Tod Browning's Mark Of The Vampire is a very atmospheric movie, the eerie ambience helped no end by superb gothic set design -- a cobweb strewn castle, a foggy forest, a mist shrouded graveyard -- all captured in sumptuous black and white photography. It's a shame that the overall film doesn't do the splendid visuals justice, the dreadfully dull and extremely muddled plot being quite nonsensical, and the performances overly theatrical.
A virtual remake of Browning's long lost movie London After Midnight, Mark Of The Vampire stars Lionel Barrymore as Professor Zelin, who is trying to find out who or what was responsible for the death of Sir Karell Borotyn (Holmes Herbert), whose body was found totally drained of blood with two puncture wounds on the neck. Dr. Doskil (Donald Meek) believes that it is the work of the vampire Count Mora (Bela Lugosi), but Inspector Neumann (Lionel Atwill) isn't so quick to come to a supernatural conclusion, and puts into play a plan to reveal the culprit. Meanwhile, the Count and his female companion Luna (Carroll Borland) loiter menacingly at night waiting to put the bite on unsuspecting victims.
Much like Count Mora and Luna, Mark Of The Vampire moves at a deathly pace, and also makes not a lick of sense. The killer's identity is ultimately revealed and the vampiric shenanigans explained, but not adequately enough to answer all questions. Why are we, the viewer, shown both Luna and Mora --supposedly actors posing as the undead -- transforming from bat into human form (is this something they teach at RADA)? How does Luna cause Irena to faint (is she a hypnotist?), what is bat-thorn and why does Count Mora have a bullet wound on his temple?
As for being able to completely drain a body of its blood using a heated glass placed over two small puncture wounds... sounds unlikely!
Apparently, studio interference was responsible for the scrappy nature of the narrative and the glaring plot-holes, but as someone else here on IMDb quite rightly points out, we can only go by what we see on screen, and what we see is a total mess.
2.5/10, rounded up to 3 for the possum, the rubber bat, and the clockwork spider with googly eyes, and for Luna's bat to human transformation, which cannot be adequately explained within the context of the story, but which looks great anyway.
A virtual remake of Browning's long lost movie London After Midnight, Mark Of The Vampire stars Lionel Barrymore as Professor Zelin, who is trying to find out who or what was responsible for the death of Sir Karell Borotyn (Holmes Herbert), whose body was found totally drained of blood with two puncture wounds on the neck. Dr. Doskil (Donald Meek) believes that it is the work of the vampire Count Mora (Bela Lugosi), but Inspector Neumann (Lionel Atwill) isn't so quick to come to a supernatural conclusion, and puts into play a plan to reveal the culprit. Meanwhile, the Count and his female companion Luna (Carroll Borland) loiter menacingly at night waiting to put the bite on unsuspecting victims.
Much like Count Mora and Luna, Mark Of The Vampire moves at a deathly pace, and also makes not a lick of sense. The killer's identity is ultimately revealed and the vampiric shenanigans explained, but not adequately enough to answer all questions. Why are we, the viewer, shown both Luna and Mora --supposedly actors posing as the undead -- transforming from bat into human form (is this something they teach at RADA)? How does Luna cause Irena to faint (is she a hypnotist?), what is bat-thorn and why does Count Mora have a bullet wound on his temple?
As for being able to completely drain a body of its blood using a heated glass placed over two small puncture wounds... sounds unlikely!
Apparently, studio interference was responsible for the scrappy nature of the narrative and the glaring plot-holes, but as someone else here on IMDb quite rightly points out, we can only go by what we see on screen, and what we see is a total mess.
2.5/10, rounded up to 3 for the possum, the rubber bat, and the clockwork spider with googly eyes, and for Luna's bat to human transformation, which cannot be adequately explained within the context of the story, but which looks great anyway.