★ 10 / 10
The days when serial dramas were shown at
Matthew B
The days when serial dramas were shown at the cinema are long since over. Given the notoriety of these serials, which were the cinematic equivalent of the…
The days when serial dramas were shown at the cinema are long since over. Given the notoriety of these serials, which were the cinematic equivalent of the penny dreadful, it is surprising to come to Les Vampires, a French serial movie made in ten parts that must count as one of the earliest serials. Whatever we can say about Les Vampires, it is never dull, never formulaic, and it does not cheat the viewer.
Even by the standard of 1915 to 1916, Feuillade's cinematic style was simple, and a little crude. Scenes are filmed in long takes with no camera movement. The camera is placed at a middle distance from the characters with only a few close-ups to allow the audience to read letters and notes.
This may be because Feuillade made the films on the cheap. The sets are basic. The same furniture is reused in different settings. Doors are obviously painted on, although they are designed to open. Stock footage was employed. Each episode was made in haste with very little script, and no particular direction.
This last point may explain the extraordinary inventiveness of Les Vampires. Feuillade and his team were making things up on the hoof, and this allowed for considerable variety in the settings, and in the action of Les Vampires. Each episode tells a separate story with no cliffhangers, and brings something fresh to the narrative. It is a testament to the fertility of the imagination of everyone involved that this did not result in a dull or muddled production where the story returned to the same tropes each week.
Indeed the improvisational nature of the plot has a peculiar absurdist quality to it that makes the film seem more surrealist than was perhaps intended. Luis Buñuel claimed to have been influenced by the film, and so also were New Wave directors such as Alain Resnais and Georges Franju. Feuillade also set the scene for later thriller directors, among them Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang.
If modern reviewers are lukewarm about Philippe and Mazamette, there is unanimous love for the character of Irma Vep, the only Vampire who appears in most of the episodes. Strictly speaking Irma Vep's character is not much deeper than that of the other regulars. Feuillad does not devote much attention to characterisation, nor does he need to.
However Musidora's performance in the role has a spirit about it that makes her a curiously appealing villain. It helps that the actress was also an acrobat who performed her own stunts. Musidora's appearance in Les Vampires proved helpful for her film career. She went on to appear in a number of films, and even directed some. Her dark eyes (she used kohl), pale skin, unusual clothes and lively acting immediately draw the viewers' attention to her.
Les Vampires is superior pulp fiction. The criminals kill, sedate or threaten people with an infinite variety of methods, including bombings, shootings, stabbings, gassing, and poisoning.
Paralysing darts are concealed in gloves. Bombs are hidden in hats. Victims are killed by decapitation, with poisonous ink, and with a hat pin. If the Vampires wish to intimidate Moréno, they could have used a drive-by shooting or a bomb, but if you have a cannon hidden inside your hearth, it would be a shame not to use it.
Ordinary settings become menacing. There is no safety in the home, at the opera house, or while attending a social gathering with dozens of guests. A party to celebrate an engagement is broken up when the guests realise the champagne has been poisoned. This is a world of locked rooms that contain secret chambers, safes that open from the wall behind, and secret hideouts that are hidden below wells and manholes.
t is marked by a number of side stories that suddenly appear for one or more episode, and which seem entirely unnecessary to the action. For example, in Part Eight, Mazamette's son is expelled from school, and the little boy is enlisted in the dangerous work of entrapping Satanas. After this episode we never see the child again.
I saw that these stories are unnecessary, but they are the sauce that makes Les Vampires so tasty. Its many bizarre plot twists, far-fetched crimes, peculiar leaps in logic, and constantly changing storylines keep the thriller from ever going stale.
Feuillade was probably wise to wrap up after ten parts. While the serial is entertaining until the end, there are a few signs of him repeating himself – a second mesmerist, a second lassoing from a window, a second fiancée, etc. However even the last episodes contain new ideas, and provide a satisfying conclusion to the thriller.
It is said that Les Vampires was condemned at the time for glorifying crime and dubious morality. Certainly the series does revel in the antics of its eponymous gangsters, but the events in Les Vampires are so gloriously unreal that the story is more of a fantasy than a celebration of any realistic criminal activity. Feuillade shows a good grasp of pace and creates one of the most imaginative serials ever made.
I wrote a longer appreciation of Les Vampires on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2021/03/20/les-vampires-1915-16/
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Waiting for other episodes. Thanks!