I personally don't have any trouble with run times, in my records I have seeing "il capo dei capi' in 1 day (12 hours), and think it was excellent.
At this moment I am taking a break from "les Vampires", just finished the 4th episode (almost 2 hours, which is about the same time I spent on that boring to dead "Elysium" movie). I would not call what I have seeing so far "excellent" but I am not bored at all by it.
The reason why I learn about "les Vampires" is because it is recommended for whoever make that 1001 list. And after following some of those recommendations I really want to know why some of this things are a "must see". Is there any place they explain why they recommend those movies?
If I am to make a review of the 4 episodes I have seeing so far it will go something like this:
lighting: Plain and bland. nothing much more to say about this. I find interesting in the videos I get on youtube they have different filters for different environments. Green for exteriors, sepia for interiors, blue for night... I thing this is a very clever approach. I don't know if this is part of the original film or newer editing.
Sets: No much here also. They all look like pretty common places. Some of the mansions are beautifully decorated some are hideous, The double door on the safe of the apartment was the best set so far.
Costumes: No much creativity on this department also, except for that vampire dancer, That was great costume and great dance, who in their sane mind though was a good idea to poison her?
Acting: The mime gestures where not exaggerated, as some of the silent movies tent to do, and I really appreciate this fact. Would have being a shock if the french didn't get this right. This is how it should be done.
Script: The best thing so far is the story. Even though it started in a very confusing manner, for a while I was wondering about all the beginning of the story that was totally no shown at all. Do it really begins whit the decapitation of the cop? there is nothing else to say before this? is that the first murder les vampires commit?
But ones get trough that poorly done beginning it certainly pick up the pace to a very interesting story.
So in conclusion. Good Story, good acting.
Some few unusual things have got my attention. this are:
The stunt men who climb down a pipe and up a wall. I guess on those days you really put your live in the line to make a movie. I was not able to see or to imagine any safety measures they put in place for this shots. Really scary stuff.
The end of episode 4, the telephone call, is that a multiple exposure? they starting to get fancy on the production value, and I like it, I hope they try more stuff like this on the next episodes.
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svenrufus
9 years ago
To be honest, I'm really struggling with this by now - just finished Ep.6, and I've reached a point where I'm kind of bored, and losing interest in it to the extent that I'm now having difficutly remembering everything that has happened up to this point.
I've taken about 3 days to get this far, and really, the prospect of 40 minute episodes coming up doesn't exactly thrill me. If I finish watching this (I will) it will be more from a sense of obligation (to myself - I hate leaving things unfinished) than from interest in the films.
I'm not sure that what I've seen so far in any way justifies the time the story it taking to tell, although I agree with you, htdavidht, that the story is possibly the most interesting thing going on here. The problem is that taking so long to get through it loses me along the way, and my interest dissipates.
I like the fact you picked up on the 'stunt' work. When I saw the guy climb the wall, I thought about how often I looked at those types of walls and wondered about security issues, or whether it was quite handy if you forget your keys. I always wanted to try it, but figured there was no way it could be safe, so that shot really stood out for me.
I need to watch the rest soon before I completely lose track. As it is, I've just gone on the Wikipedia page to sort out in my head who's done what and why. I don't generally have trouble keeping stories in my head (it can take me months to read a book at the moment but that's not a problem). But there is something about this which fails to captivate. I hate to bring too modern an attitude to it, I really do appreciate the context within which this film was made, but I spend so much time thinking that the film needs nothing more than some serious editing. This is a run time that even Taratino would be embarrassed by!
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