Condemned to Live
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| Condemned to Live | |
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| Directed by | Frank Strayer |
| Produced by | Maury Cohen |
| Written by | Karen DeWolf |
| Starring | Ralph Morgan Maxine Doyle Russell Gleason |
| Music by | Abe Meyer |
| Distributed by | Invincible Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1935 |
| Running time | 65 min |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Condemned to Live is a 1935 American horror film starring Ralph Morgan and Maxine Doyle, and directed by Frank Strayer.
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[edit] Plot
The film opens with a trio of explorers in Africa who are hiding in a cave. One of the explorers, a pregnant woman, is bitten by a vampire bat.
The film then cuts forward in time to a small European village where a series of mysterious murders are taking place. The villagers readily assemble in mob form, replete with torches, at the house of Professor Kristan (Ralph Morgan) after every murder. The villagers suspect that a giant bat is to blame for the murders. Kristan gives the villagers advice on staying safe, and assures them a scientific explanation exists.
However, in subsequent scenes, Kristan himself is revealed to be the murderer. He is seized by attacks (triggered by darkness) which transform him into a trance-like state of murderousness. After he commits a murder, he awakes from the trance with no memory of the deed, believing himself merely to have fainted. Kristan's obliviousness is further enabled by the intervention of his loyal hunchback Zan, the only person aware of Kristan's condition. Zan follows Kristan when he is in his trances, ensuring the professor is not discovered.
An old friend of Kristan's named Dr. Bizet arrives to visit, and soon suspects what is happening. Bizet discloses to Kristan that his mother was bitten by a vampire bat, and that traits of vamparism have likely been passed down to him per Lamarckism. (The audience now understands the pregnant explorer in the opening flashback to have been Kristan's mother.)
After Kristan's fiance (Maxine Doyle) is attacked by an entranced Kristan, the mob of villagers assumes Zan is culpable and chases him to the edge of a cliff inside a cave. Kristan arrives and confesses to the murders, despite Zan's protestations (aimed at saving the professor) that he, the hunchback, is in fact the murderer. As the mob watches, Kristan throws himself over the edge of the cliff and Zan follows.
[edit] Trivia and Criticism
- The narrative structure and plot of Condemned to Live are often characterized as being inappropriately similar to (and derivative of) The Vampire Bat, an earlier film also directed by Frank Strayer. [1]
- It is never fully established in which European country the film takes place. There are establishing shots of caves, forests, and the ocean.
- Although Professor Kristan is sometimes portrayed biting the neck of his victims, he does not feature many of the traits (long teeth, levitation, blood drinking, turning into a bat) traditionally associated with vampires.
[edit] Memorable Quotes
"What good can there be in a hunchback?" - Mob member
