A Marca do Vampiro

Ralph Morgan plays a kind-hearted doctor, known throughout his community for his wisdom and charity, that has a terrible secret he does not even know. It seems when he was born he was marked by a vampire bat....and now in his middle age the terrible strain of over-work has caused his affliction to surface. He passes out whenever total darkness envelops him and turns into a hideous monster that rips the throats of the townsfolk. This is a pretty good, ole creaky film from Invincible Films(?). It is a low-budget thriller to be sure, but has a lot of heart behind it and is quite a satisfying story. Ralph Morgan, brother of the Wizard of Oz'z Frank Morgan gives an interesting performance. He is adequate as a man torn apart with this terrible malady as he calls it. The rest of the cast is pretty good too with Mischa Auer standing out as a hunchback and Pedro de Cordoba excelling as a friendly doctor. What I really liked about the film was its rather blatant symbolism about the light and the darkness and how each brings out a different persona..

I'd never heard of this film but it's worth a look for those who can put up with 1930's style film-making and especially for genre fans.

The story has elements of Jeckyll and Hyde and it has psychological overtones of the main monster character that help it. These elements help keep it fresh despite the hunchback and dated directorial non-touches and lack of much on screen violence. But the aftermath of the killings and good acting of Ralph Morgan help. The final scene is suspenseful as well and of course the whole thing is over pretty quickly, but still manages, thanks for Karn DeWolf's script to pack in quite a bit of character complication.

Nice production values but the director, Frank Strayer, shows little flair. Then again he keeps things moving and the acting is good. Alpha Video copy I watched was "okay" looking a better source print is unlikely to turn up, but the movie deserves some restoration and recognition.

CONDEMNED TO LIVE opens with a pregnant woman in a cave being bitten by a vampire bat.

Years later, the woman's son, Professor Kristan (Ralph Morgan) lives in a small village where several ghastly deaths have occurred. The victims have all been drained of blood. Kristan starts to wonder if he's been cursed by what happened to his mum.

Could he be the killer?

As the body count rises, the villagers grow increasingly paranoid, superstitious, and desperate.

This movie is similar in theme and plot to THE VAMPIRE BAT. Both films contain a series of unexplained deaths, suspected vampirism, mass hysteria, and a big twist.

Morgan plays his haunted role well, as does Mischa Auer as his faithful servant, Zan.

There's no missing the antiquated social values represented in this (including ableism), but so it goes. One also can't mistake the very dated sensibilities of "horror" - painting genre elements with the same flat tone and putting them in a small corner, declining utmost thrills, telling more than showing and leaving much to be merely suggested. Just as much to the point: while plenty of this film's contemporaries (or forebears) demonstrated perfect capability of fluid, natural storytelling and film-making, here we nonetheless see a certain stilted heavy-handedness in the direction, editing, and acting. None of this is to say that the movie we get has no value or can't be enjoyed on its own merits, but it's safe to say that viewers who have a difficult time abiding older movies won't find anything here to change their minds.

Admittedly these are issues not necessarily with this one title specifically, but with (genre) film-making as a whole of the 30s. If one can look past these matters, 'Condemned to live' is nonetheless modestly enjoyable. It's not necessarily anything special, even as it takes a slightly different approach to vampirism, but stylistic notions aside it's reasonably well made. Though restricted as such, the cast give solid performances; the production design and costume design are swell. Karen DeWolf's screenplay is less than extraordinary, but not at all bad; it's just that conceptions in this timeframe somewhat twist the content into a more imperfect form. And so on, and so on.

Ultimately this is passably entertaining for a lazy day, and suitable for those who already appreciate older titles. It's hardly anything to go out of your way for, but there are worse things to watch. Even diminished by common 30s senses of horror, 'Condemned to live' is a decent enough way to spend one hour.

The plot of this is very similar to another movie (I believe "The Vampire Bat). Still, it holds its own pretty well. The main character, Paul, was cursed from birth to become a horrible creature with bat-like tendencies. He rips the throats out of people and drinks their blood. He has no recollection of his actions. A young woman who admires him is engaged to marry him, even though he is twice her age (at least). His best friend is aware of what is happening and tries to intervene. He also has a hunchback assistant who tries to keep things from escalating. Eventually the murders are going to be investigated. The black and white film has a nice quality to it. The principle character is a kind man who has helped people for years, especially the downtrodden. He makes a very tragic figure. There is a bit of the Wolfman, imitating Lawrence Talbot. Of course, things must come to a proper conclusion. It's a little slow at times, but the gentle goodness of the characters, contrasted with the evil forced on them, makes it work.