Les Vampires (1915-1916)

Director:  Louis Feuillade
Cast:  Édouard Mathé, Musidora, Marcel Lévesque, Jean Aymé, Fernand Herrmann, Stacia Napierkowska

Before I get started, a Happy Belated Easter and Passover to all!  Sorry I haven't been active lately; school has been getting in the way, but now I am back and ready to review one of the most famous serials of all time that I am finally getting around to watching in its entirety.  NOTE:  Since this is a serial, I will be posting the plot line of each episode, reviewing them and posting their respective videos individually in this post.

EPISODE 1 - "La tête coupée" ("The Severed Head") 

Released:  November 13, 1915

As the episode opens, the action begins right away as our intrepid hero, Phillipe Guérande (Édouard Mathé), a crack reporter for The Paris Chronicle, discovers that the file on the pesky criminal ring, The Vampires, has been stolen by Oscar-Cloud Mazamette (Marcel Lévesque), the comic relief in an otherwise depressing film, who is also working undercover for the vampires.  Mazamette then proceeds to tell a sob story about how he stole the file to support his family.  He then announces that he and Guérande are working on this case together through thick and thin.  Guérande then receives a telegram from his boss telling him that the decapitated body of National Security Agent Durtal, in charge of vampire investigations, has been found in a swamp.  Obviously the work of The Vampires, right?  Phillipe thinks so too, so he goes to see a friend of his late father's, Dr. Nox  to get some answers, but Dr. Nox says he knows nothing about The Vampires.  In the meantime, Dr. Nox is entertaining a young American multimillionaire, Margaret Simpson (Rita Herlor), who is interested in his property.  Now I know that Americans are often used in foreign films, but unless there is a love story, I don't see how writing in an American could work well with a story that concerns the French.

Later, in his room, Phillipe receives a mysterious message from The Vampires telling him to give up his search, further proof of the Dumb Villain Theory #34:  if you send the protagonist a note telling them to give up a search, they're not going to give up the search.  Best not to send them a note telling them to give up the search.  Phillipe pokes around and discovers a secret passageway behind a painting, and this is where I need stop and say something, and it is very, very important, so listen up.  The reason why this serial was so successful, not just in France, but around the world, was its innovative nature, aka, the simple fact that it was ahead of its time by about fifty years.  This little scene right here proves it.  Most of us have seen the early James Bond films where Bond inspects his hotel room for booby traps.  Connery Bond fans (and I include myself in that category) shouldn't thank Terence Young for coming up with the material, but rather Feuillade's innovation and creativity to make a film in 1915, for crying out loud, whose use of gadgets, booby traps and espionage paraphernalia makes it, quite possibly, the very first espionage film (dare I say thriller?).   

Fast-forward to midnight, where Ms. Simpson teaches ladies everywhere a valuable lesson:  never leave your jewelry in plain sight.  A member of The Vampires sneaks into her room and steals it (but you knew that, right, ladies?  Right).  Now that he possesses enough evidence, Phillipe decides to take his case to the judge who snubbed him earlier.  Now, of course, having been presented with evidence, the judge believes him and they investigate together.  When Phillipe shows the judge the secret passageway behind the painting, he finds a box containing the head of the ill-fated Inspector Durtal.  Upon returning to the magistrate's office, the men find the dead body of Mrs. Simpson (thus proving my point that writing in an American was useless) and Dr. Nox nowhere in sight.  Looking on the mantle, the men find a note from The Grand Vampire (Jean Aymé) saying that he murdered the real Dr. Nox and assumed his identity and not to try and find him (Dumb Villain Theory #64:  do not tell the protagonist(s) to not come and find you, because he/she/they will anyway).  In the final shot of the episode, we see a foreshadowing of who appears to be our femme fatale, Irma Vep (Musidora), an anagram for--you guessed it--vampire, carefully traversing a rooftop.      

The loud, chilling thump at the beginning of the opening credits and the subsequent music gives one the feeling that they really are watching a horror movie about, well, vampires, when really, they are watching a well thought-out murder mystery, and "vampire" or, more appropriate for this serial, "vamp," is used to describe a femme fatale.  As mentioned earlier, so much is revealed in Episode 1 that is so far ahead of its time:  the painting, the severed head, the feel that this really is the first espionage thriller.  This episode proves the old adage:  "It gets better."

EPISODE 2 - "La bague qui tue" ("The Ring That Kills")
Released:  November 13, 1915


In an episode a world shorter than The Severed Head, we find the Count de Noirmoutier reading the afternoon paper at the Blue Camellia Club in Paris.  One of his friends hands him a ring, which we as an audience know is the title of this episode, one of many dramatic ironies that this serial has to offer.  


Meanwhile, Phillipe is interviewing the woman Paris believes to be his fiancée (see?  Celebrity gossip was a problem even in 1915), Marfa Koutiloff (Stacia Napierkowska).  She is preparing to perform "The Vampires," a satirical and humorous take on the recent crime spree in Paris.  You'd have to be pretty damn sadistic to make a satire out of a crime spree sweeping one of the biggest cities in the world.  After Phillipe leaves, the Count arrives and slips the fatal ring on her finger, much to her happiness (let me tell you, women will do anything for jewelry).  By the way, I talk about this film being ahead of its time, and I mean it when I say that Marfa's costume is a cross between Mickey Mouse and Batman, so Walt Disney, Bob Kane and Bill Finger have this serial to thank for their inspiration as well.

Anyway, the poison from the ring, which, even though she's taken it off, still has found its way into her system, begins to affect Marfa negatively while she does her Batman--er, I mean, her Vampire imitation, and the theater erupts into frenzy.  Phillipe runs off in pursuit of Dr. Nox and finds himself in the clutches of The Vampires, who are dressed like the black-clad French version of the KKK.  The Grand Vampire sends his minions a note that states that Phillipe will be interrogated by the Grand Inquisitor, and executed by the Black Committee at dawn.  Everyone leaves except one guard and Phillipe, who is bound and a sheet placed over his head.  Guess who the guard is?  Yep, it's ol' Mazamette again.  To explain his reasoning for conspiring with The Vampires, he tells Phillipe another sob story about how he can't pay room and board and the principal of his three sons' boarding school is going to kick them out if he can't.  At midnight, the Grand Inquisitor comes and Mazamette and Philipe tie him up and escape, Mazamette providing much-needed comic relief by tapping on the bound and face-covered man's head lightly and smiling.  At dawn, the Black Committee comes to execute whom they think is Phillipe, but really, as we find out when the cops and Phillipe show up, is Henri Delégué, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  


More evidence in this episode that this serial is far ahead of its time.

                  
EPISODE 3 - "Le cryptogramme rouge" (The Red Code Book)
Released:  December 4, 1915


Now I know why Americans think so lowly of the French; those stupid monkeys tried to convince us that there was a red code book in a black-and-white picture.

Our intrepid hero has lifted a red code book from the Grand Inquisitor's body and is trying to decipher the message contained within.  The translated message (translated by me, a French speaker, with a little help from Google Translate) reads:  "The crimes of The Vampires in this book are instructions that misfortune will want to know these terrible secrets."  Of course, the title card comes up and says, "The crimes of the Vampires are consigned to these pages.  Those who attempt to learn these terrible secrets will be cursed.  Beware!"  

After Phillipe learns that his home is under surveillance by the Vampires, we cut to The Howling Cat nightclub, where we really meet our femme fatale, Irma Vep, for the first time without any secrecy.

Meanwhile, back at Phillipe's house, Mazamette returns and stops being the comic relief for a bit by pulling out a pen he stole from the Vampires' Grand Master.  The ink is poison (another instance of the serial being ahead of its time) and within seconds can prove fatal to its victim.  

A few days later, the Guèrandes' maid falls ill and the employment agency sends over a new one.  Judging from her sneakiness in her chamber, it is safe to assume that this "maid" is really Irma Vep in disguise.  In another instance of dramatic irony, she's been sent to the Guèrandes' home to retrieve the red code book.  In the next sequence, she sneaks into Phillipe's room, and here we see one of the best early espionage sequences.  Phillipe plays the master detective as he flips over a mirror to see Irma exchange a vial of some sort with a deadly one.  

Phillipe's mother has received a note from her brother Jean informing her that he has been in a car accident and requesting her to come to Passy.  When she gets there, Jean's maid informs her that her master is at the theater and that he was never in an accident.  On the way home, Phillipe's mother is captured by the Vampires, who obviously set up the letter, another instance of dramatic irony.  

Back at the house, Irma arranges for another member of the Vampires to sneak in so they can steal back the red code book.  Phillipe is watching, though, and fires his gun.  When the police come to investigate, Irma and the other Vampire have escaped onto the roof.  Luckily for Phillipe, he has kept the red code book safe with him.

Meanwhile, in a shack in the slums, Mrs. Guèrande is held hostage by Father Silence, a deaf-mute who, you can imagine, is the exact opposite of Father Christmas.  He shows her a letter that she must write to her son, instructing him to bring the book to Driver 113 at the North Station (in French, Gare du Nord).  If she doesn't write it, Father Silence has been instructed to kill her.  But lucky for ol' Phil's mom, she's picked up some espionage tricks from her son.  She "accidentally" splashes a bit of the poison pen's ink onto Father Silence's hand.  He fires his gun and collapses to the ground, dead, allowing Mrs. G. to escape.

I really like that we get the opportunity to see what Mom can do--more importantly, what a WOMAN can do--in a film made during a period where women still did not have many rights.

EPISODE 4 - "Le Spectre" ("The Specter")

Released:  January 7, 1916

Relax - there are no ghosts here.  Despite the vampires, this isn't a horror flick, remember?

In the opening minutes of this episode, we are introduced to two new characters, one of which is a new incarnation of The Grand Vampire, Mr. Treps, a real estate agent.  The other is Juan José Moréno (Fernand Herrmann), leader of The Vampires' rival gang.  Moréno is known for a hypnotic stare that he uses to control people.  He wants an apartment that Mr. Treps is advertising, but there's a catch:  the apartment must have a safe.  Well, the apartment's got a safe.  The only problem (for him) is that Irma Vep and "Mr. Treps" have made an opening on the other side of the room where they can take out whatever Moréno puts in the safe and inspect it, as they do with his leather bag.  What follows is probably one of the first scenes in cinema history in which murder is committed on a train.  Phillipe hears about the strange goings-on at the Renoux-Duval Bank and how Mr. Metadier hasn't been seen at Rouen with the 300,000 francs, so he decides to go undercover.  He recognizes Irma Vep disguised as "Miss Juliette," a secretary.  

At the home of Irma Vep, she and "Mr. Treps" make a gruesome discovery:  the body of Mr. Metadier is hidden in a closet.  They dig it out.  Phillipe tries to hold the gangsters at gunpoint, but they escape, throwing him to the ground.  Moréno returns home to find that his bag has been stolen.  He crosses into the other room and Phillipe holds him at gunpoint.  Moréno insists that he did not kill Metadier, but rather found him on deserted train tracks in the middle of the night after robbing a rich family's home.  The episode ends with a comic relief sequence in which Mazamette, wearing a polka-dot tie and bowler hat, exclaims, "We'll get those Vampires!"  

             

EPISODE 5 - "L'évasion du mort" (Dead Man's Escape)

Released:  January 28, 1916

The episode opens with Phillipe (who, when I get a closer look at him, demonstrates a phenotypical cross between Gene Kelly and Dwight Frye) and the magistrate from Episode 1, M. Hamel, on good terms.  Moréno is now in the custody of the French feds.  After exclaiming "You'll never get me alive!" he commits suicide by swallowing cyanide.  The feds place his body in the precinct cell, where this film really does turn into a horror flick.  Overnight, Moréno, looking like ghost under all those white sheets, slowly rises back to life.  Strangling his guard, he escapes.

Phillipe is at home recounting the escape of Moréno for his readers when, in a shocking turn of events, he is yanked out of his open window and shoved into a basket (I'd like to know where his mother was during all of this).  A title card appears, stating the obvious:  "Phillipe became the Vampires' prisoner!"  

The Vampires drive to a location in Paris where there are some steps nearby, and Phillipe, ever the spy and detective, pushes himself down the stairs and miraculously survives.  He meets Moréno at a café and is captured by Moréno and his men; a trap.  Moréno decides that Phillipe will be hanged.  However, Moréno offers to let Phillipe live if he lets him wreak his vengeance on The Vampires.  Oddly enough, I find myself cheering for Moréno.  He really is the good guy, or at least, the better guy between the two gangs.  

Phillipe agrees to help and reveals that Baron de Mortesalgues is the Grand Vampire.  Moréno returns the favor by keeping him bound and gagged.  Just when all hope is lost, out comes Mazamette to save the day by freeing Phillipe.  

Meanwhile, the Baron is holding a fancy-schmancy party for his niece's birthday.  He announces that at midnight there will be a surprise.  Oh, there's a surprise, all right.  At midnight, a gas floats through the room (again showing that this film is ahead of its time in terms of concepts and materials used to tell a story) and knocks everyone unconscious, allowing The Vampires to steal what they want.  However, Moréno, having been warned by Phillipe of The Vampires' plan, has hitched a ride with the robbers, hoping to steal some of their loot.  The episode ends with Mazamette once again providing comic relief, angered that The Vampires and Moréno have escaped yet again.  Moréno sends Phillipe a letter saying that now that he has amassed a large fortune, the two men are even.

Although this is not a comedy by any means, the small bits of comic relief we get at the ends of the episodes keep us interested in what would otherwise be a depressing, almost haunting film to some.  To others (including me), the comic relief adds to the fun of a great murder mystery ride.

(TO BE CONTINUED.  EPISODES 6-10 COMING TOMORROW...)