The Catastrophe of the Simplon Express
Fantômas - À l'ombre de la guillotine (1913)
Juve contre Fantômas (1913)
Le mort qui tue (1913)
Fantômas contre Fantômas (1914)
Le faux magistrat (1914)
directed by Louis Feuillade
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Carnegie Library
Whenever Fantômas strikes and his crime - an unconscious bellhop, a stolen string of pearls - is discovered, Feuillade floods the frame with witnesses. Maids pour into the room with clerks and the concierge. Men walk in from off the street. All react to the name of Fantômas like an ocean surge carried a thousand miles.
Each episode begins with a rogues gallery of the false identities that Fantômas will assume to thwart the good citizens of Paris. His direct address to the camera reminds me how effective breaking the fourth wall can be, mostly because these old prints make every bearded criminal look like a portrait of Rasputin. Inspector Juve, a clever opponent in the Paris police department, chain smokes and frets and can never keep the cuffs on.
I liked the movies best when they came closest to a magic show: Fantômas escapes because he's wearing false arms, or the Inspector simply disappears into a well-disguised hole in a field. At one point, Fantômas dons a pair of gloves made from someone else's hands, enabling him to leave a murdered man's prints on every broken window in France. When Fantômas impersonates an American detective, he names himself Tom Bob, and when he crashes a train to distract the Inspector, there isn't a survivor left on board. He seduces heiresses, then destroys them, bribes jailers and executes actors in his place. He is a sociopath with style.
But the elements that seem most surprising in Fantômas - À l'ombre de la guillotine, whether structurally or as part of the plot, don't evolve, and in that sense this serial feels like an early television show more than a film franchise. Fantômas escapes in the end - French philosophy, you know - but he is at his best when Juve is most confident of his capture. Arrested outside a Montmartre night club, Fantômas gives Juve the slip and returns to the bar to finish a bottle of champagne with two beautiful companions. Juve is embarrassed but proud.
Juve contre Fantômas (1913)
Le mort qui tue (1913)
Fantômas contre Fantômas (1914)
Le faux magistrat (1914)
directed by Louis Feuillade
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Carnegie Library
Whenever Fantômas strikes and his crime - an unconscious bellhop, a stolen string of pearls - is discovered, Feuillade floods the frame with witnesses. Maids pour into the room with clerks and the concierge. Men walk in from off the street. All react to the name of Fantômas like an ocean surge carried a thousand miles.
Each episode begins with a rogues gallery of the false identities that Fantômas will assume to thwart the good citizens of Paris. His direct address to the camera reminds me how effective breaking the fourth wall can be, mostly because these old prints make every bearded criminal look like a portrait of Rasputin. Inspector Juve, a clever opponent in the Paris police department, chain smokes and frets and can never keep the cuffs on.
I liked the movies best when they came closest to a magic show: Fantômas escapes because he's wearing false arms, or the Inspector simply disappears into a well-disguised hole in a field. At one point, Fantômas dons a pair of gloves made from someone else's hands, enabling him to leave a murdered man's prints on every broken window in France. When Fantômas impersonates an American detective, he names himself Tom Bob, and when he crashes a train to distract the Inspector, there isn't a survivor left on board. He seduces heiresses, then destroys them, bribes jailers and executes actors in his place. He is a sociopath with style.
But the elements that seem most surprising in Fantômas - À l'ombre de la guillotine, whether structurally or as part of the plot, don't evolve, and in that sense this serial feels like an early television show more than a film franchise. Fantômas escapes in the end - French philosophy, you know - but he is at his best when Juve is most confident of his capture. Arrested outside a Montmartre night club, Fantômas gives Juve the slip and returns to the bar to finish a bottle of champagne with two beautiful companions. Juve is embarrassed but proud.
posted by NPK at 6:19 AM
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