Reel Life (1916-1917)

THERE is something of the boldness of con¬ ception that characterizes the writings of Jules Verne in the construction of that amazing Gaumont drama “The Vampires,” of which “The Master of Thunder,” episode seven, constitutes perhaps the most surpris¬ ing installment so far released by the Mu¬ tual Film Corporation. Nothing is impossible to a villain like Satanas, who is at the same time a scientist, inventor of extraordinary devices for taking human life — who calculates to the frac¬ tion of an inch the spot upon which he desires to explode a destructive bomb and then causes the explosion at the precise second desired, operating from a point many miles from the scene. Episode seven opens with Irma Vep, the feminine plotter of the evil gang known as “The Vampires,” which is believed to have been broken up by Philip Guard, the Parisian journalist and his friend Normandin, under sen¬ tence to life imprisonment, but ordered by the authorities to go to Algeria before beginning her term of imprison¬ ment, for the purpose of testifying against certain crimi¬ nals there. What more natural than that this woman criminal should seek the consolation of her religion, or that a priest should be summoned to comfort her in her dire strait. Indeed what more natural than that the priest should be Satanas, leader of the gang after “Chief Vam¬ pire” Moreno’s execution by the authorities, or that this resourceful schemer should have already matured a plan for the rescue of his associate? The destruction of the ship upon which Irma Vep sailed as a prisoner for Algeria is a startling bit of dra¬ matic sensationalism. The woman prisoner is confined in the stern of the vessel, a fact, which coming to the knowledge of Satanas, permits him to destroy the vessel with one of his long distance bomb's, on the theory that Irma may escape, but that if she dies she is better dead than a life prisoner. The escape of Irma Vep, her wanderings in the wilds of Algeria without friends, since she dared not communi¬ cate with Satanas because of the fear that she might be recaptured — the skill with which she eludes government agents and spies on her tortuous route to the coast — con¬ tribute in exciting detail to the fascinations of this pic¬ ture, which is made up of a succession of thrills. The principal appeal of “The Vampires” is that it is never constrained by the ordinary limitations of construc¬ tive license. The spectator is aware that in the hands of so astute and learned a villain as Satanas, there is always a remedy for the most impossible situation — a solution of the most intricate problem. The return of Irma Vep to Paris, while apparently achieved independently of Satanas and his intricate sys¬ tem of wireless communication, is nevertheless shrewdly suspected to have been brought about by the chief’s agency and he welcomes his associate back to Paris with the same nonchalance that might have been expected of him had she returned from dining with a friend in the Rue Beauchamp. Of course the principal aim of the Vampires is to exterminate the journalistic tribe, headed by Philip Guard, which was responsible for the execution of Moreno, and which for years has menaced the very exist¬ ence of the underworld organization responsible for prac¬ tically all the systematized crime of Paris. To this end the ingenuities and energies of Satanas and his now reunited band are bent, with the result that Guard and Normandin are soon confronted with evidence of their imminent danger. One of the most startling episodes in this release is the sudden descent of agents of “The Vampires” on young Guard in his apartment, where he is tied and left to die a lingering death with an infernal machine ticking at his elbow. The clock¬ work device is, of course, to give his assailants time to reach the other extremity of Paris in a taxicab before the explosion takes place. The real thrill comes when Normandin breaks into the house, tosses the bomb into the street where it explodes harmlessly, releases Guard and rings for the gendarmes, who catch Satanas before he can get clear of the house and rush him away to headquarters. In the mysterious rites and incantations performed by Satanas and his evil crew in the dimly lighted hall that is really a disused wine cellar, fifty feet below the level of the street, an appeal is made to the imagination, to the human genius for mystery, that constitutes one of the chief fascinations of “The Vampires.” CHAPTER TITLES OF GAUMONT’S “THE VAMPIRES” The Detective’s Head Satanas The Master of Thunder The Red Notebook The Dead Man’s Escape The Poison Man The Ghost The Eyes That Hold The Terrible Wedding REEL LIFE — Page Four