Technically a talkie, the 73-minute picture is practically a silent in nearly every way, including its scant use of spoken dialogue. Now the film has made it to Blu-ray, in a lavish edition from Criterion timed to Halloween. “Vampyr” was Dreyer’s first film following “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928), one of silent cinema’s supreme masterpieces. The mise-en-scène in “Joan” is one of extreme close-ups and almost blinding whites; in “Vampyr” much is shrouded in haze, the composition often baroquely detailed, and the camera frequently a safe distance from the action. Napping, he is visited by an old man who entrusts him with a package to be opened only on his death.

Source: Wall Street Journal October 28, 2017 11:00 UTC