Transylvania 1874: A doctor (Donald Wolfit) is pilloried for his research into rare blood conditions leading the authorities to regard him as a vampire and he is executed as such by having a stake driven through his heart. But, his mute and horribly deformed dwarf assistant Karl (Victor Maddern) murders the gravedigger and takes his corpse back to an abandoned windmill where a drunken doctor resurrects him with a heart transplant. Six years later, the doctor has assumed the name Callistratus and is the governor of an asylum for the criminally insane where he survives off the blood of his inmates. A young doctor called John Pierre (Vincent Ball) arrives at the asylum sentenced to life for "malpractice leading to murder" in which he performed a blood transfusion, which has never been done successfully resulting in the death of a patient. Callistratus puts him to work on research into blood transfusions. But, it isn't long before Pierre discovers his secret and that he really wants him to find a cure for a rare blood condition he suffers from. Meanwhile, Pierre's young wife-to-be, Madeleine (Barbara Shelley) is not satisfied when the court tells her that her lover was killed when attempting to escape captivity and secures a job at the asylum as Callistratus' housekeeper. She finds Pierre alive, but both are taken prisoner by the mad doctor who intends to make them the latest victims of his experiments.
An interesting, sometimes fun if not entirely successful low budget imitation Hammer horror from producers Monty Berman and Robert S Baker. The former, doubling as cinematographer, and art director John Elphick succeed in recreating the visual look of the Hammer gothics; although, it has to be said, it looks very tacky by comparison. The sets are cardboard and wobbly and Berman, while a competent DP, is no Jack Asher. Director Henry Cass gives the film a power that lifts what is essentially a cheap and cheerful affair by placing emphasis on the brutality of the Victorian society and the corruption of the establishment that is featured in Jimmy Sangster's story. The Governor of Prisons, Auron, played by Brian Coleman who accepts money from Callistratus to arrange for "special prisoners" to be sent to the asylum and Pierre falls into this category since he is a medical man. Auron intercepted a letter from a key witness whose evidence would have acquitted Pierre and sent one he himself had written in which he claimed that the witness had never heard of Pierre and forged his signature. Later, Auron tips off Callistratus that Pierre's case has been reviewed and that a release order is imminent so the mad doctor cruelly informs Pierre that the review decided that his sentence must be served as it stands before informing the authorities that he was killed whilst trying to escape from the asylum.
Donald Wolfit dominates the film as Callistratus and is delightfully over the top delivering wonderful lines with gusto in the Bela Lugosi mould: "The practical side of my work distresses you? Come let me explain" he says as he drags Madeleine off to his secret laboratory taunting her with gruesome sights such as a corpse being kept in deep freeze, a man being kept alive with an artificial heart and, finally, "Here's someone you knew, someone you knew very well" as he pulls back the curtain to reveal the grotesquely strung up body of Auron. Victor Maddern offers an effective portrayal as the dwarf, Karl, who provides the story with an emotional element in that he falls in love with Madeleine. However, he is largely defeated by an appalling make up job. Vincent Ball makes a rather dreary hero as the young doctor while, Barbara Shelley, who was to become a regular leading lady at Hammer gets very little to do and it is hard to imagine her character falling in love with Vincent Ball's.
Overall, Blood Of The Vampire emerges as an interesting, sometimes fun if not an entirely successful attempt to imitate the Hammer house of horror.
An interesting, sometimes fun if not entirely successful low budget imitation Hammer horror from producers Monty Berman and Robert S Baker. The former, doubling as cinematographer, and art director John Elphick succeed in recreating the visual look of the Hammer gothics; although, it has to be said, it looks very tacky by comparison. The sets are cardboard and wobbly and Berman, while a competent DP, is no Jack Asher. Director Henry Cass gives the film a power that lifts what is essentially a cheap and cheerful affair by placing emphasis on the brutality of the Victorian society and the corruption of the establishment that is featured in Jimmy Sangster's story. The Governor of Prisons, Auron, played by Brian Coleman who accepts money from Callistratus to arrange for "special prisoners" to be sent to the asylum and Pierre falls into this category since he is a medical man. Auron intercepted a letter from a key witness whose evidence would have acquitted Pierre and sent one he himself had written in which he claimed that the witness had never heard of Pierre and forged his signature. Later, Auron tips off Callistratus that Pierre's case has been reviewed and that a release order is imminent so the mad doctor cruelly informs Pierre that the review decided that his sentence must be served as it stands before informing the authorities that he was killed whilst trying to escape from the asylum.
Donald Wolfit dominates the film as Callistratus and is delightfully over the top delivering wonderful lines with gusto in the Bela Lugosi mould: "The practical side of my work distresses you? Come let me explain" he says as he drags Madeleine off to his secret laboratory taunting her with gruesome sights such as a corpse being kept in deep freeze, a man being kept alive with an artificial heart and, finally, "Here's someone you knew, someone you knew very well" as he pulls back the curtain to reveal the grotesquely strung up body of Auron. Victor Maddern offers an effective portrayal as the dwarf, Karl, who provides the story with an emotional element in that he falls in love with Madeleine. However, he is largely defeated by an appalling make up job. Vincent Ball makes a rather dreary hero as the young doctor while, Barbara Shelley, who was to become a regular leading lady at Hammer gets very little to do and it is hard to imagine her character falling in love with Vincent Ball's.
Overall, Blood Of The Vampire emerges as an interesting, sometimes fun if not an entirely successful attempt to imitate the Hammer house of horror.