Blood and Roses

A school chum and I saw this film only one time - when it was first released in 1960. During a recent reunion we realized that neither of us has ever forgotten the spellbinding qualities of the movie as a whole! I very clearly remember the impression of having walked into a renaissance-era painting accompanied by a musical score that along with the visuals, created an almost hypnotic state. Elsa Martinelli was a familiar face at that time, but the mysteriously beautiful other actress was not. I now realize she has to have been Annette Vadim. I clearly remember the undercurrent she portrayed with such seemingly effortless skill that it almost felt like watching two separate characters. The other actors and characters seemed to be almost like props in comparison to these two players in the story. I do hope I can see it again.

I'm mad about this film...might just be my favorite vampire film of all. It's not straight LeFanu, but it has an elegiac air that is. Doing LeFanu 'straight'--as in VAMPIRE LOVERS-- does not necessarily make for a better film as Hammer proved.

When I first saw B&R 15 years ago, I was disappointed because I wanted it to be a direct telling of the source material. Later, I saw the film, again, and it seared in to my consciousness. For no explicable reason, it suddenly "made sense" and "glammed" me; and, in particular, Annette Stroyberg's performance suddenly "clicked in." The combination of her detachment, passivity, out bursts of passion, child-like felicity, and, of course, beauty recall her literary namesake. Her profound sorrow and knowledge of being pushed aside from all that she loves--not just Leopoldo but her whole life, really--is heart-rending.

Vadim's Carmilla is always described as "jealous" or "bitter," though I don't see that. I do see deep disappointment and despair. It's refreshing, too, to see two women, rivals for one man's affection, treat each other so civilly, so kindly. Worse, Carmilla is slowly ostracized from people that she has grown up with and loved all because of her love of Leopoldo and, then, Georgia. Top that off with being possessed by a vampire, and I think dismissing her as "jealous" or "bitter" is a bit heavy-handed and easy.

I'm not quite sure why this film is considered "exploitive"--was Vadim "exploiting" Annette and his divorce from BB? Was LeFanu's "Carmilla" exploitive? It actually had far more explicit descriptions of Carmilla's breast-centric vampirism of young woman, but I don't recall the novella ever being described as "exploitive."

There are a couple of jarring moments in the film that don't sit right with me, for instance, Carmilla and Leopold doing the comic piano duet about fishing, and some parts of the celebrated "dream sequence"--just too "art house," even Bergman-esquire, and certainly screaming Cocteau.

But, in the end, the film is enchanting, ravishing, and harrowing. As others have noted, the score is exquisite and sets just the right tone, and makes me think of "pavane" and "dead princess" at the same time. Definitely in my top 10.

Just hoping that the delay in releasing BLOOD AND ROSES on DVD has to do with a pains- taking restoration and accumulation of extras on Paramount's part--this film is long overdue on DVD.

Time is 1960. On a jet, a man tells his friends a story about an inexplicable medical mystery that happened in Italy. Count Leopoldo Karnstein (Ferrer) is making preparations for a masked ball to celebrate his wedding to Georgia Monteverdi (Martinelli). His cousin, Carmilla Karnstein (Vadim) is in love with Leopoldo, and jealous of Georgia. The night of the ball, Carmilla wants to be alone and wanders the estate. Odd events follow.

Director Vadim seems more interested in following the erotic possibilities afforded by vampirism than by following vampire folklore. Ferrer is good as Leopoldo, who treats the whole story of his family's vampirism as a joke, until it's too late. Martinelli is fine as Georgia, who's the imperiled Gothic heroine in a modern setting. Annette Vadim is very good as Carmilla, who at first doesn't know what's happening to her, and then thinks she's possessed by an ancestor.

The photography is by Claude Renoir, and his playing with colors, light, and shadows alone make the film worth checking out.

Movie is worth seeing because of the dream-like tone it sets, early on, and for Renoir's stunning photography.

I'm a fan of director Roger Vadim's movie. They have vividness that's uniquely his. This movie is no exception. The details are superb, and eroticism shown can only be put on screen by a genius who's born with talent. The thought provoking plot is built into the picture itself. The mood , the camera angle, all tells a story while heightening the mood. It's an art that I wish more Hollywood directors would learn how to do.

Anette Vadim is beautiful in this movie. Obviously Roger Vadim knows how to pick his women.

The movie has lavishness, and esprit that more modern movies can't emulate.

The movie is low on technical sophistication, or overt gore of vampirism, but you need to see it to appreciate how interesting, and beautiful this movie is.

An art house horror movie. Probably missed by horror fans, the film depicts a vampiress as romantic. The music by Jean Prodromidès and the cinematography by Claude Renoir certainly add to the romantic feeling throughout. A Harlequin horror film? Even the long shots in this film have a grace seldom seen. It often looks as if one is viewing and Impressionistic painting.

Carmilla (Annette Vadim) visits an abbey where the vampiress is buried and we see an immediate change in her mood. Was she possessed? It isn't clear.

Don't look for blood and guts or lesbian scenes. Everything happens off screen, even in the original version. But, it was a beautiful love story.