El vampiro negro

I came across this film on You Tube yesterday and was surprised to find that it was a remake of Fritz Lang's M (1931) shot in South America.

The title translate as THE BLACK VAMPIRE. M was released in South America as THE VAMPIRE OF DUSSELDORF so the title makes sense there even tho there is no vampire. This is not a scene by scene remake like the remake made in the United States in 1951.

The film has a dark moody black and white atmosphere like an older movie would have. The actor playing the killer is pretty good. In one scene he takes the daughter of a friend to the carnival and has to fight his urge to kill her.

A 1953 Argentinian remake of Fritz Lang's M from director Roman Vinoly Barreto. Following the plotine of the original very closely w/some subtle changes, making the child murderer a English language tutor, who is glimpsed by a nightclub entertainer from her dressing room window after we learn later a murder was committed there. A prosecutor & the police are desperate to catch him going through extreme lengths (catching any & all possible suspects & giving them the third degree) but as the criminals fear their own well being & the populace itself (particularly the homeless) are onto to the Black Vampire, he takes the entertainer's daughter hostage in a desperate bid to survive w/the final reel of him being chased, caught & brought to trial. As worthy as the original & even the 1951 American remake, this south of the border version was done w/such style & taste, you would think this film could be made in different countries & languages w/similar results.

"El Vampiro Negro" ("The Black Vampire") is a film with a very unfortunate title. The film is NOT a monster movie and has no vampires! Instead, it's an Argentinian reworking of the German film, "M"....and 'vampire' is a word they use to describe a child molester who murders children. Unlike "M", the film focuses less on the murderer and more on the people around him, such as parents, suspects, the prosecutor and his wife as well as the police.

Both "M" and "El Vampiro Negro" are at their best when it comes to cinematography. In many ways, the lighting and camera angles look like film noir. And, the opening scene of the steps is a work of art...framed and lit so perfectly.

There also are some wonderfully powerful scenes in the film, such as when the blind man recognizes that the killer is near due to the tune he's whistling. How that is handled is pretty amazing. Additionally, occasionally the movie is brutal...surprisingly brutal for its time. I think this makes for a much more powerful and emotional picture.

Overall, a very good film. The only quibble is the same one I have about "M", as the films want you to take pity on the killer....as if he's not responsible for his actions. As a trained therapist who has worked quite a bit with such individuals, I would beg to differ about feeling any sort of pity for these perpetrators. Fortunately, the ending of this South American movie IS tougher and offers a tough final scene in which the killer IS held accountable...something not provided in "M".

By the way, in this film there is no reference to the killer molesting the kids. It wouldn't make any sense if he didn't...but I assume Argentine sensibilities at the time wouldn't allow them to talk about the sexual aspects of the killings.

I saw a stunning movie last night. El Vampiro Negro, an Argintinian film whose title translates as The Black Vampire, is a remake of Fritz Lang's legendary M, starring Peter Lorre as a child killer. But this is no shot-for-shot remake. The acting is astonishing on all fronts, and the plot is tight and fraught with dread. And the look! Although the movie was released in 1953 (and almost never seen in the U.S.A.), a bit past the classic noir era, there's a distinct look of those gritty dramas afoot.

Teodoro Ulber (Nathan Pinzon), known as The Professor, is on trial for murder as the movie begins. After his attorney asks for confinement to a mental institution and the prosecution asks for the death penalty, a flashback reveals how Ulber made it to this point. Outside a dance hall, a short, portly figure drags the body of a little girl from a worn sack and throws it down a sewage shaft. The next day, a homeless man, deep within the sewer tunnels of the city, comes across the body. He alerts the police, who (of course) toss him in jail as a possible suspect, and the manhunt is on.

But Ulber's actions didn't go unseen. Through window in the basement of the dance hall, a young performer named Amalia (Olga Zubarry) spies the wretched little man. But she keeps quiet, at the behest of the club's unscrupulous owner. The owner fears he'd come under too-close scrutiny, and Amalia fears that she'll receive unwanted publicity – for, although she's a dancer of ill repute (!), she does have a sweet young daughter whom she's been able to send to a private school, at her own great sacrifice.

What's more, one of Amalia's coworkers, Cora (Nelly Panizza) is actually acquaintances with Ulber, who awkwardly pitches woo at Cora. Without realizing that Ulber is indeed the Black Vampire, Cora and Amalia aid in his escape from the police (led by prosecutor Bernar, played by Roberto Escalada), which only opens up the possibility of more children being murdered.

This is by no means a gory film. In fact, there's almost no blood at all (and none anywhere near a child). But the harsh camera of Anibal Gonzalez Paz tells a story all on its own: the desperate vulnerability of Ulber, the jaded countenance of Bernar, the shadowy streets and tunnels and back alleys of the city. Gonzalez Paz artfully direct the viewer's attention not to what is present but to what may be coming just around the bend.

The movie premiered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in October 1953 but didn't make it over to the States until January 2014. 61 years! 61 years before this masterful work by Roman Vinoly Barreto could be seen (with subtitles) over here, and more's the pity. El Vampiro Negro is a tremendous accomplishment that's not to be missed.

Huge thanks to the Film Noir Foundation and to the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland for making this screening possible!

When I first saw this film on Turner Classic Movies' schedule for October 29, two days before Hallowe'en, I wondered, "Why are they showing one of those cheap, terrible Mexican horror movies in Eddie Muller's time slot?" I was wrong on all countsL the film turned out to be more noir than horror, a clever reworking of Fritz Lang's "M," and a film or real quality and power in its own right. Also it's from Argentina, not Mexico. Eddie Muller stressed the feminist aspects of the tale, particularly the appearance of strong women characters (ironically, Lang's "M" contains virtually no women even though a woman, Thea von Harbou, wrote it). Writer-director Román Vinoly Barreto manages to work in references not only to "M" but other classic films like "The Man Who Knew Too Much," "The Third Man," and even "Casablanca" (early on, when they're just starting the search for the child-killer, the police say, "Round up all the usual suspects"), but Barreto ably fuses those movies into his plot so he seems like a director with a true love of his predecessors instead of some kid saying, "Look at how many movies I've seen!" A truly great film, blessedly rediscovered (thank you, Hollywood Foreign Press Association - the much-maligned group that hosted the Golden Globes - for funding its restoration) and ready to take its place as one of the classics of the film noir era.