Movie Type: Master Criminal Films, Police Detective Film
Themes: Criminal's Revenge, Perfect Crime
Main Cast: René Navarre, Edmond Breon, Georges Melchior, Renee Carl
Release Year: 1913
Country: FR
Plot
Fantomas was the umbrella title for five different multi-part serials, all produced and directed by the prolific Louis Feuillade. Reversing the usual cliché, the "hero" of these serials was the villain, a slick, deadly master criminal known as "Fantomas" because of his predilection for wearing elaborate disguises. Motivated by a curious code of honor, Fantomas gets just as much pleasure out of baffling the police as he does committing his crimes. Unlike later serials, many of the Fantomas episodes were self-contained stories, some running as much as an hour; one of the episodes briefly eschewed melodrama in favor of light, drawing-room comedy! Released worldwide by Gaumont, the Fantomas series was a huge success, paving the way for such future Louis Feuillade-directed triumphs as Les Vampires and Judex. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The series consists of five episodes, each an hour to an hour and a half in length, which end in cliffhangers, i.e., episodes one and three end with Fantomas making a last minute escape, the end of the second movie has Fantômas blowing up Lady Beltham's manor house with Juve and Fandor, the two heroes, still inside. The subsequent episodes begin with a recap of the story that has gone before. Each film is further divided into three or more chapters that do not end in cliffhangers.
The five episodes were restored under the direction of Jacques Champreaux and released on dvd in Europe in 2006.
