Vampyr - Will's review

A real tough review this week; Vampyr is remarkably well made, and would no doubt be a wonderful movie to study... But thoroughly failed to entertain me.

I'd like to be able to put my lack of appreciation down to it not having aged well, but sadly it received very poor reviews on release, and has only relatively recently come to be appreciated; proof f proof were needed that it is appreciated more for its technical excellence than it's value as a piece of entertainment.

Originally made in three languages, English, German, and French, director Carl Theodor Dreyer found an incredibly clever and tidy solution to the time problems one might encounter making a movie three tines; he kept dialogue to a minimum, presenting much of the exposition in the form of book pages and written letters (this in a time when silent movies were still being released, and audiences were quite accustomed to reading their movies) leaving voice recording to a minimum. (I should point out that the speaking scenes were filmed three times, with the actors mouthing the words in each of the three languages, before later hitting the recording studios to dub themselves - film making used to be a very convoluted business)

The movie breaks many of the conventional rules of film-making, for instance a character at one point exits the scent to the left, only to re-enter it from the right, however the movie is so well made that, far from being mistakes on Dreyer's part, these are clearly attempts to unnerve and disorientate the viewer.

It's these kinds of tricks which, along with some (for the time at least) impressive visual effects) are the movies greatest strength; it's atmosphere is superb, being genuinely disjointed, unnerving, and disquieting in a way that few modern movies can achieve.

So, as I say; not a great movie, but a very interesting one - I'm almost talking myself I to liking it and may give it another go.

If you want to check it out, there are some rubbish quality public domain versions online; but I'd recommend getting hold of the citron collection version, which is a composite of the best surviving footage from the French and German prints (the English print is considered a lost film) with the German soundtrack (the only soundtrack which exists in it's entirety in decent quality). It also features a commentary from film historian Johnny Rains, which I haven't listened to properly yet, but which sounds fascinating from the brief snippet I did listen to.

I can't recommend this movie to an audience wishing to be entertained, but I can't possibly stick an 'avoid' on something so well made.