MGM cranked out this chiller in 1935. It was directed by Dracula's own Tod Browning, essentially as a re-imagining of his lost silent mystery film, London After Midnight. Bela Lugosi plays the lead vampire, with Carole Borland as his vampire daughter. They terrorize the area around Prague, so police inspector Lionel Atwill calls in a Van Helsing-like specialist, played by Lionel Barrymore.
The Good: Browning, with access to a larger budget than Universal had in 1931, creates a very opulent universe in this film, especially the manor that the vampires occupy. He even recreates the "walk-through-the-web" moment from Dracula, this time from the vampire's POV. Also, Barrymore, Atwill and Elizabeth Allen give great performances, with able support from Jean Hersholt. Lugosi, as ever, radiates power and provides a laugh at the end.
The Bad: Whether due to executive meddling or feeling an overwhelming need to stick to the source material, this film is almost incomprehensible, plot-wise. The final reveal that the vampires are actors hired by the police to flush out a murderer leaves the viewer with far more questions than answers. Alfred Hitchcock once said that if the audience doesn't notice the switch until hours after they viewed the film, it's okay, but here, the makers really wanted the twist ending that ends up being a swerve that M. Night Shyamalan would be proud of. That is NOT okay. Also, the film is only an hour long, even though it was previewed at eighty minutes, which gives the idea that MGM did not really have their heart in this one. Plus, the cut material would have explained why Lugosi has a bullet hole in his temple. (He shot himself and was condemned to become a vampire.)
The Ugly: Lugosi doesn't even have any lines until the end! I don't know if MGM can be blamed solely for this. By 1935, Lugosi was already considered to be on his way out. In fact, the trailer for the film, which is available on the DVD, is Bela commanding the audience to attend, and shows the magnetism he had.
Final Thoughts: In some ways, this film is a throwback to silent-era horror (not surprising, since it's a remake of a silent film) when movies like this had what I call "Scooby-Doo" endings, where all of the supernatural trappings are scientifically explained and the "monster" is revealed as Cousin Louie, or whatever. Since Dracula established that audiences would accept the supernatural, this film seemed, then and now, to be a step backwards. It doesn't help that London After Midnight had a much better take on the idea: the detective knows who the murderer is, but can't prove it, so he fakes being a vampire to haunt the killer into confessing. Here, the role Lon Chaney Sr. played is split between Barrymore, Atwill and Lugosi. Too many cooks and all that.
Knowing all this, it's possible to view Mark of the Vampire as a satire of vampire film conventions. Judge for yourself:
No comments:
Post a Comment