Os Vampiros

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

A ten-part serial that took eight hours to watch with breaks, this thing defies not just summary but reliable recall: describing it is like trying to describe a year in my life. Chaotic, unpredictable, upside down, with endless sneaky tricks that defy our conception of 'movie' magic because they mainly involve Cirque-type human machines doing things that couldn't have been faked so convincingly at this date. I mean, you can see the splice whenever a character turns on the light, so when the bitchy criminal mastermind Irma Vep gets wrapped up in rope, then rolls down the side of a four-story building like a human yo-yo, you know you're watching history in the making. What's more, and redemptively, the stupid detectives are REALLY stupid, including this outrageous Italian stereotype who keeps nyuk-ing straight into the camera. There's a wild chase-fight scene on a moving train, a gas attack on a large high-society do, a kid accidentally shooting his father in the nose, and God knows what else. This dumbfoundingly imaginative, yet consistently goofy and crowd-pleasing movie could only have happened in a medium whose limits had not yet been properly defined - in fact you can see the definition happening on screen. When I grow up I want to be Henri Langlois, founder of the Cinematheque Francais, who rescued the world's only print of this film from the curb on garbage day. Hooray!

Now here's a movie that doesn't require a replication of Paris in the early 20th century. The real McCoy is used for the settings, vehicles, costumes, firearms, etc. Since it was filmed in 1916 one can see for example how horse-drawn carriages were still a very popular means of transport in the "modern" sense. If you a true fan of motion picture history -- then you can't afford to miss this gem. It represents the dawn of the motion picture industry before we had well-known movie stars and blockbusters like Intolerance (1916) and Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919).

This film, a series of 10 episodes, tells the story of a gang of thieves and murderers (The Vampire Gang) who are out to create havoc in Paris for their own personal goals. The heros of this tale are a newspaper reporter, Phillipe Guerande, and his hilarious sidekick, Mazamette. Together they aim to foil the latest capers of the gang and find themselves in unexpected trouble throughout the entire series. Ingenious methods by the criminals are used in each episode.

Each episode builds upon the first, so I strongly recommend you watch it in sequence (as if you watching the Sopranos on HBO). It's interesting to see how the characters develop and improve their acting as they gain experience and confidence within their roles. Irma Vep and Mazamette, especially are a treat to watch. Later in the series, both Irma Vep and Mazamete deliberately ham it up for the viewing audience and camera just for fun! Guerande reminded me a lot of Gene Kelly with his clean-cut facial expressions and haircut. Only the last episode (#10) was a disappointment. For some reason, much of the print was washed out in the interior scenes, the tinting inconsistent (many outdoor scenes were red instead of green etc.) and the storyline was unrealistically forced forward (i.e., how did Mazamette enter into Guerande's house at 2:00 am uninvited and how did Guerande climb down the 3rd floor balcony of the Vampires' mansion after he threw away their knotted rope, the Vampires' only means of escape from that level?)

Most episodes are 45 minutes in length, except #10 which is nearly a hour. Even though the entire series runs over 8 hours, don't watch it a double speed as suggested by a previous reviewer. The score adds ambience, suspense & excitement to the Parisian scenes at the appropriate places. Lastly there are two supplements on the DVD. The first is a royal waste (a true supernavel, or "turnip" according to the French), the second is a cute story starring the young boy who played Mazamette's son in "Les Vampires".

Seeing a police drama that is a favorite of surrealists like Luis Bunuel ought to tell you that this isn't an episode of Law and order.

It take place in a Paris that is empty because of WWI. The dreamlike scenes add to the story of a reporter Phillipe Guerande (Edouard Mathe) who is looking to a criminal organization known as The Vampires (sorry, bloodsucking fans, it's not about Dracula or his minions.).

The crime syndicate could be considered a forerunner of the Mafia as it had it's tentacles in every level of society from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to nobility.

A classic silent film.

Louis Feuillade, who directed over 600 films is the film great grandfather of Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch. Musidora, who played Irma Vep is probably the first screen vamp.

Feuillade has become much more popular abroad than in his native France where his movies are seldom screened on "cultural TV ,the Arte Channel or the "Cinema De Minuit".Some critics call "Les Vampires" brainwashing at a time when France was at war .Some critics praise it to the skies.I'm for the golden middle .Feuillade was certainly important in the shaping of the serial (along "the perils of Pauline" in America)but he was not as great a director as his contemporaries David Wark Griffith and Abel Gance (whose career did not begin with "Napoleon" in 1926).

The screenplay of "Les Vampires" is pretty silly,definitely weaker than that of "Fantomas" and it is sure easy to see why: "Fantomas " was first a set of volumes written by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain -and Feuillade botched the first chapters which were the best of the saga :see Paul Fejos's "Fantomas" (1932) for that matter.But the rest was quite acceptable,some movies(the third episode :"Le Mort Qui Tue" notably) highly commendable.

"Les Vampires" was a different matter ,because it was an original screenplay and the writer/director had to kill the "Chef Des Vampires" ,not because he thought the audience needed change ,but because it was the war and the actors were mobilized.That's why Feuillade gave up making "lEs Vampires" after 10 episodes and opted for a "good " hero ,Judex ,a conjurer fighting against the villains.The stories are far-fetched to a fault ,pleasant to watch,but not particularly memorable (Maurice Leblanc was writing much more brilliant stories at the time featuring his hero Arsene Lupin who is much more exciting than his bland hero Philippe Guérande and his mate/undertaker.

Much more than the stories,it's the details that are interesting: the maid Mrs Guerande hires is a Girl from Britanny ,and at the time most of the servants came from that region:this was the subject of Becassine ,a comic strip of the era;it's interesting to note that whereas the villains have lovers,the hero,after losing his fiancée in the second chapter-and he doesn't even shed a tear-,remains chaste till the ...ninth episode in which he finds another one.Musidora's famous black tight caused an outcry : the series remained famous for her but she only appears in her outfit in two brief moments: one when she's scrawling on the roofs and the other one in a hotel where she also appears (that crowns it!) dressed as a young man complete with mustache .

Feuillade's most salutary quality was story -telling :even if the plot seems too often too much ,we can't help but admire the way he uses the pictures and thus keeps his lines to the minimum -a thing many of his colleagues could not do-.

Feuillade's influence in France?One sees little of it in the great directors of the Golden Era (Carné,Renoir,Guitry,Duvivier,Et Al). Feuillade's influence shows ,however,in one of Duvivier's silent films " Le Mystere De La Tour Eiffel" or even in Clair's "Le Fantome Du Moulin Rouge" .

Feuillade 's most dedicated follower was Georges Franju who made a remake of "Judex"(1963) and "Les Nuits Rouges"(1973) ,a failed attempt at a seventies "Vampires".Most of this director's works have something of Feuillade : "Les Yeux Sans Visage"(1959) "La Tête Contre Les Murs" (1960)"Pleins Feux Sur L'Assassin".(1961)

In the seventies,Feuillade's touch appeared again in Rivette's stuff ,but it's reserved for intellectuals.What was once the most popular French cinema of an era became one inspiration for the most cerebral (who said boring?) art.