Original subtitles

A Film from Carl Th. Dreyer-Produktion

Freely adapted from the book In a Glass Darkly by]. Sheridan Le Fanu

Scenario: Christen Jul and Carl Th. Dreyer

Direction: Carl Th. Dreyer

Julian West as Allan Gray

Photography: Rudolph Maté Art Direction: Hermann Warm

Music: Wolfgang Zeller

Sound: Dr. Hans Bittmann

Dialogue Director and Sound Editor: Paul Falkenberg

Sound Recording: Tobis-Klangfilm and Afifa Tonkopie

The Film's Figures: Allan Gray - Julian West

The Chatelain - Maurice Schutz Giséle - Rena Mandel

Léone - Sybille Schmitz His Daughters

The Village Doctor - Jan Hieronimko

The Old Woman from the Cemetery - Henriette Gerard

The Old Servant - Albert Bras His Wife - N. Babanini

The Nurse - Jane Mora

World Distribution: Conti Film GmbH, Berlin

This is the tale of the strange adventures of young Allan Gray,

who immersed himself in the study of devil worship and vampires.

Preoccupied with superstitions of centuries past, he became a dreamer

for whom the line between the real and the supernatural became blurred...

His aimless wanderings led him late one evening

to a secluded inn by the river

in a village called Courtempierre.

Who's there?

Go around that way.

Good night.

It was an eerie moonlit night.

Light and shadow, voices and faces seemed to take on hidden meaning.

Allan Gray felt a sinister force descend upon him.

In vain he fought the terror that seized him,

and fear of things he could not name haunted his restless sleep...

Who are you?

Quiet!

She must not die! You understand?

TO BE OPENED...

UPON MY DEATH

What was going on?

What terrifying secret was unfolding?

Allan Gray felt certain of one thing:

A soul in mortal distress was crying out for help,

and a voice within urged him to heed that call.

SHence!

DOCTOR, PHYSICIAN

Did you hear that?

Yes. The child.

The child?

Yes, the child!

There's no child here.

But the dogs!

There are no children or dogs here!

N0?

No.

Good night.

Good night.

He followed the fleeting shadows and came to a large estate

where a forlorn manor rose up among ancient trees.

Here, in seclusion,

with only his two daughters and a few servants for company,

lived the man who had appeared to Allan Gray earlier at the inn.

The wounds have almost healed.

The blood!

The blood!

Don't go to bed until the doctor arrives.

Open up! Hurry!

For heaven's sake, hurry!

I 'm coming.

What's wrong?

What is it?

Quick! They're trying to kill him!

The other door.

Jeanne, light the lamps in the library.

And you stay with Giséle, you hear?

Is he dead?

Yes.

Won't you please stay here with us?

Where is he going?

To the police.

TO BE OPENED UPON MY DEATH

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF VAMPIRES

Accounts from many ages and lands tell of terrible demons called vampires.

These are the bodies and souls of the dead

whose terrible deeds in life deny them repose in the grave.

Under the bright light of the full moon,

they rise from their graves

to suck the blood of children and young adults

and thus prolong their shadowy existence.

The Prince of Darkness is their ally

and lends them supernatural power among the living and the dead.

At night these creatures from the abyss

haunt the abodes of the living,

where they sow death and decay.

A vampire's victim is doomed to perish without hope.

A wound on the throat, as from the bite of a cat or rat,

is the mark of damnation.

Neither medical science...

Léone!

Where?

There, outside!

Hurry!

Léone!

Quick!

Like a plague, the vampire's lust infects the victim,

who is torn between a thirst for blood

and a desperate repulsion toward this craving.

The innocent young person itself becomes a vampire

and seeks to prey on its nearest and dearest.

Entire families, even entire villages, are thus brought under the curse.

If I could only die!

No, Léone.

I know.

I'm lost.

I'm damned.

Ithink she's dying.

Didn't you hear a scream?

Come! The carriage is back!

She's asleep.

Good God!

What is that?

See that?

Blood.

The ghosts of executed criminals are in their service,

but the living too may fall under their dreadful sway.

An account from Hungary tells of a village doctor

who, having sold his soul to the Evil One,

became a vampire's henchman

and thus an accomplice to a series of horrid crimes in that region.

Good evening, Doctor.

Good evening. How is she doing?

- Not well at all. - Oh? Why is that?

We found her out on the grounds.

Well, let's go and see.

She has another of those marks on her neck.

We'll have a look.

Good evening.

Good evening. Come along.

You stay down here.

She's doing very poorly.

- Pulse? - Weak.

Can't she be saved?

Perhaps.

But she needs blood.

It must be human blood.

Are you willing to give her your own?

Come, young man.

I'll draw your blood.

Why does the doctor always come at night?

Once the vampire has gained complete control over its victim,

it seeks to drive the victim to suicide,

thus delivering that soul to the Evil One.

For he who takes his own life is lost for all eternity.

To him the Golden Gates of Heaven are closed.

For him all hope is lost.

Sister.

Come here a moment.

You may go to bed now.

Did you hear me?

Who can solve the riddle of life and death

or fathom the dark secrets hidden from the light of day?

Forjust as strange as a vampire's existence

is the manner of its demise.

These dead who cannot find peace must be murdered

to deliver a tormented humanity from their grip.

Many monasteries and libraries possess in their secret archives...

Doctor!

What's wrong?

I'm losing blood.

Nonsense! Your blood is right here!

...accounts of how vampires have been rendered harmless in many places.

In the village of Kisilova,

haunted a generation ago by a vampire in the form of an old woman,

the following procedure was used:

At dawn the grave was opened,

and the old woman was found lying as if asleep.

An iron stake was driven through her heart,

nailing her horrid soul to the earth.

She then died a true death,

and the curse that had lain upon her and her victims was broken.

Come... fol/ow me.

We shall become one soul, one blood.

Follow me.

Death is waiting...

...deliverance by the grace of our heavenly Lord.

Even in these parts,

tradition tells how certain areas were haunted by vampires.

Just 25 years ago, a murderous epidemic

claimed 11 victims in the village of Courtempierre.

Doctors assigned the plague a medical name,

but a persistent rumour circulated among the people

that a vampire was the cause of the scourge.

Many firmly believed that vampire to be

none other than Marguerite Chopin, who lay buried in the village cemetery.

All her life, Marguerite Chopin had been a monster in human form.

She died an unrepentant soul,

and the Church denied her the Last Sacraments.

Come quickly!

Something terrible is happening!

Come quickly!

Sister.

I'm afraid of dying.

Iam damned!

My God!

Sister.

She mustn't die.

She must live until sunrise, you understand?

FROM DUST THOU ART

UNTO DUST THOU SHALT RETURN

Now g0!

Quickly!

I feel strong.

My soul is free.

Ah, you're here. Open this.

You hear me?

Listen to me!

Listen to me!

Please!

Dammit, you swine!

Qpen up!

Let me out of here!

Open this gate!

Over here.

This way.