Vampyr

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Vampyr (1932)

German Fantasy Horror Film.

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

For much of the cast, this was their only film appearance since they were not professional actors. Henriette Gérard who played the vampire was a French widow, Jan Hieronimko who played the village doctor was a Polish journalist, Rena Mandel who played Gisèle was an artist’s model. Even Julian West (real name: Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg) who played Allan Grey, was French-born member of Russian nobility who agreed to finance the film in exchange for the leading part. (He later emigrated to America where he became a powerful fashion journalist and mentor to designers like Calvin Klein.)

The only professional actors in the film were Sybille Schmitz and Maurice Schutz.

This was Dreyers first sound film and was required to be recorded in three languages. To overcome this, very little dialogue was used in the film and much of the story is told with title cards like a silent film.

Vampyr was first film to receive an ‘H’ certificate in the UK, for “Horrific: Films which are likely to frighten or horrify children under the age of 16 years”.

Vampyr was filmed between 1930 and 1931, with the entire film being shot on location with many scenes shot in Courtempierre, France.

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