Mark of the Vampire
Cast your mind back, if you will, to 1935 (No I wasn’t around then either, but it’s worth recognising the context of this film). This is a time when the film studios were churning out vampire films and it is against this background that Mark of the Vampire attempts to bring a new twist to an already jaded formula.
The film starts traditionally enough, with a western couple - Irena Borotyn and her fiance - sitting in a Central European (as this film was also known as Vampires of Prague, we’ll assume that they are in Czechoslovakia and that Prague has suddenly become a lot smaller) inn refusing to believe the warnings of the superstitious peasants. Then Irena’s father - Sir Karell Borotyn - is found dead. The local doctor, Doskil, a character who is superstitious beyond belief, promply diagnoses “Death by Vampire”.
The investigating officer, Inspector Neumann, is - not surprisingly - unsatisfied with this diagnosis (this is 1934, after all) and calls in Professor Zelen (Lionel Barrymore in a wonderfuly campy Van-Helsing performance) for a second opinion.
Much to Neumann’s chagrin, Zelen pronounces Dr Doskill’s diagnosis completely correct and warns that Count Moran (Bela Lugosi) - the vampire beieved to have attacked Sir Karell - will return for his daughter, Irena.
What then follows is a pretty traditional vampire movie as Zelen and Sir Karell’s household divide their time between trying to keep Irena safe from Count Moran while and trying to find the coffins of Moran and his fellow vampires so they can lift the curse once and for all. So far, so traditional…
What really sets Mark of the Vampire apart is the ending, which spins the film around from a gothic horror into something completely different…
I have to admit to having mixed feelings about Mark of the Vampire. As a vampire film, the plot runs along pretty familliar lines - It’s a well made film and does a great job of conjuring up a very eerie atmosphere. Director, Tod Browning, had a great feel for mood and atmosphere and, had Mark of the Vampire been a straight vampire film, it could well have ranked alongside Dracula as a case study in how to build a satisfyingly unnerving atmosphere. Bela Lugosi makes for a wonderfully menacing Count Moran and even Lional Barrimore’s over the top performance adds to the overall mood of the film.
The ending of this film also tries to move it into new and more interesting territory - effectively demonstrating how fear has more to do with the state of mind and what one is prepared to believe than what really is out there. Had this worked, Mark of the Vampire - I am sure - would be regularly making it onto many of the “all time greatest” movie lists that so often circulate nowadays.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work and leaves enough inconsistencies and unanswered questions for me to find myself unable to buy into the ending and, therefore, the film as a whole.
All in all, a nice try, but one that doesn’t quite work.
Tuesday 17 Jul 2001 | Paul Pritchard | Horror
