Os Vampiros

I knew next to nothing about this serial before starting on the first installment. I had mild expectations, figuring it would be a struggle to pay attention and not get bored. Boy, was I wrong! It starts of with a fast pace, leading you into a mystery with twists and turns and exciting villains. Following the young reporter, it's almost like an excellent Tintin-adventure. In fact, there are many parallels to Tintin that can be made, including a clumsy friend that happens upon great wealth.

Sadly, it loses a lot of momentum about midway through. As far as I can understand, there was no script (only a general idea), and it kind of shows. I assume the Irma Vep and Mazamette-characters were the most popular, because they become more and more involved in the storyline as it progresses. After a while, Guérande (the hero reporter) is almost completely overshadowed by the "supporting cast". Musidora is fantastic as Irma Vep, and it's hard to complain about there being more of her - but it does lead to a less interesting story. As you eventually follow the villains almost as much as the protagonist, there is no longer any mystery to it. The twists and turns doesn't matter, because they often don't surprise you. When it comes to Marcel Lévesque's performance as Mazamette, it was probably better in its time than it is now. As (almost) the only character, he constantly looks at the camera, acting as if it was a slapstick comedy. The same goes for his son, who appears later.

Don't get me wrong, there are still thrilling scenes, stunts and twists in the latter episodes, but they are few and far apart, and not enough to save the entire series. Maybe it would have been better if I had not "binge-watched" it, but from what I hear, that's how it's usually shown in screenings.

Had the rest of the serial been as good as the first 4-5 installments, this would have been an excellent introduction to silent film.

"Les Vampires" (1915 - 398 minutes - B&W) is a classic of the mute cinema series directed by Louis Feuillade. In ten episodes, it counts the adventures of a masked assailants group who haunt Paris. The mythical actress Musidora [ the first "Vamp" of the European cinema ] is the star in the series, that achieved fame due to the great admiration among the surrealists (Andres Breton and Luis Buñuel were its bigger fans), seduced by the dreamily scenes that sometimes appears in the narrative. At first "Les Vampires" was rejected for the French vanguard directors, that considered it like a mere policeman series. The film was saved from destruction thanks to the efforts of the founder of the French Film library, Henri Langlois, and after years forgotten, "Les Vampires" was exhibited again in the sixties, in concurred sessions that had marked time, especially in Paris, London and New York, causing a reevaluation of the critics relatively to the work of Feuillade. Andres Bazin, the great critic of the French cinema, said that "Les Vampires" was "one of the biggest film of all the times", admiration shared with the directors of the new French cinema. Today, Feuillade is placed side by side to other geniuses of the mute period of the cinema, as Griffith, Stroheim, Murnau and Gance. The episodes: 1: The Cut Head (31 minutes); 2: The Ring that Kills (13 minutes); 3: The Red Book (39 minutes); 4: The Specter (30 minutes); 5: The Escape of the Dead Man (35 minutes); 6: Hypnotic eyes (53 minutes); 7: Satanus (42 minutes); 8: The Master of the Thunder (50 minutes); 9: The Poisoner (48 minutes); 10: The Terrible Marriage (57 minutes).

I can't say enough about this film--I've pursued and studied it for the last twenty years! I'm so happy it's finally been made available on video. The first time I saw it was at the Videoteque de Paris...everyday for a week I watched episode after episode but, to my horror, when I requested the last episode I was told it was unavailable! It seems that, just the day before, the grandson of Louis Feuillade--I believe he is Jacques Champraux--had the video pulled from public viewings while it was in litigation. I thought I was going to fall over! The singular reason I was in Paris was to see LES VAMPIRES and suddenly, I was swallowing a very bittersweet pill. Anyway, eventually I saw the last episode, "The Bloody Wedding," but not until some years later when the serial was shown in its entirety at the Art Institute of Chicago. FIN

An intrepid reporter and his loyal friend battle a bizarre secret society of criminals known as The Vampires.

Director Louis Feuillade is something of a legend, having directed an astonishing 630 films in the silent era (and perhaps more). He is best known for "Fantomas", the serial he made prior to "Vampires", and while the former may be marginally superior, they are both exquisite in their own way, and a great example of early thrillers.

Indeed, it is quite impressive that a film is seven hours long and still exists one hundred years later. Given how many silent films have since been lost forever, it is incredible that Feuillade's work seems to be intact and in great shape.

This 1915 French mystery serial is fascinating. Its device of using gadgets (poison rings, poison fountain pens, cabinets with fake back panels, etc.) predates James Bond's by decades, and makes each new episode something to look forward to. The comely Irma Vep is one of the most mysterious and darkest screen heroines of all times. The filmmaker makes extensive use of real Parisian street locations, which seem always, oddly, to be drained of pedestrian life; watching "Les Vampires" is like getting into a time machine.

View "Les Vampires" first, then see "Irma Vep" (France, 1996) so you have a point of reference.