Product Description

A legendary early masterpiece of French cinema, 'Les Vampires' follows the exploits of a nefarious band of master criminals led by the seductive femme fatale Irma Vep, alluringly played by Musidora. Holding Paris in the grip of terror, the underworld gang are pursued across the city by heroic journalist Philippe Guerande and his sidekick Mazamette. Reflecting the mood of fear and anxiety in World War I era France, this meticulously restored ten-part silent serial from film pioneer Louis Feuillade creator the acclaimed Fantômas serials is a hugely influential and engrossing crime drama from cinema's golden age. Musical accompaniment composed by Eric Le Guen and Chateau Flight. Extras: Louis Feuillade at Work - Incredibly, Feuillade made close to 800 films across nearly every conceivable genre. This fascinating portrait from 1965 examines his creative process and features contributions from several of his colleagues. 1965; 32 minutes // Short films by Louis Feuillade: Une Dame Vraiment Bien; La Legende de la Fileuse; C est pour les Orphelines; L Orgie Romaine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9524 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-03-24
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 339 minutes

Synopsis
Vampish villainess Irma Vep, along with her jewel-filching gang, terrorizes Paris in this complete collection of the intrigue-laden French silent serials.

Customer Reviews

Charming and substantial
Three DVDS, three slim cases, all in a card sleeve. Ten episodes, from 30 to 50 minutes long (though one is only 13 minutes). Three obvious stars in the cast, notably the actor who plays the humourous side-kick to the film's hero. The style anticipates Fritz Lang's Dr Mabuse type of film, but this works much better, with characterization much more convincing and there is lots of charm here. I must say it is a great privilege to watch Paris in 1915 in such beautiful prints. Recommended.

Another excellent Louis Feuillade series and the best version available...
This is the second Louis Feuillade series I've watched, the first being Fantomas. Well, I enjoyed Fantomas very much and, in my opinion, Les Vampires is equally as good.
It's presented in a similiar format, 10 episodes of varying length, each very inventive and entertaining.
Les Vampires are a gang of criminals and the stories invlove them being pursued by journalist Philippe Guerande, while holding Paris in their grip of terror. Irma Vep is particularly strong and seductive as their female leader.
The episodes are visually very impressive often having a surreal, dream-like quality to them. There is a strong musical score to compliment this.
One of the main reasons I've written this review is previous comments have referred to the lack of tinting in this edition. This is true but having researched this, I've found this this version to be the best available. The tinting is effective but this monochrome version has far better picture clarity, without losing detail which can happen with tinting.
Overall, this is an excellent, entertaining series and I'd highly recommend it.

A Strange Lapse
While it is true that the print quality is good,this edition was restored by Gaumont in a tinted version (as was done with "Fantomas"). For some reason, Artificial Eye has released a monochrome print, even though the box states "tinted" and there are even tinted frame enlargements on the Artificial Eye website! Caveat emptor!