When I recently took my trip to Romania for Halloween, I noticed a lot of weird things, nothing of the supernatural sort but odd. One that stuck in my mind was the distraught face of a woman who missed a local tour bus as it was j u s t taking off. I understand that feeling well, and what stuck in my mind is how fast the woman ran but still missed. Perhaps had she not carried so much luggage she would have made it.
1970's 'The Mark of the Devil' is like that, it reaches far but just misses. One of the many sleazy witch-burning films that sprang up in the wake of Michael Reeves's swansong 'The Witchfinder General', 'Mark' surprisingly has lot going for it than most of the other rip-offs. It's certainly not the classic that a few have made it out to be, but it's also not as shamelessly bad as some reviewers have said(it IS pretty shameless though, with one of the worst musical scores of all time).
In 16th century Austria a busty tavern wench named Vanessa(Olivera Katarina)resists the advances of disgusting wench--I mean witch hunter Albino(Reggie Nalder)and summarily finds herself accused of witchcraft. Thankfully one of the witch hunters, Christian(Udo Kier, who really puts the pretty in pretty boy)has some compassion for her, and unlike Albino actually genuinely believes in what he is doing and is not in it for the profit, but it complicates matters that he DOES suspect her of witchcraft. This causes an obviously budding romance between them to develop much more slowly, and much more realistically than in other films. Things are further complicated when renowned witch-hunter Count Cumberland(Herbert Lom)arrives in town after hearing allegations of Albino's corruption. Will he be our young couples Saviour? Or will he be even worse?
At first, the distant but apparently kindly Cumberland seems as far from Vincent Price's Matthew Hopkins as you can get. He lets several people go free and it's clear that Christian respects him and sees him as a father figure, and the feeling is mutual. We get the feeling that Cumberland is just a misguided but noble man and that he can eventually be swayed to see the light just as Christian was and that he will emerge as the hero of the piece.
That is until it becomes clear that Cumberland is bat sh*t insane and even more dangerous than Albino at his worst. Our young couple is screwed.
Herbert Lom gives what is possibly his greatest performance as Cumberland. This apparently kindly but pigheaded man's gradual revelation as a completely irredeemable and evil monster is genuinely horrifying. It may be one of the best portrayals of understated evil ever portrayed on the screen. Even the hardened murderer and rapist Albino cannot compare to Cumberland's madness. He recognizes Cumberland for what he is and is soon snuffed out. He may be a rapist, murderer and all-around sleaze bag, but at least he admits it to himself. Nalder is a sickening joy to watch in his scenes with Lom.
Udo Kier is a bit stiff as Christian, but his gradual transformation from a deluded but honest man to a freedom fighter as he realizes his mentor is mad is excellent. The fact that his years of friendship means nothing to Cumberland, as well as his futile attempts at redemption as he realizes that he is just as responsible for the executions as anyone else is brilliantly portrayed. It's a harrowing portrait of a man forced to compromise his beliefs as everything he knows comes crashing down. It's a compelling contrast to 'Witchfinder' where the film's likable, level-headed hero Marshall; starts out as a noble freedom fighter and gradually compromises his morals until he becomes every bit as bad as his nemesis and no longer can relate to his friends and loved ones. Here, the hero starts out identifying with the villain before compromising his BAD morals and reforming, but whereas in 'Witchfinder' our hero lives to become corrupted, here he dies to reform(he's not named 'Christ' for nothing). Olivera Katarina is also great as Vanessa. In some ways she too is similar to Marshall, her blind quest for vengeance against Cumberland is what causes the death of her lover, until she too has a led a mad 'witchhunt' which has mostly harmed the innocent and destroyed any chance at happiness she had.
So what keeps 'Mark' from becoming a classic? Well, the film has plenty of problems, from an unbearable, unfitting, awful musical score that will cause you to want to harm small animals and children, to awful dialog, to cinematography which ranges from laughably amateurish to Oscar-worthy(sometimes in the same scene!)but what ultimately kills it is it's attitude. The film is attempting to be a sensitive, intelligent historical epic but feels more like a sleazy exploitation film(probably because it IS a sleazy exploitation film). The T & A shots are gratuitous, there are several lame attempts at humor and the films marketing campaign made it clear that the film's primary objective was shocking people, as the film was rated 'V for Violence' by the filmmakers, and marketed with 'Free barf bags!!', making it clear the gore scenes were meant to be the centerpiece. So much for art.(Did I mention that the score sucked too?)
With better direction, a more mature approach and a better score this could have been a genuine classic. But it JUST misses. Still, compared to the other 'Witchfinder' rip-offs, it certainly could have been worse.~
1970's 'The Mark of the Devil' is like that, it reaches far but just misses. One of the many sleazy witch-burning films that sprang up in the wake of Michael Reeves's swansong 'The Witchfinder General', 'Mark' surprisingly has lot going for it than most of the other rip-offs. It's certainly not the classic that a few have made it out to be, but it's also not as shamelessly bad as some reviewers have said(it IS pretty shameless though, with one of the worst musical scores of all time).
In 16th century Austria a busty tavern wench named Vanessa(Olivera Katarina)resists the advances of disgusting wench--I mean witch hunter Albino(Reggie Nalder)and summarily finds herself accused of witchcraft. Thankfully one of the witch hunters, Christian(Udo Kier, who really puts the pretty in pretty boy)has some compassion for her, and unlike Albino actually genuinely believes in what he is doing and is not in it for the profit, but it complicates matters that he DOES suspect her of witchcraft. This causes an obviously budding romance between them to develop much more slowly, and much more realistically than in other films. Things are further complicated when renowned witch-hunter Count Cumberland(Herbert Lom)arrives in town after hearing allegations of Albino's corruption. Will he be our young couples Saviour? Or will he be even worse?
At first, the distant but apparently kindly Cumberland seems as far from Vincent Price's Matthew Hopkins as you can get. He lets several people go free and it's clear that Christian respects him and sees him as a father figure, and the feeling is mutual. We get the feeling that Cumberland is just a misguided but noble man and that he can eventually be swayed to see the light just as Christian was and that he will emerge as the hero of the piece.
That is until it becomes clear that Cumberland is bat sh*t insane and even more dangerous than Albino at his worst. Our young couple is screwed.
Herbert Lom gives what is possibly his greatest performance as Cumberland. This apparently kindly but pigheaded man's gradual revelation as a completely irredeemable and evil monster is genuinely horrifying. It may be one of the best portrayals of understated evil ever portrayed on the screen. Even the hardened murderer and rapist Albino cannot compare to Cumberland's madness. He recognizes Cumberland for what he is and is soon snuffed out. He may be a rapist, murderer and all-around sleaze bag, but at least he admits it to himself. Nalder is a sickening joy to watch in his scenes with Lom.
Udo Kier is a bit stiff as Christian, but his gradual transformation from a deluded but honest man to a freedom fighter as he realizes his mentor is mad is excellent. The fact that his years of friendship means nothing to Cumberland, as well as his futile attempts at redemption as he realizes that he is just as responsible for the executions as anyone else is brilliantly portrayed. It's a harrowing portrait of a man forced to compromise his beliefs as everything he knows comes crashing down. It's a compelling contrast to 'Witchfinder' where the film's likable, level-headed hero Marshall; starts out as a noble freedom fighter and gradually compromises his morals until he becomes every bit as bad as his nemesis and no longer can relate to his friends and loved ones. Here, the hero starts out identifying with the villain before compromising his BAD morals and reforming, but whereas in 'Witchfinder' our hero lives to become corrupted, here he dies to reform(he's not named 'Christ' for nothing). Olivera Katarina is also great as Vanessa. In some ways she too is similar to Marshall, her blind quest for vengeance against Cumberland is what causes the death of her lover, until she too has a led a mad 'witchhunt' which has mostly harmed the innocent and destroyed any chance at happiness she had.
So what keeps 'Mark' from becoming a classic? Well, the film has plenty of problems, from an unbearable, unfitting, awful musical score that will cause you to want to harm small animals and children, to awful dialog, to cinematography which ranges from laughably amateurish to Oscar-worthy(sometimes in the same scene!)but what ultimately kills it is it's attitude. The film is attempting to be a sensitive, intelligent historical epic but feels more like a sleazy exploitation film(probably because it IS a sleazy exploitation film). The T & A shots are gratuitous, there are several lame attempts at humor and the films marketing campaign made it clear that the film's primary objective was shocking people, as the film was rated 'V for Violence' by the filmmakers, and marketed with 'Free barf bags!!', making it clear the gore scenes were meant to be the centerpiece. So much for art.(Did I mention that the score sucked too?)
With better direction, a more mature approach and a better score this could have been a genuine classic. But it JUST misses. Still, compared to the other 'Witchfinder' rip-offs, it certainly could have been worse.~