Le vampire

After a look at some strange creatures, the narrator and camera take us to the Chaco forest, on the borders of Paraguay.

I entered this film expecting something to do with vampires, and that is not really what I received. It does have clips from Murnau's "Nosferatu" and uses this to segue to the vampire bat. Painleve sees a parallel between the parasitic vampire and the world of bats.

This film does have some great early animal footage. Not sure how many animal films were around in the 1940s, but certainly not many, and any documentation of animal life is welcome. I almost feel bad for the guinea pig that was being used as a guinea pig.

Not sure how this film was avant garde. Really, it was mostly just an informative film, something you might show as a filmstrip to a classroom.

This has nothing to do with the undead vampire of folklore, but rather a nature documentary about bloodsucking members of the animal world – including a few insects, but concentrating especially on the vampire bat. The critter is shown in uncomfortable close-up literally burrowing for sustenance into the cheek of a unfortunate guinea pig!

The 6-year shooting schedule for what amounts to just 9 minutes of film is baffling – unless WWII and the Nazi occupation of France made it difficult for the director to operate at his leisure! Incidentally, just as mysteriously, 23 of his efforts were released on DVD by Criterion (of all companies!) under the collective moniker SCIENCE IS FICTION…but, it is safe to say, that I will not be bothering to find out what makes them worthy of such 'prestigious' branding!

I'm not sure what Jean Painlevé was doing between 1939 and 1945, but it may have had something to do with the fact that he was the son of a Prime Minister of France, a scientist in his own right, a film maker, and there happened to be a war going on that was distracting people and sucking the lifeblood from such necessary projects as this one.

Get it? Well, I don't have sharp a sense of humor as the director, who filled this one with lots of Jazz music, from the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens, even as he starts out telling us about all the ugly, filthy disgusting creatures that infest our planet. Did this start out as a war documentary? Were the various disgusting creatures going to be followed by Hitler, and then came word that he was dead. "Alors!" says our auteur. "No need to waste all that footage. I'll just make it about.....bats. Or maybe haggis. No, I'll go with bats."

Boy is this one disgusting. The trouble is, like all of Painlevé's stuff, it's accurate.

Le Vampire is an interesting documentary about the vampire bat. Although it does not feature up-to-date science, having been made seventy years ago, it still remains interesting.

The film benefits from evocative film-making by Jean Painleve. It opens with clips of other films by Painleve showing various bizarre creatures such as the sea-horse. It then goes on to an examination of the vampire bat itself, including a graphic depiction of the bat feeding on a guinea pig. Although the film is not overly gory, it still manages to disturb.

Sensitive viewers should be warned that the portions featuring the guinea pig are rather graphic and it is implied that the bat is allowed to feed until the guinea pig dies. Still, this short is well worth seeking out.

I was in my twenties when I saw Franju's short Le sang des betes, a pretty bloody essay on French slaughterhouses; this might make a squeamish person faint. Painleve's short is not in the same class of animal horror, but it's fun to watch anyway.