BLUE BLOOD (1973): “You May Own This House, But Do You Possess It?”

That’s the question butler Oliver Reed asks of aristocrat Fiona Lewis in Andrew Sinclair’s BLUE BLOOD (1973), one of the oddest movies you’ll ever encounter. Novelist Sinclair had just come from doing his interesting but quirky adaptation of Dylan Thomas’ UNDER MILK WOOD with Richard Burton & Peter O’Toole. This time around Sinclair adapted a bizarre story by an English aristocrat who co-wrote and co-produced the film and even allowed his historic estate to be used as the setting. On the surface BLUE BLOOD resembles Joseph Losey’s THE SERVANT where Dirk Bogarde begins to dominate his employer.

This time around its Oliver Reed as the sinister butler and he employs one of the strangest accents ever heard. The story starts with an unflattering portrayal of the British upper class and then progresses from domination by domestics to possible Satanic goings on. BLUE BLOOD is incomprehensible at times and positively revels in its weirdness plus you get to see a lot of the young Derek Jacobi and Fiona Lewis as the aristocratic couple. Too bad there are no subtitles with the DVD as some of the accents and dialogue (primarily Reed’s) are very difficult to understand. Worth seeing for the people involved and for the incredible house and grounds…For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.