Once Bitten (1932 film)

Once Bitten
Directed by	Leslie S. Hiscott
Written by	Michael Barringer John Barrow H. Fowler Mear
Produced by	Julius Hagen
Starring	Richard Cooper Ursula Jeans Frank Pettingell
Cinematography	Sydney Blythe
Production company	Real Art Productions
Distributed by	Fox Film
Release date	March 1932 (1932-03)
Running time	47 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Once Bitten is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Richard Cooper, Ursula Jeans and Frank Pettingell. It was made at Twickenham Studios as a quota quickie.

Plot

In 1920, a vampire from an unspecified foreign country, the Countess de Clare, moves to a town house in England, with her insane servant Legros, and determines to enter society; the reason being, that she must drink the blood of a virgin man of younger than forty within one full moon of that time, or be destroyed. When taking an evening walk, she meets a man called Jerry, and strikes up conversation with him - soon realizing that he is not at all eligible, as he is extremely frank about his womanizing. After she tells him about her household - omitting some facts - Jerry declares that she hasn't enough servants to be a proper English gentlewoman, and gives her the card of an agency to hire them; she does not protest against it, thinking there may very well be some options among people there.
The next day, she goes to the servant agency - Sir Timothy Blott's - and declares her attention two hire one or two servants. Sir Timothy first speaks of lady's maids, and, after hearing the devious criminal reputation of one, Anne, she agrees to hire her, to Sir Timothy's great surprise. Nonetheless, knowing she is a countess, Sir Timothy cordially invites her to a party of his in two days, which she accepts, and departs, accompanied by Anne.
At the party, the Countess is introduced by Sir Timothy to several of his friends, but attaches herself quickly to the bumbling Toby Galloway, who seems quite unable to attract the ladies, until she realizes he is very fond of Alicia, a typist, and then attempts to remove him from her, by various ways, finally getting him into enraptured conversation with Italian vampire hunter Mario Fideli; however, she accidentally locks Fideli and Galloway (although both are unaware of it) into the library, and is compelled to satisfy herself with listening at the key-hole - and hears, to her great mortification, Fideli's very accurate description of a female vampire, which almost exactly describes her!
Alicia, who has seen Clare (as the Countess has instructed Galloway to call her), listening at the key-hole, informs Sir Timothy that she believes the Countess not to be a proper lady, however Jerry, who is also a guest at the party, vouches for her reputation, relating to Alicia and Sir Timothy what he and the Countess spoke of, and he also describes the magnificent house the Countess has rented, offering to take them there.
Meanwhile, at the Countess' town house, Legros discovers Anne going through the Countess' things, and she declares to him that the Countess must be supernatural or mad, after which Legros maniacally reveals the Countess' true nature, and knocks Anne unconscious with a fire poker; and, thinking he has murdered her, he puts her in a canvas sack, and throws her down the coal chute.
That night, Galloway is returning from the party, and jumping at things, as he has been exceedingly frightened by Fideli's descriptions; and so, when he meets the Countess, he gladly accepts her invitation to her house, not looking forward to eating alone at his house. As, however, they go into the parlor, the fire goes out, and Galloway offers to fetch some coal, which the Countess accepts, and so he goes out to the chute, but finds Anne in the bag. After he at length succeeds in extracting her, she breathlessly tells him what she saw and heard from Legros; and, at that very moment, Fideli appears, holding a torch, and declares that the Countess must be destroyed.
Meanwhile, Jerry, talking glibly all the while, leads Sir Timothy and Alicia up the path to the house, and, finding no one answers the door, climbs through the window, through which his companions reluctantly follow him, the stout Sir Timothy nearly getting stuck. However, Jerry soon gets them lost in a secret passageway, in which the crazed and murderous Legros soon also appears - and he tries to murder them. Jerry's tie is lit on fire, Sir Timothy falls upon the ground and cannot get up, and Legros begins bashing Alicia against the wall, however, a door in the passageway opens, and Fideli comes up, and shoots Legros to death. Alicia falls into Galloway's arms, the latter having been with Fideli, and Anne, also following, steals Sir Timothy's watch, as he is unable to stop her in his position, while Fideli breaks a water pipe and puts out the fire on Jerry. Presently, Fideli declares they should all depart, and they begin to do so, after Galloway manages, with a good deal of trouble, to raise Sir Timothy to his legs.
The next morning, Galloway accepts the Countess' invitation to breakfast, and, as they eat, he explains glibly that Alicia "spent the night with him", and then reveals to her his knowledge of her nature, giving her a twenty-four-hour warning of Fideli's planned destruction of her. And so, the Countess departs.
Later that day, Fideli, Anne, Sir Timothy, Jerry, and Alicia eat at Galloway's residence, and the men leave to play cards at length; however, Jerry lingers with his cigar, and, presently declares, flinging it in to the fire, that he is a vampire, and is obliged to have the blood of a virgin woman, and jumps upon Anne; however, then Galloway enters to fetch the sherry-decanter, takes down his old army pistol, and shoots Jerry dead, while Anne flees, screaming. As Sir Timothy is heard coming toward the room, Galloway looks down at Jerry's dead body, and then at the pistol in his hand, and inquires of Alicia what they are going to do now.

Cast

• Ursula Jeans as Clare
• Richard Cooper as Toby Galloway
• Frank Pettingell as Sir Timothy Blott
• Jeanne Stuart as Alicia
• Dino Galvani as Mario Fideli
• Sydney King as Jerry
• Anthony Holles as Legros
• Kathleen Kelly as Anne

Bibliography

• Chibnall, Steve. Quota Quickies: The Birth of the British 'B' Film. British Film Institute, 2007.
• Low, Rachael. Filmmaking in 1930s Britain. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
• Wood, Linda. British Films, 1927-1939. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

• Once Bitten at IMDb