Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St. in Wilton, will show the French crime melodrama “Les Vampyres,” featuring French actress/acrobat Musidora as Irma Vep, with live music over two days on Saturday, Sept. 17, and Sunday, Sept. 18, at 2 p.m. both days.
“Les Vampyres” was produced in 1915, and runs more than seven hours. Chapters one through six, beginning with “Episode 1: The Severed Head,” will be shown Sept. 17. Chapters seven through 10, finishing with “Episode 10: The Terrible Wedding,” will be shown on Sept. 18. Each day will feature about 3 1/2 hours of “Les Vampyres,” a drama about a bizarre underground crime syndicate in Paris.
The screenings will be accompanied by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis, who will improvise a live score for the entire seven-hour epic.
“Les Vampyres” was directed by Louis Feuillade, a popular French crime novelist in the pre-World War I era who began making films in 1906. Musidora performs in a black body stocking as Irma Vep, the syndicate’s anagramized criminal mastermind. Set in Paris, the main characters of are a journalist and his friend who investigate a bizarre underground crime gang known as The Vampires.
The film is recognized for developing thriller techniques adopted by Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang, and for its influence on the avant-garde cinema directors such as Luis Buñuel and Henri Langlois. Despite World War I limiting the audience for the film, it was a success in France, but police condemned the series for its glorification of crime and dubious morality. Some of the episodes were temporarily banned, but these bans were retracted after a personal appeal from Musidora.
Admission is free, but a donation of $10 per person at each screening is suggested to help defray expenses. For information, visit wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call 603-654-3456. For more about the music, visit jeffrapsis.com.