Alternate Version With English Text
A peculiar feature of Vampyr is that it contains several fairly lengthy expository text passages that purport to be excerpts from an authoritative book on vampires. If you just play the movie, those passages will appear in German while English subtitles are superimposed on the screen (unless the subtitles have been turned off). There's no compelling reason that a viewer who reads English but not German should be forced to suffer through this, and Criterion has provided an option where you can have the text appear in English while the subtitles are temporarily suppressed. This is probably the way most English speakers will prefer to watch the film.
One of the bonus materials shows that Dreyer had at one point begun to prepare a version of Vampyr where text on the screen would be in Danish. This seems to imply that the director's intention was that these passages should, whenever possible, be in the native language of the viewer.
DVD Details
Picture and sound quality of the feature film are reasonably good, taking into account the age of the movie. Below I have listed all the details for the Criterion Collection two-disc set containing Vampyr.
Release Date: July 22, 2008
Number of Discs: 2
Feature Film Runtime: 1 hour 13 minutes
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Full-Screen (1.19:1), Black and White
German Monaural
English Subtitles
Alternate Version With English Text
Audio Commentary by Film Scholar Tony Rayns
Danish-Language Documentary on Career of Carl Th. Dreyer (30 min.)
English-Language Visual Essay on Vampyr by Danish Scholar (36 min.)
English-Language Audio Essay on Filmmaking by Carl Th. Dreyer (23 min.)
44-Page Booklet Containing 3 Essays and an Interview
214-Page Book Containing Screenplay and Novella "Carmilla"
