LES VAMPIRES (1915). 10 chapters. Tinted.

Les Vampires is a 1915–1916 French silent crime serial film written and directed by Louis Feuillade. Set in Paris, it stars Édouard Mathé, Musidora and Marcel Lévesque. The main characters are a journalist and his friend who become involved in trying to uncover and stop a bizarre underground Apaches criminal gang, known as the Vampires (who are not the mythical beings their name might suggest). The serial consists of ten episodes, which vary greatly in length. Being roughly 7 hours long, it is considered one of the longest films ever made. It was produced and distributed by Feuillade's company Gaumont. Due to its stylistic similarities with Feuillade's other crime serials Fantômas and Judex, the three are often considered a trilogy.

Fresh from the success of Feuillade's previous serial, Fantômas, and facing competition from rival company Pathé, Feuillade made the film quickly and inexpensively with very little written script. Upon its initial release Les Vampires was given negative reviews by critics for its dubious morality and its lack of cinematic techniques compared to other films. However, it was a massive success with its wartime audience, making Musidora a star of French cinema. The film has since come under re-evaluation and is considered by many to be Feuillade's magnum opus and a cinematic masterpiece. It is recognised for developing thriller techniques, adopted by Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang, and avant-garde cinema, inspiring Luis Buñuel, Henri Langlois, Alain Resnais, and André Breton.

PLOT:
Paris is prey to an invisible terror against which the police can do nothing: a sinister organization that sows chaos and death. The intrepid journalist Philippe Guérande and his partner embark on a long crusade to put an end to the crimes of the Great Vampire and Irma Vep, his dangerous accomplice.
It take place in a Paris that is empty because of WWI. The dreamlike scenes add to the story of the reporter who is looking to a criminal organization known as The Vampires (not supernatural creatures).

The crime syndicate could be considered a similar to the Mafia as it had it's tentacles in every level of society from the Chief Justices to members of the nobility.
Most serials piited a hero and his group against a master villain and his henchmen. LES VAMPIRES made the menace a vast and largely secret criminal empire. With members taken from all classes, this collective is able to plunder, blackmail and murder without fear of action from the authorities, only a reporter and his sidekicks.