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Blue Blood (1973 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Blue Blood' is a 1973 British horror drama film directed by Andrew Sinclair and starring Oliver Reed, Fiona Lewis, and Derek Jacobi. It was based on the novel 'The Carry-Cot' by Alexander Thynn.
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
* Oliver Reed as Tom
* Fiona Lewis as Lily
* Derek Jacobi as Gregory
* Anna Gal as Carlotta
* Meg Wynn Owen as Beate
* John Rainer as Clurman
* Richard Davies as Jones
* Gwyneth Owen as Agnes
* Patrick Carter as Cocky
* Elaine Ives-Cameron as Serena
* Tim Wylton as Morrell
* Hubert Rees as Dr Barratt
* Dilys Price as Mrs Barratt
* Andrew McCall as Gerrard
* Sally Anne Newton as Susannah
Production
The film was shot on location at Longleat House in Wiltshire.
Jacquemine Charrott Lodwidge was the film's art director.
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".
References
Bibliography
* Rigby, Jonathan. 'English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema'. Reynolds & Hearn, 2000.
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