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Blood and Roses

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the film. For other uses, see Blood and Roses (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Bread and Roses.

Blood and Roses
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRoger Vadim
Screenplay by
  • Claude Brulé
  • Claude Martin
  • Roger Vadim[1]
Based onCarmilla
by Sheridan Le Fanu
Produced byRaymond Eger[1]
Starring
CinematographyClaude Renoir
Edited byVictoria Mercanton[1]
Music byJean Prodromides[1]
Production
companies
  • Films EGE
  • Documento Film[1]
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • 14 September 1960 (1960-09-14) (France)
  • January 1961 (1961-01) (Rome)
Running time
87 minutes[1]
Countries
  • France
  • Italy[1]
Box office1,205,106 admissions (France)[2]

Blood and Roses (French: ...Et mourir de plaisir (Le sang et la rose), lit. '...And die of pleasure (The blood and the rose)') is a 1960 erotic horror film directed by Roger Vadim. It is based on the novella Carmilla (1872) by Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu, shifting the book's setting in 19th-century Styria to the film's 20th-century Italy.

Plot

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Set in the modern day at a European estate, Carmilla is torn emotionally by the engagement of her friend Georgia to her cousin Leopoldo. It is hard to tell for whom she has the strongest unrequited emotions. During the masquerade ball celebrating the upcoming marriage, a fireworks display accidentally explodes some munitions lost at the site in World War II, disturbing an ancestral catacomb. Carmilla wearing the dress of her legendary vampire ancestor wanders into the ruins, where the tomb of the ancestor opens slowly. Carmilla returns to Leopoldo's estate as the last guests depart. Over the next few days she proceeds to act as though possessed by the spirit of the vampire and a series of vampiric killings terrorize the estate.

Cast

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Production

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Blood and Roses was filmed at Hadrian's Villa in Italy.[3]

Release

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Blood and Roses was released in France on 14 September 1960.[4] It was released in Rome in January 1961 under the title Il sangue e la rosa.[3] It was also released in the United States in September 1961.

Thus far the only DVD of Blood and Roses is a German one with German language and French with English subtitles options.

Reception

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In a contemporary review Monthly Film Bulletin noted that "despite the elegance and beauty of the backgrounds in and about Hadrian's Villa" and "Claude Renoir's Tehnicolor-Technicrama photography, this expensive attempt at an art horror film is nothing short of a travesty-both of the genre and LeFanu's marvellous short story."[1] The review noted that the film was "awkward and pedantic" and that the "vampire story is ruined by leaden dialogue, stridently dubbed, and by the sometimes bathetic acting" and that the "film suffers badly from comparison with Dreyer's much freer adaptation of the story, Vampyr." [1]

The March 1962 issue of the pro-gay magazine ONE noted that "We hear the latest fad for some gay girls after seeing the spook vampire movie with a lesbian lilt, Blood & Roses, is to tattoo two little marks above the jugular. Wanta neck?"[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i P.J.D. (1962). "Et Mourir de Plaisir". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 29, no. 336. British Film Institute. p. 5.
  2. ^ Box office information for Roger Vadim films at Box Office Story
  3. ^ a b "Blood and Roses". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on 14 June 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Et mourir de plaisir" (in French). Bifi.fr. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  5. ^ Mcintire, Sal (1962). "Tangents: News & Views". ONE. Vol. 10, no. 3. ONE, Inc. p. 17. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
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