The Fantômas Films
The 1913-14 French Silent Film Serial
After the tremendous popular success of the
Fantômas novels, both of the major French
film studios — Pathé and Gaumont —
vied for the rights to produce films based
on the series. Gaumont won, and from
April 1913 to May 1914 Louis Feuillade
directed five Fantômas films which critic
David Thomson has described as "the first
great movie experience."
See below for credits, release dates, synopses and stills.
Artificial Eye Films has just released an English subtitled version
of Feuillade’s Fantômas serial. A Region 2 DVD (two discs), you
may need an all-region player to view it. Go to their site at http://www.artificial-eye.com
for more details.
- Fantômas. Serial in three
episodes. Released April 1913. Produced by Gaumont Studios. Directed by
Louis Feuillade. Click here for synopsis.
- Cast: René Navarre (Fantômas), Edmond
Bréon (Juve), Georges Melchior (Jerôme Fandor),
Renée Carl (Lady Beltham); plus Jane Faber (Princess Danidoff),
Naudier (Nibet), Volbert (Valgrand).
- Film version of the first Fantômas novel, Fantômas.
- Juve contre Fantômas (Juve
versus Fantômas). Serial in four episodes. Released September
1913. Credits as above. Click here for
synopsis.
- Cast: as above; plus Yvette Andreyor (Josephine).
- Film version of the second Fantômas novel, Juve contre Fantômas.
- Le mort qui tue (The murderous
corpse). Serial in six episodes. Released November 1913. Credits as
above. Click here for synopsis.
- Cast: as above; plus Jane Faber (Princess Danidoff),
Naudier (Nibet), André Luguet (Jacques Dollon).
- Film version of the third Fantômas novel, Le Mort qui tue.
- Fantômas contre Fantômas
(Fantômas vs.Fantômas). Serial in four episodes. Released
February 1914. Credits as above. Click here
for synopsis.
- Cast: as above.
- Film version of the sixth Fantômas novel, Le policier apache (The hoodlum
policeman).
- Le faux magistrat (The false judge).
Serial in four episodes. Released May 1914. Credits as above. Click here for synopsis.
- Cast: as above; plus Mesnery (Marquis de Tergell),
Martial (Ribonard).
- Film version of the twelfth Fantômas novel, Le magistrat cambrioleur (The
burgler judge).
The Surrealists were entranced by the multiple disguises,
hairbreadth escapes, and graphic, unmotivated violence of the
Fantômas novels and films. Click on the title to read Robin
Walz's article "Serial Killings:
Fantômas, Feuillade, and the Mass-Culture Genealogy of Surrealism"
from The Velvet Light Trap: A Critical Journal of Film and
Television.
The 1920-21 US Silent Film Serial
An American version of Feuillade's brilliant serial was apparently
produced in the early 1920's:
- Fantômas. Produced by Fox, 1920-21. Directed by
Edward Sedgwick. Serial in 20 episodes of 2 reels each.
- Cast: Edna Murphy, Edward Roseman, Eva Balfour, John
Walker, Lionel Adams, John Willard, Irving Brooks. (from Walter Lee's Reference
Guide To Fantastic Films, Chelsea-Lee Books, 1973, via Fantofan Tim
Lucas)
The 1931 Sound Film
Shortly after the advent of sound, Paul Fejos directed a
feature-length Fantômas film which combined elements from
the novels and several of Feuillade's films, together with "modernized"
plot twists:
The Postwar Films
Two remakes/updates of the Fantômas films were produced in
France shortly after the end of World War II:
- Fantômas. 1946. Directed by Jean Sacha.
- Cast: Marcel Herrand (Fantômas), Simone Signoret
(Hélène)
- In her memoir, Nostalgia Isn't What It Used To Be,
Signoret described this film as "...a modernist version, with
helicopters, electronic gadgets and death rays."
- Click here for the 1946 film posters.
- Fantômas contre Fantômas. 1949. Directed by
Robert Vernay.
The 1960s Fantômas Revival
In the mid-1960s three films were made in rapid succession starring Jean Marais (of Cocteau's La Belle
et la Bête) in the double role of Fantômas and Fandor;
none achieved either the popular or artistic success of Feuillade's
original serial:
- Fantômas. Produced by PAC/SNEG
(Paris) and PCM (Rome), 1964. Directed by André Hunebelle.
Screenplay by Jean Halain and Pierre Foucaud. Click
here for synopsis.
- Cast: Jean Marais (Fantômas/Fandor), Louis de
Funès (Juve), Mylène Demongeot (Hélène),
Marie-Hélène Arnaud (Lady Beltham), Robert Dalban.
- Fantômas se déchaîne (Fantômas
strikes back). 1965. Production credits and cast as above.
- Fantômas contre Scotland Yard. 1966. Production
credits and cast as above.
For information on the impact of the 1960s Fantômas films in
Cuba, see the Notes from Andres Vidal
and Mario Nuñez.
News! Gaumont has released Hunebelle's Fantômas movies as a
three-disc DVD set in Canada and the U.S. (Region 1, NTSC; ASIN:
B000BYY0W4) in French, without subtitles. Unfortunately,
you cannot order it directly, but must go through a third party
(preferably an independent DVD outlet rather than a mega-corporate
vendor).
The 1979 European TV Series
In 1979 a four-episode Fantômas television series was
co-produced by Antenne 2 (France) and Hamster Films (Germany). Each
episode was approximately 90 minutes long. Although several of the
titles were changed, each episode was based on a Souvestre-Allain
novel: the first on Fantômas, the third on Le Mort
qui tue, of course, and the last on Une Roi prisonnier de
Fantômas:
- L'Echafaud magique. Produced by Claude Barma, directed by
Claude Chabrol, adaptation and dialogue by Bernard Revon, music by
Georges Delerue.
- L'Etriente du diable. Directed by Juan-Luis Buñuel;
other production credits as above.
- Le Mort qui tue. Directed by Juan-Luis Buñuel;
other production credits as above.
- Le Tramway fantôme. Directed by Claude Chabrol;
other production credits as above.
- Cast: Helmut Berger
(Fantômas/Gurn), Jacques
Dafilho (Juve), Pierre Malet (Fandor), Gayle Hunnicutt (Lady Beltham).
Information on the Hunebelle films and on the 1979 TV series kindly
provided by Tim Lucas, publisher and editor of Video Watchdog
magazine.
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