MisterWhiplash I think that if I had seen this, I don't know, ten or more years ago, I wouldn't have this association but, watching Les vampires, maybe the first real groundbreaking piece of epic filmmaking to come out of France during the "pre-sound" era (I don't know about all of Europe since Cabiria was a year before and, come to think of it, this director also did Fantomas just before this, so I may be off completely)... this all seems like the precursor to countless graphic novels (think of the hardboiled stuff but also Superman and Batman to an extent in those worlds) and other pulp serials. In a way this is in league or the same ballpark as Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, which is also a story of arch criminals and the cops and newspapermen on their trails, and both have an approach to storytelling that is plot driven (though Louis Feuillade is especially concerned with the storytelling twists and turns and mounting of suspense more than Lang, who could pause more often for creating mood and atmosphere). It's a story that is a procedural of the hunt AND about the criminals - and is really about, in each 'episode', drawing out the suspense of a moment and a beat and how, as we can assume, someone will get out of the jam they've been put in, whether that's the criminal or the intrepid Globe writer Philippe Gerande (even that seems to have been echoed years later in certain comic books).So much happens in the seven hours of this "film" (I'll call it that, but put quotes around it as it's technically a serial, but hey, it's a full work at the end of it all), and to recount every turn of the story would miss the point of its effectiveness. The interest in Feuillade's stories is to draw the audience in finding more clues on the Gerande's side - and, eventually, the former undertaker Mazamette with his mustache and nose and (a little too much) looking at the camera for audience emphasis as his sometimes partner - and then, perhaps daringly, into how the vampires work on their end. There's equal time spent between Gerande's side of the story, as well as some of the other characters connected with him like his mother (there's a terribly exciting episode where she gets kidnapped by the vampires and how she gets out of it is fantastic as it relies on a plant earlier that gets paid off, so to speak, that we almost don't expect), and then on the side of Irma Vep, the non-vampire-but-still-very-much-criminal Moreno, and the others like the villainous scientist who Irma ultimately falls for, and Satanas, the "Grande Vampire" of them all.What this does is not so much make us feel more sympathetic to them, they are the villains in a story that isn't subtle about drawing the distinctions between good and not, but to have us understand them as people, however they might be duplicitous in their line of operations, and a character like Irma Vep becomes the most memorable thing about this all for a reason. The actress, called only 'Musidora', has wild eyes that can pierce through anything, and how she moves around a space or a room, and then how those eyes can connect with someone, transforms the space she's in. Why does she do these acts of robbery and cat-thievery (more on that in a second), and, eventually, killing or at least by association? Because she can, just like all the other vampires. There's no grand political statement to what they do, outside perhaps of their disregard for morals or being 'proper' (there's a practically ritualistic dance that the characters do in the middle of a room that gets repeated), and she's that classic comic-book sort of villainess: cunning, ruthless, sometimes vicious, also playful, and in her 1915 way sexy as hell (her in that black suit, man). If any of the Batman writers and creators saw this, it'd be clear as day she was the inspiration for Catwoman (I have no way of knowing that, it's an assumption I'm reading in to).Louis Feuillade isn't exactly out for the *most* realistic depiction of a story of criminals and heroes, but it also sees cinema as an art form to be used for the utmost effect to give information (there's a great many newspaper clipping to look at to move the plot forward), and he's creating his own simple and effective cinematic grammar to keep the audience invested. This doesn't mean the series isn't without some share of flaws, much as a run of a graphic novel series might run out of steam closer to the latter issues, like introducing some new characters fairly late into the game (i.e. Mazamette's son Eustache is an annoyance, and Philippe's eventual fiancé is clearly there to be used, sooner rather than later, as another figure to be kidnapped by the vampires). It'd also be advised to not watch it all in one sitting but to parse it out if you can over a few nights; some of the turns and twists - and physicality like at times falling out of windows (watch out for that noose coming your way to pull you down!) - are repetitive. All this noted, it's still a tremendous achievement in pulp fiction storytelling, with the stakes and drama building up more and more as the episodes go on, and if you can buy into some (though not all) of the acting of the period there's a lot of amazing work done as well, most of all by Musidora, but also the actresses in the later episodes do wonderfully too.

Boba_Fett1138 What an incredible piece of history and cinema this is. "Les Vampires" is an 10 episodes long French serial, by Louis Feuillade. A sort of early 20th century mini-series, you may call it. I can't imaging how incredibly gripped the audience must have been while watching one of the episodes in the theater and couldn't hardly wait for the next chapter of the story.Of course these sort of chapter-plays weren't really anything new at the time of 1915 but still "Les Vampires" is one of the best and most unique as well as accessible of its kind. It has a greatly written and intriguing story, that shows the dark side of common men and the criminal and more disturbing, less peaceful and dangerous side of beautiful Paris.The serial tells the story of an organized criminal organization, known as 'Les Vampires'. A sort of more rebellious than criminal, organization, who blackmail, kill and steal from the high society in Paris. The episodes follow this organization as well as the groups who battle them; a rivaling criminal organization, the police and a journalist and his friend, who are the real main characters of the movie.Perhaps the entire serial can also be seen as a social commentary on the life of the rich in Paris but I can't be completely sure of this were the creators intentions.The first four episodes are perhaps a bit of a drag, since it mostly focuses on development of the characters and the events. After that the gloves are off and the serial turns into a very exciting and tense serial, in which lots is happening, both action- and story-wise. The first few episodes also differ widely in its running time and some are around 15 minutes long, while other are around 30 or 45 minutes. The later episodes are all around an hour long.The serial features lots of daring escapes, traitorous characters and criminal plans to cause mayhem in the everyday society. Yes, at times the serial gets overlong, since it often repeat itself. Basically the serial is about the characters constantly chasing and capturing each other, until they escape again and things seem to start all over again. It probably is also the reason why you shouldn't watch all the episodes just as once. Best is to watch around 2 episodes a day, to keep the tension and intriguing aspects of the story and characters to a maximum level.The story telling is surprising good, for 1915 standards. The entire production is a silent one and it forces it to tell the story entirely by its visuals and acting. It does this well and makes the story understandable, although it gets a bit too hard to follow at certain points. Because it has to explain and tell everything with its visual, some of the sequences are overlong. The acting is of course also exaggerated at times, to put down a certain emotion or tension in the story but not as much as some of the early American of that time show. In that regard, the acting in this is truly about 20 years ahead of its time, compared to American and most German productions, of the same time period.I was absolutely gripped by the storytelling, especially the last 4 episodes or so and even founded it to be tense and excitement, something not too common for an over 90 years old production, even though the story also became quite ridicules at times. Perhaps the only flaw in the storytelling is that they kept bringing in new characters, also very late in the serial, such as the real main villain that only gets revealed in I believe the 7th episode. if I remember correctly. It makes the whole story a bit too hard to follow- and not always completely interesting and credibly at times.It is well cast and especially Musidora as the über-lady vamp Irma Vep is great and impressive. She is both sensual as dangerous in her role. What a great early classic character of cinema. Also Marcel Lévesque is great, as the sort of comical relief of the serials and Édouard Mathé also plays a likable main character.There are some really daring and dangerous, for its time looking, stunts in this production. It also really adds to the tension and excitement of it all.The production design is great and its like going back in time when watching this. The serial cleverly uses some camera-color filters for each location and mood, to add to the atmosphere and storytelling of the entire serial.It all in all is an overall very well put together interesting historical big-production, that still remains perfectly watchable by todays standards, thanks to its exciting storytelling and build up.10/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Paulo R. C. Barros "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).

Musidora 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