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| International poster art by Frank Frazetta. |
Every bit, if not more opulent than a Hammer horror film of the day, Polanski's film was gorgeously shot by cinematographer Douglas Slocombe in the snowbound location of the Dolomite mountains in Italy. Often cited as having a fairy tale-like quality, it tells the story of Professor Abronsius, a vampire researcher (Jack McGowran) and his oafish assistant Alfred (Polanski) who arrive in a small village and discover it is being preyed upon by vampires lead by Count Krolock (Ferdy Mayne). A romance blooms between Alfred and Sarah, but it is interrupted when the vampire makes off with her. Abronsius and Alfred must track down and destroy the monster before he turns Sarah into a vampire.
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| U.S. poster art by Clément Hurel. |
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| Italian poster art. |
Original trailer:
The Vampire Ball (film clip):
Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate on PLAYBOY AFTER DARK (Air date: February 7, 1969):
Tune in tomorrow for more FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS and a surprise special pictorial.
I note the Italian poster puts Sharon Tate at the top of the cast and also implies onscreen nudity, possibly from her.
ReplyDeleteFerdy Mayne turned up in The Vampire Lovers and The Vampire Happening (both 1971), and worked with Polanski again in 1986, on the box office dud Pirates.
And I'm sure Polanski didn't want his name plastered all over it with an acting credit, too.
ReplyDeleteThis movie used to show up on TV and it took me years to appreciate the humor. I guess I didn't realize at first that a horror movie could be funny.
ReplyDeleteI saw this with friends when I was 13 or 14, it depended on how quickly our small town theater got the new releases. The cartoon at the beginning of the film was memorable & funny. We thought it was great, just a little scary. And I thought that Sharon Tate was the most beautiful women I'd ever seen!
ReplyDeleteRip: I didn't quite get it watching it when I was younger. I guess I was expecting a more serious horror film. I later came to appreciate the humor.
ReplyDeleteI missed it at the theater. Last time I looked, the cartoon sequence is on YouTube. And what can you say about Sharon Tate. Not sure if she would have broken into the "big time" or not had she lived, but man, she was a good-looking woman.
ReplyDeleteMs Tate had a certain dreamy quality (which, judging by the Playboy After Dark clip, carried over into real life). Her performance in The Wrecking Crew was more focused, and showed an aptitude for physical comedy, which might have worked well in, say, a Blake Edwards farce or one of Burt Kennedy's spoof westerns. Good looks and a willingness to get naked on screen might also have proven useful as the risqué became more regular in movies.
DeleteNo telling what would have happened to career if it wasn't for a group of drugged-out murderers. A tragedy under any circumstances.
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