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
O Vampiro (Brazil) [pt]
Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey (Argentina) [es]
Vampyr - il vampiro (Italy) [it]
Vampyyri (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
Wampir (Poland) [pl]

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 dank doctor's surgery and its abandoned, dirty look covered in cobwebs was said to be achieved by the director breaking jam jars on the floor then leaving the room shut off for a little over a month to attract various bugs and insects.

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 Ti piace Hitchcock? (2005) (TV)

Dreyer's spectral masterwork

"Vampyr" is unlike any other movie ever made, and certainly unlike any other "horror" movie ever made. It's a spectral masterwork in which poetic audiovisual allusions create suggestions of events, as in the scene where the shadows get up and dance, or the ghostly scene when the vampire strikes her victim. It is a film of atmosphere, of light and shadow, played out on themes of death and rebirth.