Horror with a sense of style

One of the most elegant horror pictures ever made, Belgian director Harry Kumel’s “Daughters of Darkness” (1971) has acquired something of a cult status over the years. The film now resurfaces along with six heretofore unfamiliar Kumel titles -- plus personal appearances by the director himself -- as part of the American Cinematheque’s fifth annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction at the Egyptian.

In “Daughters of Darkness,” an aristocratic beauty (Delphine Seyrig) comes to a vast but seemingly deserted resort and has in tow a solemn little brunet (Andrea Rau). Recently arrived are a honeymooning couple (John Karlen and Danielle Ouimet).

The delicious and witty Seyrig, along with Kumel’s dazzling direction, makes “Daughters of Darkness” an ultra-sophisticated triumph of style and mood, ineffably poignant and ever verging on camp but too confident and knowing to lapse into it. But be warned: It does have horror-picture violence.

Kumel’s even more venturesome “Malpertuis: History of a Cursed House” (1971) made it to Cannes in 1972 but was hastily truncated and dubbed into English. Yet it apparently was never released in America. Now restored, “Malpertuis” will be shown in its original Flemish version with English subtitles after “Daughters of Darkness” and a discussion with Kumel.

A horror picture in the form of a surreal fable, “Malpertuis “ is a ravishing and eerie period piece set in the 19th century. Yann (Matthieu Carriere), a slim young blond sailor, arrives in Brussels only to be waylaid in a waterfront cafe -- where Sylvie Vartan, no less, is the chanteuse -- and regains consciousness in Malpertuis, a vast, remote mansion that is the home of his uncle, the mysterious, dying Quentin Cassavius (Orson Welles). Cassavius has summoned an array of relatives and retainers who want to become the heirs to his immense fortune -- the only hitch is that they must never leave the premises. Of course, there’s a bizarre secret hidden in Malpertuis, and Yann roams miles of murky halls and endlessly spiraling staircases in search of it.

Kumel plays against the ominous setting with a lively tempo and a mischievous, even spoofy sense of humor. Yann encounters all manner of strange people and occurrences. Susan Hampshire plays three roles with elan, and the cast also includes veteran French actors Michel Bouquet and Jean-Pierre Cassel. “Malpertuis,” which has a wonderfully unsettling Georges Delerue score, is amusingly outrageous yet is also surprisingly poetic, reminiscent at moments of Jean Cocteau’s forays into Surrealism.

A radiant Wray

Fay Wray, who died Aug. 8 at 96, will always be remembered for being carried by King Kong as he scales the Empire State Building, but the real high mark of her long career came early in Erich von Stroheim’s late silent-era masterpiece “The Wedding March” (1928). To mark Wray’s passing, the Silent Movie is presenting it Monday with live organ accompaniment by Bob Mitchell.

Wray was among the most radiant of Stroheim heroines as Mitzi, a harpist at a Viennese wine garden. She and Stroheim’s Prince Nicki lock eyes while he is serving as part of an honor guard outside St. Stephan’s Cathedral, where a Corpus Christi celebration is underway. The time is just before the outbreak of World War I. They have a prolonged flirtation, much to the growing consternation of her crude suitor Schanzi (Matthew Betz), the swaggering butcher that Mitzi’s mother is eager for her to marry.

A playboy with a streak of melancholy, Nicki falls in love with the innocent Mitzi at the very moment his aristocratic parents are forcing him to marry the disabled daughter (Zasu Pitts at her most wistful) of a corn-plaster magnate so they can replenish the family coffers.

“The Wedding March,” which Stroheim wanted to release in two parts, did not escape front-office trims (by Paramount, in this case), but it is considerably less mutilated than most of his pictures. It is a homage to his native city and a way of life that would never be the same with the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which Stroheim viewed ambiguously -- to him, the Vienna of wine, women and song is alluring but also decadent. Stroheim skewers the hypocrisy of the privileged along with the brutality of the lower classes.

As a love story, “The Wedding March” is as seductive as it is tender. Charged with pathos, joy and longing, it is a timeless, richly expressive work of art, its vision of a Vienna of contradictory impulses undiminished by the years.

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Screenings

Fifth annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror and Science

Fiction selections

* “Daughters of Darkness,” 7 p.m. Friday, followed by a discussion with director Harry Kumel.

* “Malpertuis: History of a Cursed House,” 9:30 p.m. Friday; 5 p.m. Saturday

Where: Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

Info: (323) 466-FILM or www.americancinematheque.com

Fay Wray tribute

* “The Wedding March,” 8 p.m. Monday

Where: Silent Movie Theatre, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., Hollywood

Info: (323) 655-2520