UK, 1958
87m
35mm film, Eastmancolor
mono, English
A British horror film directed by Henry Cass.
Plot Summary
Dr Callistratus runs an asylum from his creepy old castle. A young doctor, John Pierre, is wrongfully imprisoned there and discovers that Callistratus has already survived being staked by superstitious villagers thanks to his research into blood types. Now in need of regular blood transfusions, Callistratus is using his prisoners and the young local women as a living blood bank as, with Pierre's reluctant help, he obsessively searches for a lasting cure for his condition.
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: Henry Cass
Artistes Alliance Ltd. *
Produced by: Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman
Production Supervisor: Ronald C. Liles *
Production Manager: Charles Permane
Story and Screenplay by: Jimmy Sangster
Assistant Director: Lucky Sacripanti [real name: Luciano Sacripanti]
Continuity: Jane Buck
Photographed in Eastmancolor by: Monty Berman
Camera Operator: Geoffrey Seahorne
Editor: Douglas Myers
Music Composed and Directed by: Stanley Black
Sound Recordist: Bill Bulkley
RCA Sound Recording
Wardrobe: Muriel Dickson
Make-up: Jimmy Evans
Hairdresser: Joyce James
Art Director: John Elphick
Production Controller: Ronald C. Liles
Made at Alliance Film Studios Twickenham
Cast
Donald Wolfit (Callistratus)
Barbara Shelley (Madeleine [Duval])
Vincent Ball (John Pierre)
Victor Maddern (Carl)
William Devlin (Kurt [Urach])
Andrew Faulds (Wetzler)
Bryan Coleman (Auron)
John Le Mesurier (judge)
Bernard Bresslaw (tall sneak thief)
George Murcell (first guard)
Barbara Burke (housekeeper)
Hal Osmond (small sneak thief)
Colin Tapley (commissioner of prisons)
John Stuart (uncle [Phillippe])
Henry Vidon (Professor [Bernhardt] Meinster)
Theodore Wilhelm [emaciated prisoner] [listed in opening credits but not in the end titles]
Cameron Hall (drunken doctor)
Otto Diamant (gravedigger)
Muriel Ali (gypsy dancer)
Julian Strange (second guard)
Bruce Whiteman (third guard)
Max Brimmell (warder)
Denis Shaw (blacksmith)
Milton Reid (executioner)
Richard Golding (official)
Yvonne Buckingham [serving wench] *
Sylvia Casimir [laughing woman in tavern] *
Carlos Williams [stretcher bearer] *
References
Periodicals
Mad Movies no.1 (June 1972) p.unpaginated – credits, review
Books
Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.41 – credits
