Peel as Baron Meinster exudes a decadence and an arrogance unparalleled in screen vampires since Lugosi. Look at Meinster's face when he is waiting for Marianne in the drawing room of the school for girls. He absolutely detests having to be among mortals; they bore him - he'd rather be anywhere else in the world. Yet he's there for Marianne. However I don't think he wants to possess Marianne in a bridal sense -- he want to corrupt her and the beauty and innocence she stands for. (Perhaps this helps a gay interpretation of the film in the sense he may have no real nuptial desire for her.) He lives for corruption; this is sport for Meinster and he keeps score by the number souls he ruins, his boyish spit curl mocking the world of the living. (His mother's blood must have been a grand slam in his vampire world.) Meinster is almost a prequel to the mature Dracula; he's like Dracula Year One.
GARY L. PRANGE

"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectos nunc."