Les Vampires |  | Director: Louis Feuillade
Actors: Musidora, Édouard Mathé, Marcel Lévesque, Jean Aymé, Fernand Herrmann
Studio: Image Entertainment
List Price: $69.99
Buy New: $27.62
as of 11/22/2009 18:58 CST details
You Save: $42.37 (61%)
New (30) Used (8) from $23.98
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 41224
Format: Color, DVD, Silent, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 0
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Picture Format: Academy Ratio
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 399 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 5960
ISBN: 6305837147
UPC: 014381596021
EAN: 9786305837145
ASIN: 6305837147
Theatrical Release Date: 1915
Release Date: April 5, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
This legendary seven-hour silent French serial, one of the earliest and most original gangster films, combines realism and fantasy. Written and directed by Louis Feuillade, Les Vampires concerns an intrepid reporter's pursuit of a strange gang of jewel thieves terrorizing Paris. The gang ambitiously seeks political, psychological, and sexual domination of the city's social elite, with the seductive Irma Vep (an anagram of "vampire") as its brazen leader. While slow going at first, the 10-part serial becomes more and more fascinating with each episode, thanks in large part to the alluring Musidora as Irma Vep. Because of her many guises and frightful charms, she truly becomes a vampire of sorts. Feuillade achieves a subversive, nightmarish atmosphere amid the everyday goings-on of the city. Filmed on the streets and back alleys of World War I Paris, the 1915 picture was a huge commercial success, though temporarily banned by Paris's chief of police for glamorizing crime. --Bill Desowitz
Description
A legendary seven-hour silent crime serial in ten episodes. "Les Vampires" follows the exploits of a brazen and resourceful band of arch-criminals who rob the rich, transfix the elite of France, and almost elude the obsessive pursuit of crusading journalist Phillipe Guerande and his sidekick Mazamette. A series of Grand Vampires with names such as Satanas and Venomous share the irresistible Irma Vep (an anagram of "vampire") as strategist and mistress. Sometimes seductively garbed in a black body stocking and a black hood, sometimes disguised as a boy or hidden in plain view as a maid, stenographer or bourgeois spinster, feared and desired by both her cohorts and stalkers, Irma is perhaps the first liberated screen woman. Shot off-the-cuff by writer-director Louis Feuillade in the streets and interiors of 1915 Paris, "Les Vampires" was banned by the Paris police for glorifying crime. A smash hit when finally released, and for fifty years celebrated as a masterpiece of French cinema, "Les Vampires" is complete and restored, with English titles and inserts, tints and an evocative orchestral score.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 19
A Fascinating, Surreal Masterpiece September 22, 2009
Anthony Crnkovich (Chicago, Illinois)
Director Louis Feuillade's LES VAMPIRES is not just one of the all-time great serials, it is one of the greatest examples of cinema in general from the World War 1 period. It has a sophistication both in terms of narrative and acting style that even exceeds many celebrated American films of the same era.
The 10 part serial follows the exploits of a criminal organization known as the Vampires who spread fear and mayhem throughout Paris by killing, looting, and kidnapping. Plucky journalist Phillipe Guerande and his sidekick Mazamette set out on a crusade to rid the city of this evil threat.
LES VAMPIRES is a truly enjoyable viewing experience on many levels. It was shot in and around Paris during 1915-16 and the war torn, abandoned locations Feuillade chose for backgrounds add immeasurably to the heightened realism and chilling, doom-filled atmosphere of the film. Because of where and when it was made, it is a valuable, fascinating historic and cultural record preserved on film. It also has all the ingredients of the best serials: black-hooded villains, car chases, cryptograms, daring escapes, sweet-smelling poison gas... and topping it all off is beautiful French actress Musidora as the seductive Irma Vep ( an anagram of "vampire" ), strategist of the criminal gang and the mistress of their leader who is known as the Grand Vampire. But where American serials of the time used predictable plotlines, LES VAMPIRES takes unexpected twists and turns so that it evokes the feeling that anything and everything might happen. The film was hugely popular and it became the forerunner of the mystery/crime thriller genre, inspiring such great filmmakers as Fritz Lang and Luis Bunel.
Although widely available, the 1998 English version from Image Entertainment is not the best there is on this film. If you have a multi-region player I STRONGLY recommend the 2006 French language DVD edition from Gaumont Video. Granted, the intertitles are in French, but the print quality is far superior - your jaw will drop, it is that good. Keep the English version if you feel you need the translation, but once you've watched the film a few times it's easy to follow regardless of the language. Or, you can always learn to read French. The bottom line is, for a film as great as this one, nothing but the best quality available will suffice.
LES VAMPIRES was almost lost until - amazingly - a print was found before it would have been literally carried away as garbage! The decomposing nitrate was stored in film cans and had no beginning/end titles or intertitles, making it virtually impossible to recognize what it was. Hence, the cans were put atop a dumpster to be hauled off. Fortunately, it was discovered in time and LES VAMPIRES was saved from oblivion so that we can savor it today, fully restored, its power to thrill and captivate intact and undiminished.
One of the best of the silent era. June 21, 2009
njpaddy
This serial is one of my top ten favorite films. I also have the UK edition which is a better print but is not tinted. I actually prefer the tinted version. This 10 part serial of varying lengths really takes off in Episode #3 when Musidora appears. Her character, Irma Vep, an anagram of "vampire" is one of the most seductive and dangerous women in cinema.
Masterful Cinema March 19, 2008
Johnny Mottola (Peoria, IL USA)
I've always been a big fan of art cinema and film noir movies. I am very fond of the early great Black and White silent films including Wings, Metropolis, Birth of a Nation and Napoleon among many others. I was greatly surprised with this saga of ten progressive chapters. The movie was made in 1915 and yes, there are repeating pieces of furniture seen between the different sets, and the night scenes are clearly shot during daylight. However, the movie is powerful and not as forcefully acted like many of the "big" early Hollywood movies. It gives you an eerie sense of reality because the actors are truly good and the cinematography captures a vivid and realistic picture of the turn-of-the-20th century France.
I am now a big fan of this movie, and I would amply recommend it to all audiences. Musidora was indeed a captivating star and one of the greatest silent film actresses.
Brilliant, Pleasurable Films -- With Availability/Price Issues October 11, 2007
Harlow
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you have any appreciation for classic cinema, this collection of serials is a must-own DVD set. The cloak-and-dagger Parisian underworld is fascinatingly immersive, the early-cinema film techniques are ingenious, and Musidora is a truly bewitching and alluring antiheroine.
That said, I have to comment on the availability and pricing of this DVD set (which, by the way, is well-produced and features a beautiful restoration of the films). I bought this a couple of years ago, brand-new, for around 30 bucks from an eBay seller. This was during a period when it was supposedly out of print, and, indeed, it wasn't in stock or available from online retailers.
Not long ago, the DVDs were back in print, listed as being in stock and sold through Amazon at a discounted price of about 30 dollars (or a little more), with a list price of $69.99.
Now, maybe a couple of months later, it's seemingly unavailable again, and there are Marketplace sellers with new copies listed between $120 and $600! There's even an old double-sided, single-disc edition (mine is two single-sided discs, not a flipper disc), used, currently listed for $500!
Buyer definitely beware. This set has frequently gone in and out of print, so don't rush to make a purchase you'll regret. As of this review, it's possible to track down cheap, new copies from reputable sellers on other sites (one rhymes with shme-shmay), not to mention the Unbox download purchase from Amazon. Of course, that may well change, but it's just as likely that these DVDs will be back in print someday soon and available as part of Amazon's inventory.
Sellers have the right to make as much money as they can (and considering the outrageous fees and commissions certain sites [cough cough] take from third-party sellers, I understand the necessity of a seemingly high listing price), but this has been an issue in the past with these DVDs.
A classic of the mute cinema series March 13, 2005
Paulo R. C. Barros (São Paulo-SP, Brazil)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
"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).
Showing reviews 1-5 of 19
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