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Film: Mark of the Vampire
Year: 1935
Director: Tod Browning
Writers: Guy Endore and Bernard Schubert
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan and Bela Lugosi
Review:
This was a film that I didn’t learn about until reading through the Horror Show Guide Encyclopedia. It is from there that it kept popping up when looking at actors and the filmmaker, Tod Browning. This also features names like being written by Guy Endore and Bernard Schubert, as well as having Lionel Barrymore, Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill star. I was intrigued to check this movie out for my Voyage through the FiVes.
Synopsis: when a noble is murdered, a professor of the occult blames vampires, but not all is what it seems.
Now the synopsis does well in giving the gist of what this film is about. It introduces us in an interesting way to the shadow-drenched European village where it takes place. There is a cemetery with what looks like a Romani camp nearby. It builds the atmosphere well with a couple in a carriage rushing by. They stop off, wanting food at a local tavern. It is here we get introduced more to the local superstitions about vampires living in a nearby castle.
We then see this estate. This is where Sir Karrel Borotyn (Holmes Herbert) lives with his daughter, Irena (Elizabeth Allan). She is seeing Fedor Vincente (Henry Wadsworth), with plans to marry. Also, nearby and friends with the family is Baron Otto (Jean Hersholt).
Tragedy befalls the area when Karrel is found murdered. Inspector Neumann (Atwill) is called in to investigate. These attacks don’t stop here. They are odd in nature with markings on the neck that resemble a vampire bite. He is a man of science and doesn’t believe. He calls in Professor Zelin (Barrymore), who points to the supernatural.
Coupling with this, we see these two individuals who live in the nearby castle. Count Mora (Lugosi) and his daughter, Luna (Carroll Borland). The lines of supernatural and the rational blur as our professor and inspector get to the bottom of what is happening here, which includes hypnosis.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is with the interesting behind the scenes crafting of this film. It is based on a Browning short story called The Hypnotist. This comes into play for the climax. Now Browning is also the director of Dracula for Universal and he’s reunited with Lugosi who played the titular character. This film is produced by MGM and clearly, Lugosi is paying homage to his legendary role. I’ll end this part out saying that this plays with expectations and subverts different things that we already saw earlier this decade.
Now that I have that set up, let me delve into the main plot here. Sir Karrel Borotyn is murdered. This is upsetting being that we’re in a small village. It has everyone on edge and even more so that Dr. Doskil (Donald Meek) claims to have seen the vampires living in the area. Karrel is drained of his blood, with the wounds on his neck so this is building the fear in the area. Inspector Neumann isn’t convinced. He’s a rational man. He investigates this in the logical way someone in his position would. This causes him to waver when Professor Zelin points out unexplained things.
Sticking with this, but shifting slightly, I want to look at this investigation. Inspector Neumann interrogates people and looks at the evidence. What I like is that he isn’t bumbling. He’s doing good police work. I even like Professor Zelin throwing doubt into it, because the evidence he is pointing to doesn’t make sense without knowing more. Then we are coupling this with Luna and Count Mora are being seen. There are more and similar attacks. How they play with the viewer, with what seems to be cheats and then explaining them later is well done. Credit here to Atwill, Barrymore and Browning to craft the story how we do.
Even though this film is 90+ years old, I’m not going to spoil what the reveal is. The only thing that I’ll say is that I don’t love it. It is good though and something that would probably be newer during this era of filmmaking. This is part of my issue for the era though. They tended to go more with logical explanations and less with the supernatural. The fears of the time probably play into that as well.
I think that should be enough for the story, so let’s discuss acting. I’ve already said that I liked Barrymore and Atwill. They’re great on screen. They also play well off each other. What I find funny is both are ornery which makes me chuckle the older I get. Allan works as this heartbroken daughter. She is conflicted with things she’s asked to do, even though it does help with figuring out the truth of what happened to father, Karrel. I did like how she conveyed that. Lugosi and Borland were solid in their minor roles. He does only seem to be here for a name draw, especially with another ‘vampire’ role. I did like a joke at the end with him. Other than that, Hersholt, Meek and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. This isn’t shot as well as Dracula, but that’s lofty expectations. I did like capturing this isolated village. It has a timeless feeling, being almost lost in the past while still feeling modern, for the era, with little things that we get. The cinematography and framing were good to capture that. There are limited effects and those look cheesy with the bats. This is something that in decades to come will still struggle. I did feel like there were transformation scenes that now feel like cheats to sway the audience that I have problems with. The soundtrack and design were both fine to help build the atmosphere.
In conclusion, I’m glad that I can tick this off my list as I have now seen. I think that this one is intentionally playing with viewers by boasting about a Browning film with Lugosi that features vampires. I’ll credit MGM for what they were doing there. The acting is what is good here. This boils down to a murder mystery and how this unravel was interesting. The setting and atmosphere are great. The cinematography, framing and locations help there. Just slight nitpicks that I have that lower the score for me. I would recommend it though to fans of anyone I brought up or just of this era of filmmaking.
My Rating: 7 out of 10