddled baron complete the quartet of leading actors.Elizabeth Allan is lovely as the menaced young lady, while Carol Borland is properly mysterious as Lugosi's vampiress.
Movie mavens will spot an unbilled Christian Rub as a deaf peasant at the coroner's inquest.The film's editing sadly left several very fine character actors on the cutting room floor, including Robert Greig, Eily Maylon, Zeffie Tilbury & Jessie Ralph (whose name still appears in the credits).James Wong Howe's excellent cinematography should be mentioned, as should also the creepy special effects which add immensely to the atmosphere..
Essentially a composite remake of "Dracula" and an earlier film called "London After Midnight" with some bizarre twists, in terms of ghoulish settings and atmosphere, particularly the cemetery scenes, and Lugosi and Borland wandering in the night, this film is second to none.
In a period of barely 5 years he brought us: Dracula (the mother of all vampire-movies and THE film that made Bela Lugosi immortal), Freaks (still amazingly scary after more than 70 years), this Mark of the Vampire and Devil Doll in 1936.This film more or less is the first accomplishment that `plays' with the rules of the genre and creatively adds some very ingenious twists.
Also, when the father & Bela are in the cemetery, motionlessly watching the people looking into the crypt -- creepy sound effects!Also, Donald Meek is excellent as the superstitious doctor.What's wrong with it is that you hardly ever see Lugosi, and Lionell Barrymore REALLY hams it up in the "Van Helsing" role!
All of the essential ingredients for a good vampire film are here, but I guessed who the culprit was from the beginning (and even his motive), but I wasn't prepared for the nice twist in the surprise ending.The story about a vampire stalking people in a picturesque village is handsomely photographed by none other than James Wong Howe and the settings rival any of those used in the original "Dracula" film.
This time ELIZABETH ALLAN is the frightened heroine while BELA LUGOSI and LIONEL ATWILL fill their standard horror film assignments in fine form.LIONEL BARRYMORE is Prof.
Interesting movie of a murder taking place in a small town reportedly done by vampires (played by Bela Lugosi and Carroll Borland).
Now it looks like Sir Karrel's daughter (Elizabeth Allan) is being targeted by the blood suckers.Director Tod Browning's remake of his now-lost film "London After Midnight." In the original, Lon Chaney played multiple parts.
Our blood suckers are played by Bela Lugosi, once again cast in a perfect sort of role for him, and Carroll Borland, whose striking, long haired Luna can easily be seen as a forerunner to characters like Vampira and Morticia Addams.
Zelin (Lionel Barrymore), who specializes in the occult, must convince him that a dead count and his wife (Bela Lugosi and Carroll Borland) walk among the living and threaten both Karell's daughter and her fiancé (Elizabeth Allan and Henry Wadsworth), along with everyone else in the frightened village.
There is more direction from Browning on this film and the pace is considerably better.Having Lionel Barrymore, Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill on hand, makes for a great cast and they don't disappoint.I know that some fans felt a bit cheated by the twist at the end.
Universal Pictures may have been the king of horror films, but "Mark of the Vampire" released in 1935 by MGM, showed why MGM overall was the Tiffany of the movie studios.
With Bela Lugosi (as Count Mora) wandering around in full vampire garb, there is little doubt about where to pin responsibility - but, not everyone believes in vampires Director Tod Browning and photographer James Wong Howe achieve some great visuals; especially with the vampirific Mr. Lugosi, and Carol Borland as his female counterpart "Luna".
Although "London After Midnight" is a lost film, an examination of its script and restoration will reveal how re-filming a story can sometimes drain away its life blood.The earlier film is structurally similar to this one; a comparison indicates that Lugosi may have been originally planned to play this as Chaney did, acting both "parts" - this might explain the apparent gunshot wound to Count Mora's temple; certainly, there is no other explanation offered.
***** Mark of the Vampire (3/28/35) Tod Browning ~ Lionel Barrymore, Jean Hersholt, Bela Lugosi.
No big changes in the formula, until that beautiful ending(and what an ending--I WON'T spoil it--you'll wriggle your toes in glee after you see it!)Bela and his life long devotee/groupie/protégé', Carol Borland(she who makes Elvira and Morticia and Vampira look like old washed out trash) chew up the atmospheric scenery like hungry Allosauri, and Lionel Atwill does his most UN-Moriarity like acting while Lionel Barrymore annoys the heck out of you, but actually makes the "Van Helsing" character seem more like the WIZARD OF OZ.
Lugosi's end of film lines, a rousing egotistic boast, sound dead on realistic, and give a good hint into his own inner mental workings (Borland said in interviews, he actually WISHED HE COULD BE Dracula for real!)..
If what we have to look back on, all of these fine performances from Lionel Barrymore, Jean Hersholt, Donald Meek and Bela Lugosi...the one female who stands out the most through this murder/mystery/plot twist/ rewriting of script ending (due to the censors of those days) is the all alluring Luna Mora (as wonderfully played by Carroll Borland).
The scenes at the castle are rather chilling as the two descend the stairs in such grand fashion where the dusty, cobweb-filled space which looks amazing as their eeriness walking through completes the scene, the group searching the underground crypts for their hiding spot is rather creepy going through the tombs finding the other bodies and being forced to leave them there gives this a highly chilling sequence and the big reveal at the end in the castle's main hallway where they play out the fruition of a rather ingenious plan makes for quite a great time here as the setting is put to great use here.
Carroll Borland is outstanding - her trance-like state in the film is hypnotizing for the viewer to watch.The overall look and feel to the movie is dark and creepy while the story is suspenseful.
Very good older horror film.If you have never watched this particular film I won't ruin it for you but I can tell you it's not what you would expect in the end - there is a twist and a mystery solved.Great late night movie if you want a different kind of vampire story.8.5/10.
Browning's Detective Tale, Take Two. When a nobleman is murdered, a professor (Lionel Barrymore) of the occult blames vampires; but not all is what it seems.This film started out as a remake of Tod Browning's silent film "London at Midnight" (which has unfortunately since been lost in a fire).
Following his time making "Dracula", it seems only natural that Browning would cast Bela Lugosi as the Count in this film.
What with the spooky "castle" (which seemed to go to rot WAY too fast for only having been abandoned for ONE year instead of five) overflowing with cobwebs, flying bats (more convincing than most you see in Universal or Hammer Films), spiders, opossums (but no armadillos), and a lot of elements of the plot in general, this seems like a slightly slicker "MGM" version of Dracula.
This movie is a near scene for scene re-make of tod browning's lost silent film "London After Midnight" which starred Lon Chaney Sr. playing at least two roles.
It's impossible to understand why the makers of "Mark of the Vampire" choose such an idiot twist for an ending, after 45 glorious minutes of atmospheric Gothic horror, amazing sets, and some phenomenal jobs by Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill and Carol Borland in a role that was a direct source of inspiration for Ed Wood's Vampira and Morticia Addams.
The film was a remake of Lon Chaney Senior's "London After Midnight" (1927) both directed by Tod Browning.The story revolves around the murder of Sir Karell Borotyn whose body is discovered drained of its blood and with two tell tale fang marks on his neck.
Later we learn that a coven of vampires has apparently taken over the run down castle next door.Into the case comes Professor Zelin (Lionel Barrymore) who believes in the vampire theory and sets about to prove it.The murdered man's daughter Irena (Elizabeth Allan) suddenly is attacked by a female vampire, Luna (Carol Borland) the daughter of the sinister Count Mora (Bela Lugosi) both of whom are seen prowling about the grounds after dark.Baron Otto von Zinden (Jean Hersholt) and Irena's suitor Fedor (Henry Wadsworth) fear for her safety.
Given the off beat ending you have to wonder if the picture was intended as more of a spoof than what it is.Bela Lugosi plays a "Dracula like" character here and several scenes recall his "Dracula" (1931) performance also directed by Browning.
This MGM Tod Browning directed remake of his previous film LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT works surprisingly well because the Horror stars Bela Lugosi (as Count Mora) and his understudy Caroll Borland (as Luna Mora) play their roles seriously.
Lionel Barrymore plays a quirky vampire hunter closely patterned on the Van Helsing character from the 1931 Universal film version of "Dracula," which also starred Lugosi.
Tod Browning directed Bela Lugosi again, here playing a Count Mora, who, along with his daughter Luna(played by Elizabeth Allan) are reputed to have been resurrected from the dead, and killed a local Baron.
Though this film has a fine cast and some effective, atmospheric direction, the "plot", while seemingly clever and even "post-modern" in reveal, makes very little sense when you see the film a second time, not to mention feeling like a cheat, though it is amusing in a way.
However, when Sir Karell's daughter, "Irena Karrell" (Elizabeth Allan) is attacked and found with two marks on her throat, things start to get interesting as the local villagers begin to suspect "Count Mora" (Bela Lugosi) and his daughter "Luna" (Carroll Borland) of vampire activity.
Mark of the Vampire is not quite self-conscious or poorly made or silly to be camp, though a few bits are (kitty in the knight's armor anyone?); it's shot with the eye of a seasoned professional in creating mood with smoke and fog and eerie low-lighting and sets made of darkness and (actually good) dummy bats that fly into a scene out of the ether, though it's not quite a great horror film.
It's a take-off on the Dracula story in its essentials- a vampire is hiding in his castle and only a know-it-all bad-ass professor can put a stop to it before a female subject is taken under by the Count's spell- and in more ways than one.It's very hard to reveal the movie without at least mentioning, if not outright giving away, what the "twist" ending is.
The rest of the film is decently paced, though at times my mind started to wander as to whether or not a scene could use a little more outrageous or oddball comedy, or if a scare actually worked (one of the things I did love were the maid and butler as they're repeatedly freaked the hell out as they put up bat-repellent in the rooms).And sure, Lugosi, when he shows up, is amazing, and Lionel Barrymore, not a first-timer in a Browning picture, walks a good line between going into too much ham (as the actor was awesomely was once quoted as saying) and being a legitimate lead quirky hero.
Lionel Barrymore plays an expert on the occult who shows up to investigate and soon suspicion falls on Count Mora (Bela Lugosi) and his strange daughter (Carroll Borland).Outside of FREAKS, I think a lot of Browning's sound films are less than good and that's certainly true for MARK OF THE VAMPIRE.
Loaded with atmosphere, lots of dark shadows and weird sound effects, this movie surpasses the original Tod Browning version of 'Dracula' from 1931 in my opinion.If you are interested in murder mysteries, then the plot has an interesting twist.
With plenty of foggy atmospheres too.The cast includes Bela Lugosi (Dracula) as Count Mora, Lionel Barrymore (The Devil Doll), Lionel Atwill (The Vampire Bat, House of Dracula), Jean Hersholt and Elizabeth Allan (Grip of the Strangler).Mark of the Vampire is a must for fans of old horror.
Despite his reputation as a bit of an outsider and even possibly a sadist around Hollywood (he was once described as the only director to surpass Von Stroheim in the area of the bizarre and immoral), Tod Browning was one of the most important film-makers of the silent era and made 2 of the most recognizable films of the early sound era, the original "Dracula" starring Bela Lugosi and the infamous "Freaks." Unfortunately his later effort "Mark of the Vampire" displays the same poor ability in terms of directing dialogue as those 2 films but only a little of their unique visual appeal.
In this version we have the much less interesting premise that the vampire (Bela Lugosi) is an actor hired by the inspector (Lionel Atwill) and the vampire-hunter (Lionel Barrymore) to trick the real criminals into revealing themselves.The only really fun aspect to this is the brief comic scene with Lugosi and Borland packing their trunks at the very end of the film.
The movie begins with the death of a count, which is attributed to a local vampire and his daughter, played by Bela Lugosi and Caroll Borland.
Bela Lugosi, Director Tod Browning and actor Michael Visaroff all worked on "Dracula"(Visaroff plays an inn-keeper in both films).
In another scene, there's a substitution splice to show the transformation of Count Mora from bat to humanoid vampire.The cast is good, including enjoyable performances from character actors Lionel Atwill (as an inspector akin to his in "Son of Frankenstein" (1939)), Leila Bennett, Donald Meek and Ivan Simpson.
I don't think I'm giving anything away from a movie this old--but the plot twist that Bela and Carol's characters are not "actual" vampires, but rather paid actors in some half baked plot to expose the real killer of the film is very disappointing for an old school horror fan like me.In fact, if you're one who is viewing this primarily for the presence of Lugosi, then you can't help but feel let down--this is more like one of Bela's "red herring" roles where he was cast more for his name value on the marquee.
I'm on the side of the naysayers- this is an above average, minor classic film, but fell flat for me at the last minute.Director Tod browning creates an incredibly eerie atmosphere, the mood is appropriately supernatural and even a bit sad....Count Mora(Bela Lugosi) and his "undead" daughter Luna radiate a convincing fear inducing allure.
Amongst the material cut was the story of Count Mora (Lugosi) and his incestuous relationship with daughter Luna (Caroll Borland), his subsequent killing of them both (explaining the bloodshot he sports on his temple throughout) and how he was condemned to spend eternity as a vampire.What we have left is one of the most beautiful horror films ever made.
Before MGM released this movie suggestions of incest between Count Mora (Bela Lugosi) and his daughter Luna (Carol Borland), and a murder/suicide that led to their becoming vampires, were cut from the final print.
After Dracula and Freaks, Tod Browning's 3rd sound horror movie was this atmospheric semi-remake of London After Midnight, a silent smash he'd filmed with Lon Chaney.