Blue Blood (1973 film)

Blue Blood is a 1973 British horror film directed by Andrew Sinclair and starring Oliver Reed, Fiona Lewis, and Derek Jacobi.[2] It was based on the novel The Carry-Cot by Alexander Thynn and was shot on location at Longleat House in Wiltshire.[3]

Blue Blood
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAndrew Sinclair
Produced byJohn Trent
Kent Walwin
Written byAndrew Sinclair
Based onThe Carry-Cot
by Alexander Thynn
StarringOliver Reed
Fiona Lewis
Derek Jacobi
Anna Gaël
Meg Wynn Owen
Music byBrian Gascoigne
CinematographyHarry Waxman
Edited byKeith Palmer
Production
company
Mallard Productions
Distributed byMallard Productions
Release date
1973
Running time
86 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom[1]
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Gregory, a young aristocrat with a country mansion, engages German nanny Beate to look after his children while he pursues a life of debauchery with his mistress Carlotta and their high-society friends. He entrusts the running of the household to his menacing butler, Tom, who scorns his master's progressive attitudes and plots to take control. Tom uses dark magic against Beate, giving her visions of a Satanic ritual involving the sacrifice of Gregory's son. When Gregory's wife Lily finds their children injured, she accuses Beate of harming them and demands that Gregory dismiss her; he refuses, and Lily leaves the mansion. Tom passes the visions on to Gregory, whose mind is broken when he pictures Tom sacrificing his son. Beate leaves the mansion and Lily returns as its new mistress.

Cast

Critical response

In a contemporary review, Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin described Blue Blood as a series of "cheap, coarsely-filmed charades" and criticised the film's direction: "once Sinclair gets down to working out his theme (black-blooded butler usurps degenerate, blue-blooded employer), the skimpiness of his material and the shoddiness of this TV-sketch technique become painfully evident." He added that Reed's performance made the character Tom "one of the most physically repellent of screen villains".[1]

References
  1. Combs, Richard (January 1975). "Blue Blood". The Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 42 no. 492. London, UK: British Film Institute. p. 5. ISSN 0027-0407. OCLC 2594020.
  2. "Blue Blood". horrorpedia.com. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  3. Rigby p. 260

Bibliography
  • Rigby, Jonathan. English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema. Reynolds & Hearn, 2000.
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