Le vampire noir

Pleased to join my six IMDB colleagues below in praise of this very fine Argentinian remake of "M"...with a generous portion of "Third Man" and a dash of "Freaks" thrown in for good measure in that darkly magnificent, climactic scene. Is it better than Lang's original, as Eddie Muller intimated in his intro? Not sure, since it has been many a moonlit and moonless night since I have seen the German masterpiece and I would hesitate to place anyone above Peter Lorre in the tortured, oleaginous category (though Nathan Pinzon comes awfully close). But I will opine that the loss of this film's director, Ramon Vinoly Barretto, in his mid fifties was, in my opinion, quite tragic. Give it an A minus.

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.

Here is an Argentine noir film (English subtitles) that is a take-off of Fritz Lang's masterpiece "M" with Peter Lorre, though not a scene-by-scene remake like the US version with David Wayne. Well worth viewing when you have an hour and a half to kill.

Excellent, expressive cinematography, good acting and the pacing of the film is perfect.

Highly recommend.

"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.

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.