The Vampire Lovers *** (1970, Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, Madeline Smith, Kate O’Mara, Dawn Addams, Pippa Steel, George Cole, Douglas Wilmer) – Classic Movie Review 3,155

Hammer Films’ 1970 erotic chiller The Vampire Lovers stars Ingrid Pitt as Carmilla Karnstein, a 1794 German Lesbian vampire who ingratiates herself into the home of General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing) and sinks her fangs into toothsome lovelies. 

Director Roy Ward Baker’s 1970 British horror movie The Vampire Lovers stars Ingrid Pitt as Carmilla Karnstein, a late 18th century German Lesbian vampire who ingratiates herself into the home of General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing) and sinks her fangs into toothsome lovelies Laura (Pippa Steel), Emma Morton (Madeline Smith), The Countess (Dawn Addams) and The Governess, Madame Perrodot (Kate O’Mara).

Hammer Films’ erotic chiller, based on J Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 novella Carmilla, is highly intriguing, with several tasty elements to recommend it, including a sensuous performance by Pitt, Cushing’s convincing star turn as a puritanical patriarch, plus George Cole and Douglas Wilmer especially good value as the vampire hunters. It was considered daring and exciting at the time for depicting lesbian themes explicitly.

However, director Baker shifts uneasily between soft core sex and Grand Guignol horror, and the screenplay seems uncomfortable with its Sapphic sexuality. Still, it’s an interesting one, written in fine style by Harry Fine, Michael Style and Tudor Gates. Also in the cast are Jon Finch, Charles Farrell, Ferdy Mayne, Kirsten Lindholm, John Forbes-Robertson, Shelagh Wilcocks, Janet Key and Harvey Hall.

It is the first of Hammer Films’ three movies derived from J Sheridan Le Fanu’s book Carmilla or at least its characters, all scripted by Tudor Gates: followed by Lust for a Vampire (1971) and Twins of Evil (1971).

Well, Hammer Films? Yes and no. The film is a co-production between Hammer and American International Pictures, who wanted a vampire movie with more explicit sexual content. Producers Harry Fine and Michael Style and writer Tudor Gates formed a company called Fantale. Fine suggested they film Carmilla. Hammer’s James Carreras was enthusiastic and he sold it instantly to AIP based on the poster.

The script was sent to the UK film censor John Trevelyan, who warned Hammer about depictions of lesbianism, saying a previous lesbian film, The Killing of Sister George, had five minutes cut by his office. Trevelyan is said to have backed down after Hammer said it’s not us, the lesbianism comes from Le Fanu’s story, but then lesbianism was present in the original play of The Killing of Sister George.

Filming began at Elstree Studios on 19 January 1970, with location shooting at Moor Park Mansion, Hertfordshire (standing in for Styria, Central Europe). It cost only £165,227 and was very lucrative. It was the last Hammer film part financed with American money.

Ingrid Pitt’s fangs kept falling out of her mouth and dropping into Kate O’Mara’s cleavage, prompting their hysterical laughter. Pitt grabbed chewing gum from the mouth of one of the crew and used it to secure her fangs.

Le Fanu’s famous story also provided the basis for the classic Vampyr (1932) and Blood and Roses [Et mourir de plaisir] (1960) as well as Christopher Lee’s Crypt of the Vampire (1964).

Cole and Wilmer both appeared in Cleopatra (1963).

George Cole died on August 5 2015, aged 90. For ever Arthur Daley on TV’s Minder, he enjoyed a lengthy film career, appearing in the likes of Cleopatra (1963), Mary Reilly (1996) and The Vampire Lovers, and was well known for his role as Flash Harry in the popular St Trinian’s films of the Fifties and Sixties, starting with The Belles of St Trinian’s (1954).

Douglas Wilmer died on 31 March 2016, aged 96. He was known for Cleopatra (1963), Octopussy (1983), Patton (1970), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), The Vampire Lovers (1970), The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967) and especially as Sixties TV’s Sherlock Holmes.

The cast are Peter Cushing as General Spielsdorf, Ingrid Pitt as Marcilla/ Carmilla/ Mircalla Karnstein, George Cole as Roger Morton, Kate O’Mara as the governess Mademoiselle Perrodot, Pippa Steel as Laura Spielsdorf, Madeline Smith as Emma Morton, Dawn Addams as the Countess, Douglas Wilmer as Baron Joachim von Hartog, Jon Finch as Carl Ebhardt, Ferdy Mayne as the doctor, Kirsten Lindholm as the blonde First Vampire, John Forbes-Robertson as the Man in Black, Shelagh Wilcocks as the housekeeper, Harvey Hall as the butler Renton,  Janet Key as the maid Gretchin, and Charles Farrell as the landlord.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3,155

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