Mark of the Vampire

Carroll Borland

The movie was directed by Tod Browning (The Devil doll, Freaks, Dracula 1931), the movie was a remake of a silent movie by Browning called London after Midnight. Carroll Borland was 19 at the time the movie was filmed. Nice to know is that Charles Addams borrowed the image of Carroll Borland for the looks of his Morticia Addams.

In short this is the plot of the movie: Sir Karell Borrowdon is murdered and two puncture wounds are found on his neck. However, the culprit is far from supernatural, he is a shifty friend of the family called Baron Otto. The Baron turned to murder when his plan to marry Karrell’s daughter Irena was thwarted, as she engaged herself to a young Man named Fredo. The police concoct an elaborate plot to reveal the killer, they hire showfolk Bela Lugosi and Luna the batwoman and make believe there is a real vampire on the loose. With the aid of a Professor with a talent for hypnotism, Baron Otto is revealed as a murderer and duly apprehended. Lugosi and Luna go back to the theatre and everyone lives happily ever after, safe in the knowledge that vampires are nonsence.

Carroll plays Luna Mora, she doesn't say anything 'till the end of the movie. One of the most memorable scenes of the movie is when she turns into the bat. Alot of people find the end of the movie dissapointing because it turns out that both Lugosi and Borland are no vampires at all, but Carroll's preformance was so sublime that 50 years after the movie she was still highley credited for it and we can say she is truely a cult hero. Mr. Doctor must feel the same way about it, since there are numerous of pictures were he is edited in an old picture of her and Lugosi.Examples can be found in the Dies Irae leather box version released through the Devil Doll Fan Club. You can also see an example below at the end of this page. I think the idea of Mr. Doctor edited in this picture and also with Louise Brooks, together with year of when the picture have been taken along with it, comes from this; it's to create a mystery around him, like he lives now, but according to the pictures Mr. Doctor was also there in the twenties and maybe before, the MAN has always been around, just like the Nosferatu. This is my theorie concerning this. As written before, the movie is a remake of the silent movie London after midnight, but don't try and run to your local cult dealer, because no copy of the movie exists anymore.

Here are some stills taken from the movie.