Mark of the Vampire

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

5.8K

YOUR RATING

Bela Lugosi and Carroll Borland in Mark of the Vampire (1935)

When a nobleman is murdered, a professor of the occult blames vampires; but not all is what it seems.

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Horror Mystery

When a nobleman is murdered, a professor of the occult blames vampires, but not all is what it seems.When a nobleman is murdered, a professor of the occult blames vampires, but not all is what it seems.When a nobleman is murdered, a professor of the occult blames vampires, but not all is what it seems.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

5.8K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Trivia
Throughout the film, Count Mora (Bela Lugosi) has an unexplained bullet wound on his temple. In the original script Mora was supposed to have had an incestuous relationship with his daughter Luna and to have committed suicide. After filming began, however, MGM deleted references to the crime (and any remaining references may have been deleted when 20 minutes of footage was removed after the film's preview). Because director Tod Browning's previous film, Freaks (1932), had been a box-office disaster, he was unable to object to any changes made by the studio.

Goofs
The character of Jan (pronounced as it would be in Prague as "yan") is referred to by the English pronunciation inexplicably by one character a few times before returning to pronouncing it correctly.

Quotes
[Last Lines]
Count Mora: This vampire business, it has given me a great idea for a new act. Luna, in this new act I will be the vampire. Did you watch me? I gave all of me. I was greater than any real vampire.
Luna Mora: Sure, sure, but get off your makeup.
Fourth Vampire: Yes, and help me with some of this packing.

Alternate versions
There is an Italian DVD edition of this movie, distributed by DNA Srl. The movie was re-edited with the contribution of the film history scholar Riccardo Cusin. This version is also available in streaming on some platforms.

Connections
Edited into Mondo Lugosi - A Vampire's Scrapbook (1987)

Soundtracks
Umrem Umrem
(uncredited)
Music by Jack Virgil

User reviews124

Review

Featured review

7/10

A minor gem among classic horror films...clever ending...

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. Zelin and seems to have great difficulty in standing on two feet rather than being in a wheel-chair, so early was he inflicted with his rheumatism that forced him to be seated in most of his films by the end of the '30s, notably as Dr. Gillespie in those Dr. Kildare films. He's obviously a replacement for the usual Van Helsing character assigned to solve the vampire mysteries.

With a running time of 1 hr. 1 min. there's no time to be bored. A neat little thriller with good supporting roles from character actors like Jessie Ralph and Donald Meek--with all of the histrionics strictly in broad '30s horror style. One of Tod Browning's better films.

The atmospheric sets and shadowy but crisp B&W photography are beyond reproach.