Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Vampyr from 1931, by Carl Dreyer is an incomprehensible, deadly-paced, foggy-looking movie with unrecognizable non-actors, a completely disjointed and convoluted narrative, and post-synched sound that makes you feel like you’re watching a picture while listening to some completely different sound track.  The effect is that we are immersed in a well-crafted world of supernatural powers, and, like real life, the disconnection prevents us from knowing the full story and makes us a victim to the films antagonists.

Adapted from the story collection “In a Glass Darkly” by Sheridan Le Fanu, the film explores the mysterious killings committed by a supposed woman vampire.  Because of the obtuse way it is told Vampyr may be difficult for the viewer to stick with.  The film has no overt narrative arc, and no outstanding line of action, but rather uses a series of seemingly mundane episodes to tell its tale.  This is another film that deals with the same stories of the undead as the kitschy Ingrid Pitt vehicle Vampire Lovers, but with very different results.    

This is one moody flick.  Director Dreyer uses a large cadre of unknowns in his cast which prevents the viewer from bringing in baggage about a movie star to anchor the commercial underpinnings of the movie.  Julian West as Allan Grey is the most curious of the other actors, and part of the reason is that he plays his role without any of the staid rehearsed “actor-ish” tricks that most performers learn to keep the viewers looking at them.  This is good and bad.  It’s clear that West isn’t overplaying but in many cases the interiority of an actor performance which is based on what his character is confronting emotionally, will keep us involved, which isn’t always the case here.  West still inhabits the film in a striking way.

The films look feels like one long delirious dream.  Cinematographer Rudolph Maté sets his camera to make the most of isolated figures in a grey world.  Along with some optical effects, Maté places his camera in some unusual places to give us a most spectacular POV of one of the un-dead characters in the movie.

Maté had been with Dreyer since the director discovered him shooting second unit photography.  The look the camera man achieves for Vampyr is not an accident.  Reportedly, Maté systematically allowed outside light to shed onto the exposed films stock of the picture to create a washed out ethereal look for the movie.  Many film buffs will recognize the cinematographer work from the film-noir classic D.O.A. from 1950.

Dreyer was never one for splashy narrative.  His The Passion of Joan of Arc from 1928 employed unknown Maria Falconetti as Jeanne d'Arc and this was virtually the only movie she ever did.  In that film Joan is on screen all the time seemingly merely expressing suffering and complacency.

This is certainly a Dreyer must-see for his fans, and for others who want to see what filmmaking develops under a set of less than favorable circumstances.  All the dialogue was done after the picture was shot MOS, and the director respects the viewer enough to let you come to the film on your terms, without laying it out for you on an eight-grade level.  This is a great companion to someone who has read the source material and wants to get some visual boosting.  Enjoy.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older