Monday 1 September 2008

VAMPYR, DER TRAUM DES ALLAN GRAY/Vampyr, The Strange Adventure of Allan Gray (1932)


This restoration of Car Dreyer's classic 1932 film is the best and most complete version of the film I have ever seen. The restoration is based on the German version of the film and the inter titles are in that language (although, of course, translation sub-titles are provided). Made in France by Danish director Carl Dreyer the film is based on Irish writer Joseph Sheridan LeFanu's book In a Glass Darkly and it is usually accepted that it is a loose adaption of the story Carmilla, although there is little in the plot besides a vampire that resembles anything in that tale. The film is really unlike anything else in the history of horror movies, although if you are familiar with classic horror films a viewing will convince you just how influential Dreyer's imagery has been. The plot is fairly simple (although perhaps not at first viewing) - Julian West, a traveller versed in the occult, stays at an inn where an old man asks his help in protecting his family from a vampire. The vampire is an old lady who is assisted by the town doctor (who looks remarkably - and I'm sure not accidentally - like Jack McGowran in Polanski's FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS). It is in the telling that VAMPYR is so remarkable and truly unsettling.

The hero, Allan Gray (who in some versions is called David Gray) finds himself in a dream-like world where the ordinary becomes weird (ie. the old man entering the bedroom) and the weird becomes almost matter-of-fact : shadows detach themselves, shadows appear where there is no one to cast them, a grave digger is filling an empty grave. Although shot with sound this is very much in the tradition of the silent film - it is a film where the modern viewer must make a mental adjustment before watching. The Eureka release has some nice extras - including two commentaries, the best by critic Tony Rayns and an irritating one by Guillermo del Toro who obviously loves the film but repeats himself to often. There is an informative booklet, a visual essay on the film's visual influence, a documentary on Carl Dreyer, two scenes cut by the German censor and more. Absolutely one for the collection. Rating *****

4 comments:

Cerpts said...

Aw, crums!!! Now I'm jealous. I was waiting to here about the "restored" DVD and now it sounds really good! I've only got the old crappy version. I will say that the first time I ever saw the film I was very tired and drowsy. I wasn't falling asleep on the movie but you know what I mean. Anyway, the part when the old man first enters his room (that door opening!!!) scared the living hell out of me for some reason and I was wide awake from then on! I guess the way he appeared around the door sooooooooo sloooooooowly creeped me out and somehow conveyed a feeling of threat to my drowsy faculties!

Weaverman said...

The restoration we have now is of the German release print. This does cause some slight frustration inasmuch as the film two censor cuts were made. There is a slightly more graphic version of the death of the doctor in the flour mill and more importantly (to my mind) a longer and much more intense version of the staking of the vampire. Now both these censored scenes are included as extras and in one of the documentaries we see a scene involving dogs which Dreyer himself removed from the film. I really puzzle as to why the censored scenes were not edited back into the film for the restoration to give us the film as Dreyer himself wanted it seen - after all this is the purpose of restoration, surely. To restore the the film and not put back the censor cuts seemsto me a bit odd. As far as the dog scene goes, it was Dreyer himself who removed it so it was never part of the finished film and should rightly be left as an extra. What do you think?

Cerpts said...

I completely agree. It doesn't matter whether it's the German print or the Botswana print or the Hoboken print -- the complete film should have been restored as the director intended. It's not a particular German print that we're anxious to see; it's the complete restored film Dreyer made. It doesn't make for very good viewing to stop the film where the cut scenes occur, bring up the menu, go into special features, find the cut scenes, play them and then go back to that point in the movie.

Cerpts said...

Another point: it is common practice for "restored" dvd editions to take "the best film elements" from many sources and put them together to get the best, most complete, version of a film. Why not here?