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Introduction
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MARK OF THE DEVIL
Castle Mauterndorf had been built in 1253 under the sponsorship of Pope Innocent IV, seized by the Turks in 1462 but reverted back to the control of Salzburg in 1490 and then remained under the order of Salsburg Cathedral as an administration centre until 1806. Restored in the 19th Century, it is now a museum carefully preserved with its period furniture and artifacts intact. Virtually nothing needed to be altered or adjusted for the film’s period, including the old cemetery outside the castle walls. Cumberland’s coach was also authentic and thought to have been used, on occasion, by one of the castle’s resident staff, a dwarf employed there as the regional witch hunter - the character on which Albino was loosely based. His room, however, proved too small for filming purposes. Street and town scenes, were filmed in Krems on the river Danube with a days 2nd unit shooting in Vienna. As Armstrong arrived in Mauterndorf to commence shooting, major problems were already in occurrence. Sound equipment had been left behind in Munich so the picture was shot without live sound. Contracts with artistes were such that individuals would suddenly disappear for a couple of days without warning to make a commercial in Munich, which made scheduling almost impossible. Copies of the final shooting script were not available for the cast so amended scenes were being individually typed up each night. Olivera Vuco was alternating on a weekly basis between filming Mark Of The Devil in Austria and a film about Goya in Moscow. As Armstrong recalls, "At least she brought back weekly supplies of Russian caviar for us all." To complicate matters further, the cast and crew were so mixed internationally that seven different languages were operative on the film. This meant that to communicate, Armstrong would sometimes have to speak through two or even three people before being understood. Not speaking German also gave Armstrong a terrible disadvantage in having control of his set, especially when Hoven attempted to try and take over the shooting. "On the second day, we virtually had a stand-up fight on set as to whether or not Udo should stand or remain seated in his first encounter with Reggie [Nalder]. It was almost impossible to get anything filmed, we were arguing so much both on and off set. It was a ridiculous waste of valuable shooting time!" To add to his problems, the Director of Photography, Ernst Kalinke, a strictly old school German and longtime friend of Hoven, resented Armstrong’s youth and his being English, and was determined to shoot the film his way. On the first day, his attitude resulted in a running battle between them for virtually every shot. It started with Kalinke lining up a shot contrary to Armstrong’s instructions and reached breaking point when Kalinke used a prismatic lens without Armstrong knowing. The resultant row and Hoven’s refusal to fire Kalinke meant that Armstrong and his Director of Photography did not speak to each other for the remainder of the film. Instead, Armstrong worked exclusively with the young camera operator and left a resentful Kalinke to concentrate solely on his lighting. "The majority of the crew were young, extremely supportive and a delight to work with - as were the cast. Really, the only sour voices on the shoot were Adrian and Kalinke who, I believe, had known each other as far back as the war. Between the two of them, it was a nightmare. I was on the phone to Dina [his agent] just about every night of that first week telling her I wanted the situation resolved or I wanted off the picture. She kept reassuring me that Hoven would behave himself and that once Herbert [Lom] arrived in the second week, everything would be different."
As Lom departed, Armstrong continued shooting without problems until Hoven re-appeared and announced that he was now going to be the film’s 1st assistant director and work on set to translate Armstrong’s instructions to the non-English speaking extras during shooting of the crowd scenes. "At first it seemed okay," recounts Armstrong, "We were shooting what was left of the attack on the castle. All Herbert’s footage had already been filmed. So, I’d line up the shots and Adrian kept himself occupied controlling the extras. Of course, I had no idea what he was telling them to do but once he started getting carried away again, we started fighting. I’d really had enough by this time and was on the phone to my agent, wanting to get off the picture. She warned me that if I walked I’d not get paid the balance of my fee so I tried to get him to fire me. When that didn’t seem to work, I ended up having a screaming match with him, telling him to fire me, which he refused to do because he said he needed my name on the picture. Then, he announced he was going to go and shoot his own torture scenes while I finished off in the cemetery, so for a couple of days we had two units shooting. I really didn’t care anymore. I’d already shot the majority of the movie. Everything that mattered was in the can. The stuff left was very straightforward; the final cemetery scene and a couple of isolated cut-away scenes which couldn’t deviate from what was very specifically scripted. So, while I finished off in the cemetery, Adrian filmed his own water torture, the rabbit shots and, I think he may have gone out for the half day’s 2nd unit work with the coach run-bys." For the final week’s shooting, the unit moved to the town of Krems for the market-place and street scenes. "I decided for the few scenes left, I’d try a less stressful approach to the whole problem of trying to deal with Adrian. I knew I was going to be at a severe diasdvantage now as I was about to face a complete non-English speaking crowd, bit-part actors, Adrian himself and his small son Percy. So, I decided to change tactics and play by a new set of rules. I’d tell him the action I wanted, check the camera was lined up okay then sit back and let him get on and play director before the crowds. As far as Percy’s footage was concerned, it was logical to let Adrian direct his son and, surprisingly, Adrian’s own scene presented no problem as he was too occupied with his performance to concern himself with anything else. It certainly made my life a whole lot easier and it stopped the on-set rows. The picture was still getting made as I intended, if in a slightly bizarre manner, and Adrian was happy running the set as a hands-on 1st - although I think my telling him what I wanted was just about the only time conversation passed between us." Despite the surface cordiality on set, the rift between Armstrong and Hoven had remained unchanged and Armstrong was desperately unhappy. "By the end of the shoot, I couldn’t get back to England quickly enough and recover from the whole ordeal and I’m sure he was equally glad to see the back of me." Armstrong returned to London, tired and severely depressed. "I was twenty-five, I’d made two shorts and two features - and three out of the four had been huge battlegrounds between myself and my producers. To have had all the realities of the industry thrown at me in such a concentrated period of time really was a baptism by fire. I didn’t even know if I wanted to work in the business any more after all I’d gone through; it had been so soul-destroying." 
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Shooting: The majority of the film was shot in and around a castle overlooking Mauterndorf, a tiny village, an hour’s drive from Salzburg, in the heart of the Lungau valley in the Tauern alps.
Only the prison cells needed to be constructed. Rooms were redressed for the tavern in which Vanessa works. Almost all the torture instruments, chains and props were authentic, including the thumbscrews and those used for the famous tongue-tearing sequence.
She proved to be right. As Herbert Lom arrived in Mauterndorf, Hoven returned to Munich and, for the first time, shooting went smoothly and happily. Even communication on set proved simpler as Lom could speak fluent German and was able to translate Armstrong’s requirements when language problems arose. The re-appearance by Hoven for a couple of days also presented no problems. He was accompanied by a couple of journalists which, together with Lom’s presence, prevented any on-set fights. They watched the tongue-tearing scene, did a couple of interviews and returned to Munich with Hoven the following day. By the fifth week, all the footage with Lom had been completed successfully.
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Copyright © 2005 Michael Armstrong |