MovieChat Forums > Dance of the Vampires (1967) Discussion > speed of film?

speed of film?

posted 17 years ago by mhg1983-1
6 replies | jump to latest

I was watching a little bit of the film and noticed the movie looked like it was moving faster than a normal film would. Is this how the film is inteneded to be or is my version screwed up?

[–] fredbel6 17 years ago

I watched it on a German channel, and in some scenes it looked as if the tape was running faster, but usually the speed was just normal

[–] juan-93 17 years ago

It's that way in every version/copy I have ever seen, it is I believe a stylistic touch as it only occurs in a few scenes and is kind of reminiscent of silent films in a way. It is both humorous and in a strange way kind of creepy. I love touches like that.

[–] dilbertsuperman 17 years ago

It's traditional to mess with the film speed when portraying a vampire on film to give a sense of something that is not quite of this world.

[–] juan-93 17 years ago

"It's traditional to mess with the film speed when portraying a vampire on film to give a sense of something that is not quite of this world."

I don't know about the above statement but if I remember correctly most of the sped up scenes in TFVK occur in scenes that do not feature vampires like Prof. Abronsius and Alfred approaching the bathroom door as Sarah is being spanked by Shagal and the Prof. and Alfred turning the cannon around and getting it ready to blow down the castle door. One that does feature a vampire is the vampiric Shagal climbing up the side of the cottage and breaking in the maid's window.

[–] Romat 17 years ago

These sped up action scenes were pretty common back then. In some ways it looks sorta comical, in an old Chaplin silent movie kinda way. But if you watch some of the early Bond movies, From Russia With Love maybe, definitely Thunderball, also from the mid-60s. During some fight scenes the film is either sped up, or frames are cut out, giving a similar effect. It's sometimes an attempt to give extra energy to a scene. I don't know if Polanski WANTED this to look comedic, but to our eyes now, it usually does.(blame Benny Hill)

I think it was a bit like slow motion being used in action scenes(by Peckinpah, John Woo, many others)nowadays. Although it's the exact opposite effect, it's still an attempt to highlight the action stylistically. Scorsese used a combination of speeds during fight scenes in recent films like Gangs of New York. He discusses it in the Gangs commentary and they discuss it on the Thunderball commentary too.

[–] gaween68 17 years ago

A few years ago The Fearless Vampire Killers came out on cable here in St. Paul Minnesota and I was lucky enough to see it coming and recorded it on VHS. It starts with a cartoon version of the MGM roaring lion except instead of a lion a "puke green" cartoon of a long toothed bald vampire is pictured. The cartoon vampire has a drop of blood that drips down from HIS RIGHT FANG and the drop of blood drops down throughout the opening credits along each and every name as the opening credits move upwards. The drop of blood turns into the shape of a bat towards the end of the opening credits.
The version I have says it was filmed in: Panavision,Metrocolor and the total running time of the movie I have runs: 1:47...that's 1 Hour and 47 minutes. My e-mail is: [email protected] if you're interested in this version I have it now on a VHS tape.
I love this movie. I'm now 39yrs old but I saw this movie in the 70's when I was young. I didn't see this movie for like 30yrs but happened to catch it on cable and recorded it. I only watch it on cold winter nights when there is snow on the ground here in Minnesota. I NEVER watch it during the spring,summer or fall months! Once the cold,snowy nights hit up here in Minnesota that's when I pop this tape in my VCR.