Les vampires (1915)

Director:

Louis Feuillade

Writer:

Louis Feuillade (writer)

Release Date:

13 November 1915 (France)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller | War

Plot Keywords:

Nightclub | Secret Organization | Maid | Trapdoor | Banker

Cast

Musidora	...	Irma Vep
Édouard Mathé	...	Philippe Guérande
Marcel Lévesque	...	Oscar Mazamette
Jean Aymé	...	Le Grand Vampire
Fernand Herrmann	...	Juan-José Moréno / Brichonnet
Stacia Napierkowska	...	Marfa Koutiloff
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edmund Breon	...	Secrétaire de Satanas (as Edmond Bréon)
Renée Carl	...	L'Andalouse
Miss Édith	...	Comtesse de Kerlor
Jacques Feyder	...	(episode V: L'évasion du mort)
Rita Herlor	...	Mrs Simpson
Émile Keppens
Louise Lagrange
Louis Leubas	...	Satanas / Père Silence
Gaston Michel	...	Valet de chambre
Frederik Moriss	...	Vénénos
Laurent Morléas	...	Officier de la Grande Armée
René Poyen	...	Eustache Mazamette
Delphine Renot	...	Mère de Guérande
Germaine Rouer	...	Augustine
Thalès

Also Known As:

The Vampires (USA) (literal English title)

Runtime:

USA:399 min (DVD)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Société des Etablissements L. Gaumont

Trivia:

Musidora was an acrobat who did all her own stunts for this film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Throughout various episodes, the same flats were clearly reused for interiors. Many of the same buildings will have the exact same wall paper and wainscoting.

Quotes:

Le Grand Vampire: I murdered the real Dr. Nox and assumed his identity. Do not ever try to find me. I am - The Great Vampire.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Le fantôme d'Henri Langlois (2004)

Give up your search, otherwise bad luck awaits you!

Seeing a police drama that is a favorite of surrealists like Luis Bunuel ought to tell you that this isn't an episode of Law and order.

It take place in a Paris that is empty because of WWI. The dreamlike scenes add to the story of a reporter Phillipe Guerande (Edouard Mathe) who is looking to a criminal organization known as The Vampires (sorry, bloodsucking fans, it's not about Dracula or his minions.).

The crime syndicate could be considered a forerunner of the Mafia as it had it's tentacles in every level of society from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to nobility.

A classic silent film.

Louis Feuillade, who directed over 600 films is the film great grandfather of Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch. Musidora, who played Irma Vep is probably the first screen vamp.