Vampyr (1932)

A drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.

Director:

Carl Theodor Dreyer (as Carl Th. Dreyer)

Writers:

Sheridan Le Fanu (based on a book by) (as J. Sheridan Le Fanu), Christen Jul (screenplay)

Stars:

Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Julian West	...	Allan Grey
Maurice Schutz	...	Der Schlossherr (The Lord of the Manor)
Rena Mandel	...	Gisèle
Sybille Schmitz	...	Léone
Jan Hieronimko	...	Der Dorfartz (The Village Doctor)
Henriette Gérard	...	Die alte Frau von Friedhof (The Old Woman from the Cemetery) (as Henriette Gérard)
Albert Bras	...	Der alte Diener (The Old Servant)
N. Babanini	...	Seine Frau (His Wife)
Jane Mora	...	Die Krankenschwester (The Nurse)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Georges Boidin	...	Limping Man

Storyline

Allan Gray arrives late in the evening to a secluded riverside inn in the hamlet of Courtempierre. An old man enters his room, puts a sealed parcel on the table, blurts out that some woman mustn't die, and disappears. Gray senses in this a call for help. He puts the parcel in his pocket, and goes out. Eerie shadows lead him into an old house, where he encounters a weird village doctor. The doctor receives a bottle of poison from a strange, old woman. Through the window of an old castle Gray recognizes the old man from the inn. A shadow shoots the man, who drops dead. Inside the house Gray finds his two daughters, Gisèle and Léone, and some servants. He opens the parcel, and finds an old book about vampires. Léone is seriously ill after being bitten by a vampire. Instead of helping her, the village doctor places the bottle of poison at her bedside table, and then abducts her sister Gisèle. An old servant starts reading the old book, and finds out that the vampire in Courtempierre is a ...

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Plot Keywords:

vampire | gothic horror | doctor | book | servant | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Germany France

Language:

German

Release Date:

14 August 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

Castle of Doom

Filming Locations:

Abbaye de Braye, Braye, Aisne, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tobis Filmkunst

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min (original) 70 min (DVD) 73 min (restored)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.19 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the credits stated that the plot motifs of the "Vampire" go back to two short stories from this book - "Carmilla" and "The Secret of the Hotel" Soaring Dragon ". If, however, modern researchers are to be believed, the plot of the film is largely the fruit of Dreyer's imagination.

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Goofs

At exactly 16 minutes (in the Criterion DVD) as the camera pans right, there is a reflection in a glass window of the camera operator cranking the camera.

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Quotes

Der Dorfartz (The Village Doctor): Did you hear that?
Allan Grey: Yes. The child.
Der Dorfartz (The Village Doctor): The child?
Allan Grey: Yes. Yes. The child.
Der Dorfartz (The Village Doctor): There's no child here.
Allan Grey: But the dogs!
Der Dorfartz (The Village Doctor): There are no children or dogs here.
Allan Grey: No?

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Connections

Featured in The Flesh and the Fury: X-posing Twins of Evil (2012)

User Reviews

Surrender to Vampyr's eerie, dreamlike world....

With its fragmented plot, eerie imagery, and air of undefined menace this film more nearly realises the dream state than any other film I've seen.

The story, which follows a young man's discovery of vampiric doings while on a trip to the country, is secondary to the fascinatingly uncanny mood generated by the cinematography and effective use of sound and silence.

Yes, yes, it's old and unconventional, and requires either some extra concentration or complete surrender to its unique world, but the effort is worth it.

Vampyr should especially appeal to fans of cinefantastique, cinema history and maybe even the arthouse crowd.