''Blood and Roses'' () is a 1960

erotic horror Erotic horror, alternately called horror erotica or dark erotica, is a genre of fiction in which sensual or sexual imagery are blended with horrific overtones or story elements for the purpose of sexual arousal. Horror fiction of this type is mos ...

film directed by

Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director, and producer, as well as an author, artist, and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, s ...

. It is based on the novella ''

Carmilla ''Carmilla'' is an 1872 Gothic fiction, Gothic novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. It is one of the earliest known works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'' (1897) by 25 years. First published ...

'' (1872) by Irish writer

Sheridan Le Fanu Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (; 28 August 1814 – 7 February 1873), popularly known as J. S. Le Fanu, was an Irish writer of Gothic literature, mystery novels, and horror fiction. Considered by critics to be one of the greatest ghost ...

, shifting the book's setting in 19th-century

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

to the film's 20th-century

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. This film was conceived in both French and English-language versions, with the principal actors shooting their scenes in both languages.

Plot

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

Mel Ferrer Melchor Gastón FerrerAncestry Library Edition (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) was an American actor, director, and producer, active in film, theatre, and television. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with ...

as Leopoldo De Karnstein *

Elsa Martinelli Elsa Martinelli (born Elisa Tia; 30 January 1935 – 8 July 2017) was an Italian actress and fashion model. Described by ''The Guardian'' as a "versatile star of Hollywood’s international years whose work spanned romantic comedies, period epi ...

as Georgia Monteverdi *

Annette Vadim Annette Susanne Strøyberg (7 December 1936 – 12 December 2005) was a Danish actress. Her films included ''Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (1959), which was directed by her first husband, Roger Vadim. Biography Annette Strøyberg was born on 7 Dec ...

as Carmilla * René-Jean Chauffard as Dr. Verari *

Marc Allégret Marc Allégret (22 December 1900 – 3 November 1973) was a French screenwriter, photographer and film director. Biography Born in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, he was the elder brother of Yves Allégret. Marc was educated to be a lawyer in ...

as Judge Monteverdi *

Alberto Bonucci Alberto Bonucci (; 19 May 1918 – 5 April 1969) was an Italian film actor and director. He appeared in 53 films between 1950 and 1967. Partial filmography * ''Variety Lights'' (1950) - Night Club Comic * ''Fugitive in Trieste'' (1951) * ''Tot ...

as Carlo Ruggieri * Serge Marquand as Giuseppe * Gabriella Farinon as Lisa * Renato Speziali as Guido Naldi *

Edith Peters Edith Arlene Peters (April 14, 1926 – October 28, 2000) was an American singer and actress. She appeared in more than sixteen films from 1957 to 1981. Biography Peters was the fourth of five sisters. Her sisters Virginia, Mattye and Anne ...

as The Cook * Giovanni Di Benedetto as Police Marshal * Carmilla Stroyberg as Martha * Nathalie LeForet as Marie

Production

''Blood and Roses'' was filmed at

Hadrian's Villa Hadrian's Villa (; ) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising the ruins and archaeological remains of a large Roman villa, villa complex built around AD 120 by Roman emperor Hadrian near Tivoli, Italy, Tivoli outside Rome. It is the most impos ...

in Italy.

Release

''Blood and Roses'' was released in France on 14 September 1960. It was released in Rome in January 1961 under the title ''Il sangue e la rosa''. It was also released in the United States in September 1961. Thus far the only DVD of Blood and Roses is a 2014 German release featuring the original French-language version and a German-language dub with optional English subtitles.

Reception

In a contemporary review ''

Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' 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." 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 ''Vampyr'' () is a 1932 Gothic horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. It was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul based on elements from Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 collection of supernatural stories '' In a Glass Darkly''. The ...

''." The March 1962 issue of the pro-gay magazine ''

ONE 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

'' 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?"

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blood And Roses 1960 films 1960 horror films French vampire films French erotic films Italian erotic horror films Italian vampire films Films based on Carmilla Films directed by Roger Vadim 1960s French-language films Films shot in Italy Films set in Italy Films set in country houses Paramount Pictures films 1960s Italian films 1960s French films Films scored by Jean Prodromidès French-language Italian films Lesbian vampire media LGBTQ-related horror films French-language horror films