1915, France
Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery
::Flick Quickie::
Preceding Hollywood movie serials is this 1915 silent French serial by prolific director Louis Feuillade. Chronicling the crimes of the Vampire gang who hold power in Paris, the hero of these tales is the sleuthing journalist Philippe Guérande (Edouard Mathé) and his clownish but surprisingly helpful sidekick Oscar Mazamette (Marcel Lévesque). No overdone miming here, the cast portrays their characters realistically, with the only ham being Lévesque who occasionally interacts with the audience (as does his son in later episodes). The Grand Vampire leaders come and go, but steady henchwoman Irma Vep (anagram for vampire, get it?) is the true brains behind all of the black masks.
The ten episodes in this series have been given a clean transfer, and extras included on the two-sided disc are a text introduction by Fabrice Zagury, a comic short made by the cast to raise funds for war orphans, and another comic short (with an interesting war enlistment message) staring the boy who portrayed Mazamette's son, René Poyen (and starred in a string of shorts by Feuillade).