Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade, 1915); France

Reviewed by Byron Potau.  Viewed on DVD.

In 1915, while D.W. Griffith was breaking new ground with his epic The Birth of a Nation, French director Louis Feuillade released this greatly underappreciated, seven hour crime thriller serial, Les Vampires.  It is my opinion that film historians can get bogged down in what was new or popular at the time and are reluctant to admit when a film or performance has aged poorly.  In the same way, they can be reluctant to acknowledge a true masterpiece whose creativeness in story and character has kept it alive through these many years, despite the lack of technical innovations for its time.

The film follows journalist Phillipe Guerande (Edouard Mathe) as he and his assistant Mazamette (Marcel Levesque) pursue an organization of criminals called Les Vampires led by the Grand Vampire (Jean Ayme) and Irma Vep (Musidora).  Phillipe investigates clues from codebooks to severed heads, always one step behind Les Vampires.  In their pursuit of crime they end up crossing paths with a similar criminal, Moreno (Fernand Hermann), and then Phillipe has to contend with them both as he continues to try and capture them while keeping himself alive.

The film’s title will mislead many to believe this is a story about vampires.  It is merely a story about a group of criminals, but a great story at that.  With episode titles like “The Severed Head” and “Dead Man’s Escape,” the film raises your expectations, but does not disappoint.  In fact, the serial’s first episode is so entertaining it should hook you right away.  The film is full of interesting, creative ideas in the story, and provides plenty of great twists in many of the episodes.  The only downside is the atrocious acting of Marcel Levesque as Oscar Mazamette, who really hams it up, always playing to the camera.  It is an unfortunate flaw, but does not ruin the rest of the film.  There seem to be some films of the silent era that have somehow endured on the reputation that they were great films at the time, and so are still great films.  While they may have innovative aspects to them, some are badly dated and a chore to watch.  Les Vampires is a breath of fresh air, just as entertaining now as it ever was.  This gem deserves to be seen.