Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (October 4, 2022)
In 1931, director Tod Browning and actor Bela Lugosi paired for Dracula, arguably the most famous vampire flick of all. Four years later, they reunited for another effort in this genre, 1935’s Mark of the Vampire.
When Sir Karell Borotyn (Holmes Herbert) gets murdered, some signs indicate that a vampire might be responsible. These suspicions increase when similar attacks befall Sir Karell’s daughter Irena (Elizabeth Allan) and her fiancé Fedor Vincenti [Henry Wadsworth].
Many suspect creepy Count Mora (Lugosi) and his daughter Luna (Carroll Borland), but Police Inspector Neumann [Lionel Atwill] doesn’t swallow this. Professor Zelin (Lionel Barrymore) steps in to attempt to settle this matter.
In historical terms, Dracula feels like big shoes to fill. As I noted, it remains probably the best-known vampire movie in cinematic history, so theoretically, Mark should find it hard to live up to its predecessor.
For me, though, the task seems less daunting because I don’t think the 1931 film holds up especially well. While I respect its place in film lore, it seems spottier than the better Universal Monster movies.
This meant I felt Mark might’ve actually offered a more interesting tale than Dracula did. Alas, despite some potential strengths, the end product seems slow and spotty.
At a mere 60 minutes, Mark barely qualifies as a feature film. Apparently previews of the film went around 80 minutes, but for reasons unknown, it suffered massive cuts before it ran theatrically.
Given how dull Mark tends to feel, one would normally view this briefer running time as a positive. However, it remains entirely possible that a longer Mark would’ve fared better as that breathing room might’ve allowed it to explore its topics in a more satisfying manner.
We’ll never know, but I can say the 60-minute version seems eminently forgettable. I will give Browning credit for his refusal to simply remake Dracula, though.
Granted, Mark does occasionally echo the 1931 film. Nonetheless, it resists the urge to emulate its predecessor, so it comes with its own take on the vampire genre.
Mark does remake Browning’s 1927 flick London After Midnight, so I guess I shouldn’t give it too many points for originality. However, I still appreciate that it makes attempts to step away from Dracula’s shadow.
Mark also boasts surprisingly good visual effects given the restrictions of the era. Though it doesn’t look like a big-budget affair in other ways, at least it pulls off these elements in a positive manner.
Otherwise, Mark just seems like a misfire. It spends far too much time focused on a limited number of sets and endless chatter among the leads.
Though by “leads”, I don’t mean Lugosi. Despite his prominent place in the credits, the actor plays a surprisingly small part here, as the movie barely shows Count Mora.
Instead, we find ourselves with one conversation about vampires and their impact after another. While I don’t expect nonstop action for a movie from 1935, the general absence of a real threat becomes an issue.
We never get a sense of Count Mora as an actual menacing presence. Everyone yammers on incessantly but the “vampire content” here remains surprisingly low.
One assumes some of this occurs because of the excised 20 minutes. If the film lost one-fourth of its running time, that meant the 60-minute version lacked space to do anything beyond deliver the plot basics.
Whatever the case, the film as seen here seems too heavy on exposition and too low on any form of scares or thrills. It seems so chatty that it bores much of the time.
And then there’s the twist finale. I prefer to avoid spoilers even for movies made nearly 90 years ago so I won’t reveal what happens, but the curveball at the end seems like a major misfire.
That ending also means that many aspects of Mark make no sense. Again, I can’t discuss these if I want to stay away from spoilers, but if you know the finale, lots of earlier scenes suddenly become completely illogical.
I won’t call Mark a total loss, as it musters a creepy vibe at times and shows some promise. Unfortunately, the end result becomes a generally forgettable stab at a vampire flick.
