Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey (1932)

Director:

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Writers:

Sheridan Le Fanu (novel)
Christen Jul (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

6 May 1932 (Germany)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror

Plot:

A traveler obsessed with the supernatural visits an old inn and finds evidence of vampires.

Plot Keywords:

Castle | Vampire | Shadow | Dream | Traveler

Cast

Julian West	...	Allan Grey
Maurice Schutz	...	Der Schlossherr (Lord of the Manor)
Rena Mandel	...	Gisèle
Sybille Schmitz	...	Léone
Jan Hieronimko	...	Der Dorfartz - Village Doctor
Henriette Gérard	...	Die alte Frau von Friedhof - The Woman from the Cemetery (as Henriette Gérard)
Albert Bras	...	Der alte Diener - Old Servant
N. Babanini	...	Seine Frau (His Wife)
Jane Mora	...	Die Krankenschwester / Nurse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Georges Boidin	...	Limping Man

Directed by
Carl Theodor Dreyer		(as Carl Th. Dreyer)

Writing credits
Sheridan Le Fanu		(novel "In a Glass Darkly") (as J. Sheridan Le Fanu)
Christen Jul		(screenplay) and
Carl Theodor Dreyer		(screenplay) (as Carl Th. Dreyer)

Produced by
Carl Theodor Dreyer	....	producer (uncredited)
Julian West	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Wolfgang Zeller

Cinematography by
Rudolph Maté
Louis Née		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Tonka Taldy		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Hermann Warm

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ralph Holm	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Eliane Tayar	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
César Silvagni	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Hans Bittman	....	sound recordist (as Dr. Hans Bittman)
Paul Falkenberg	....	sound editor

Special Effects by
Henri Armand	....	special effects (uncredited)

Other crew
Paul Falkenberg	....	dialogue director
Jorgen S. Jorgensen	....	presenter (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Tobis Filmkunst

Distributors

• General Foreign Sales Corp. (1934) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (199?) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• MK2 Diffusion (2007) (France) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Eureka Entertainment (2009) (UK) (DVD)
• Versus Entertainment (2009) (Spain) (DVD)
• Gloria Film A/S (????) (Denmark) (theatrical)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Kino Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Video Yesteryear (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Adventures of David Gray
Castle of Doom (USA) (dubbed version)
L'étrange aventure de David Gray
Not Against the Flesh (USA)
The Strange Adventure of David Gray
The Vampire (USA) (copyright title)
Vampyr
Vampyr, ou l'étrange aventure de David Gray

Runtime:

Germany:65 min | USA:75 min | Argentina:75 min | Belgium:75 min | Spain:70 min (DVD edition)

Country:

France | Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1:19 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Certification:

Canada:G (Quebec) | Hong Kong:IIA | USA:Unrated | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Abbaye de Braye, Braye, Aisne, Picardie, France

Company:

Tobis Filmkunst

Trivia:

The film was shot entirely on location. In fact, the old castle featured in the film also served as the lodging for the cast and crew.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At exactly 16 minutes (in the Criterion DVD) as the camera pans right, there is a reflection in a glass window of the camera operator cranking the camera.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) (TV)

Required Viewing!

Brilliant! Breathtaking! This film was worth the long wait I imposed on myself to see it. It is not the most cohesive narrative about, but it has images that linger with you....haunt you. The film is basically a silent with some speaking. It tells a story about Allan Grey and how he was introduced into a vampire's conspiracy to kill two sisters. Grey is brought in for aid by their father who dies while trying to fight the infection coursing through his daughter's veins. What then follows is pure cinematic magic as Grey...opening a book that the father wrote was to be opened upon his death...begins reading the book on vampires whilst it is going on right around him. The mixture of action and the text from the book create a wonderfully eerie atmosphere and convey a feeling of dread and despair. There are many scenes in Vampyr, directed with fluidity by Carl Dreyer, that are incredibly well-done. The dream sequence in particular explores various camera angles, hitherto not used. As I said before, it is not the tightest story and it has some gaping holes in the plot that are never explained, but that really is not very important because the film succeeds as a film of haunting imagery...fear based on illusion and shadows.