the vampire movie database
Dance Of The Vampires
| AKA's: | Baile De Los Vampiros, El / Bal Des Vampires, Le / Danca Dos Vampiros, A / Fearless Vampire Killers, The / Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck, The / Per Favore, Non Mordermi Sul Collo / Tanz Der Vampire / Vampyrernas Natt Vampire Ball (working title) / Vampire Killers, The (working title) |
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| Release date: | 1967 UK | Running time: | 107' (cover 110') - Source: DVD (RC 0/NTSC) 103' (cover 107') - Source: DVD (RC 2/PAL) |
Rating: | Germ.: 12; UK: 12; US: NR | ||||
| Main Crew: |
Director: Roman Polanski (The Pianist 2002; The Ninth Gate 1999; Bitter Moon 1992; Frantic 1988; Chinatown 1974; Rosemary's Baby 1968; Repulsion 1965) Producer: Cadre Films / Filmways Score: Krzysztof Komeda Writer: Gerard Brach / Roman Polanski Director of photography: Douglas Slocombe |
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Cast: |
| Summary: |
Two incompetent vampire hunters travel through the Transylvanian winter in search of their prey. Arriving at Shagal's (Alfie Bass) Inn, Professor Abronsius (Jack MacGowran) soon realises that vampires are near - garlic festoons the walls and the locals are strangely reticent when asked if there is a castle nearby. Meanwhile, his assistant Alfred (Roman Polanski) has taken a keen interest in the innkeeper's pretty daughter, Sarah (Sharon Tate). When Count Von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne) abducts Sarah, the "fearless vampire killers" resolve to destroy the vampire and rescue the girl. | Note: |
- Scripted and filmed as "Dance Of The Vampires" (with the script originally written in French, but the film shot in English), the movie was released in the United States as "The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are In My Neck", with twenty minutes cut out of it. Roman Polanski's and Jack MacGowran's voices were dubbed, and an animated title sequence was added. Director Roman Polanski disapproved of the edited version and tried (unsuccessfully) to have his name removed from the credits. |
- In Polanski's original, the animated cartoon concluded with MGM's Leo fading up normally, then morphing into a green, moon-faced, skinhead vampire. In the US version the lion simply grows cartoon fangs from which animated blood drips. - The film introduces cinema's first gay and a Jewish vampire (where crucifixes lose their effect), and was Polanski's homage (and spoof) to British Hammer films: the climactic vampire's ball is directly referencing Hammer 's Kiss Of The Vampire (in 1995, Mel Brooks again parodied the ball scene in Dracula - Dead And Loving It), while Herbert is a tribute to David Peel's Baron Meinster in The Brides Of Dracula. - For the ballroom scene (when the music stops and only three people are visible in a huge mirror despite of a few dozen vampires in the room) Polanski had the room completely copied behind a fake mirror with three doubles acting as the human protagonists - Originally he wanted to shoot his film on location in and around a castle in Switzerland which he saw during a vacation, but as this was impossible, other locations in the Alps were found, along with studio shoots in England. While on location, Polanski employed dozens of local artisans to make the large numbers of coffins needed in the film. Unfortunately tourists were rather unnerved by the sight of these, and hotels had to erect signs to assure their guests that the area hadn't been struck by plague. - Producer Martin Ransohoff discovered Sharon Tate on the set of "The Beverly Hillbillies" and insisted that director Roman Polanski used her instead of Jill St. John, Polanski's original choice. Tate and Polanski fell in love during the making of the film and were married in 1968. On the 9th of August 1969, the pregnant Tate and four other people were murdered by Charles Manson's cult. - Based on his film, Polanski directed a musical that premiered October 1997 at Vienna's "Raimund Theatre", with Grammy-winner Jim Steinman as composer/lyricist.
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short review: This is an all-time classic and a definite must-see for everyone. A brilliant and witty comedy with some bizarre characters - best of all the Albert Einstein look-a-like Jack MacGowran as the unworldly Professor Abronsius. I watched it several times now, and I have always been very happy about the pure fun I get out of it!  |
