THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS
Almost...

  I watched about 30 minutes of this 1967 Roman Polanski movie and couldn't hack it any more.  I mean, it's a comedy, and I don't think I'd want a comedy from Roman Polanski any more than I'd want a, uh, a painting from John Milton, or a heavy metal album from Bob Marley.  So I put it off for later.  I went to bed, went to work, went to a movie, came home, finished this, and found myself giggling fitfully throughout the remainder of the film.  Maybe it's just me

Jack MacGowran stars as Dr. Abronsius, a bat researcher in wintry Transylvania who along with his assistant Alfred (an incredibly boyish-looking Polanski) seeks out those foul fiends of the night.  There they run afoul of the head of the local vampire clan (Christopher Lee), and much chaos ensues. (shameful admission: This is NOT Christopher Lee, as I was corrected several times after writing this review.  It's Ferdy Mayne. D'oh!)

The comedy here is almost entirely in the "bumbling buffoon" vein, with Abronsius and Alfred falling over things, getting stuck in narrow passages, and generally demonstrating how they would've been much safer researching squirrels.  You've got to be in the right mood for this sort of thing, and I guess for the first 30 minutes, I wasn't.  Maybe it would also help to be more familiar with Hammer Dracula films than I am.

Still, there are any number of fun moments, like when Alfred drives a stake into a figure behind a curtain, Hamlet-style, and is nailed in the face with a huge gout of the red stuff.  One scene with a Jewish vampire is hilarious.  And there's one scene involving a reflection in a mirror, which shows three humans and absolutely nobody else in this very crowded room.  It's quite striking, if not done with very much precision.

I don't think I'd go so far as to recommend this movie; yeah, I laughed during the bulk of the film, but it still feels like something I'd enjoy only in rare moods.  At any rate, it's hard to deny that Christopher Lee makes a great vampire, the sets and matte paintings are admirable, and that score by Christopher Komeda is wonderful.

Also known as The Vampire Killers, and Dance Of The Vampires.  The full title is The Fearless Vampire Killers or, Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck.  I'm starting to get tired of those movies with two titles in just one title.  Really, does anybody out there really refer to How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love The Bomb?

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