Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine

Movie serials, consisting of multiple episodes with the same characters ending in cliffhangers, leaving viewers in suspense so they would gladly pay to see the next one, were becoming popular in the early 1910's. The first serial in cinema to some degree was Edison Studio's 1912 "What Happened To Mary." Although the serial consisted of 12 one-reelers, no chapter ended in a cliffhanger.

France's Gaumont Studios gets the crown for producing the first serial with dangling suspenseful endings to each episode. Gaumont bought the rights to Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre's very popular crime books (32 books in all) "Fantomas," published beginning in 1911. The studio's director, Louis Feuillade ("A Roman Orgy--1911), was assigned to direct a five-part serial based on the criminal portrayed in the books. Each episode concluded either in suspense or unanswered questions of what would happen next.

"Fantomas" is cinema's first crime serial portraying movie's first super-villain, a slick criminal as well as leader of a gang of masked thieves. The serial kicked off in May 1913, with the release of "In The Shadow of the Guillotine." That followed with "Juve vs. Fantomas" "The Murderous Corpse," "Fantomas vs. Fantomas," and lastly "The False Magistrate." The entire series totaled five hours and 30 minutes, with each episode was one hour to 90 minutes long. All are available for viewing.

The work of Feuillade, as seen in his 1911's "A Roman Orgy," is fluid but not innovative. His camera sits filming a tableaux of exciting action, which doesn't linger too long on a sequence. The serials' pacing in editing also gives the episodes a rapid pulse of showing events unfolding, something other early movie makers were continually learning to grasp. With a diabolical villain who was a bridge between the 19th century Victorian criminal and the 20th century serial killer, "Fantomas" entertained audiences with his numerous disguises and trickery, performing almost implausible escapes from his arch nemesis, Police Inspector Juve.

The serial would go on to inspire a wave of crime and adventure serials in the next decade, most notably Fritz Lang's "Dr. Mabuse." Feuillade himself would go on in a couple of years to write and direct his masterpiece, the much-heralded "Les Vampires," which influenced such notable directors as Alfred Hitchcock and Luis Bunuel.

NOTE: This isn't a review of the entire "Fantomas" film serial (which, in its entirety, is 5 1/2 hours in length), but of the 54 minute film that starts off the series.

In 1913, a bit over a hundred years prior to this review, cinema was a lot different. There weren't nearly as many ways to explore feelings of humor, anger, and sadness on the screen as there are in today's cinematic world. However, around this time, a few filmmakers began to change the way film was, filmmakers like Georges Melies, D.W. Griffith, and Louis Feuillade, the director of this film.

While I'm sure that the film serial gets far more interesting and entertaining as it goes on, this installment was surely great! Already, there's murder, suspense, and crime as well as some pretty interesting filmmaking techniques (ex: use of close ups, a newly invented technique at that time).

Overall, it definitely makes me excited for the rest of the film serial!

Fantômas - À l'ombre de la guillotine (1913)

*** (out of 4)

The first of a five film series has Rene Vacarre playing Fantomas, the mastermind French thief who breaks into the hotel of a princess and steals some priceless jewelry. Inspector Jive (Edmund Breon) finally manages to catch Fantomas but he plans an escape hours before heading to the guillotine. FANTOMAS: IN THE SHADOW OF THE GUILLOTINE isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but at just 54-minutes the thing is entertaining enough to make it worth viewing if you enjoy silent cinema. I think the one thing this picture shows is that during this era the American cinema was still miles ahead of the French and even when Feuillade was considered the country's greatest director at this time. As with many of his earlier pictures, the director usually tells the story in simple medium shots and he really doesn't use any noticeable editing to try and build up any suspense or drama. The director pretty much just tells the story without any real flair or style and while this might kill some films from this period, Feuillade at least keeps the story moving at a nice pace to where it never gets boring. The film is basically broken down into three sections. The first dealing with the hotel robbery, the second with Fantomas' arrest and the third his eventual escape. The first segment was actually the most entertaining as the sets were rather interesting to look at and we get a unique opening showing an elevator climbing several floors. The trick editing is obvious but this sequence still has a unique look to it. The third story has a very far-fetched idea to get Fantomas out of jail but it somewhat works in a cliffhanger-like fashion. Vacarre is wonderful in his role(s) as he's certainly photogenic and manages to make you believe he could actually pull all of this stuff off. I was also impressed with Breon even though he's featured a lot less.

Fantômas (Rene Navarre) makes it as the emperor of Crime. First is the robbery at the Royal Palace Hotel. Then he abducts Lord Beltham...

Critic Maurice Raynal wrote that "There is nothing in this involved, compact, and concentrated film but explosive genius." I absolutely agree with this assessment.

Film historians (and amateurs like myself) tend to focus on American innovation (Thomas Edison) and the rise of the German film. While these are important areas (I believe the Germans did more for cinematography than any other group), "Fantomas" shows that the French were in the game, too.

This is an incredible film, and it has been touched up very nicely by the folks at Kino. It could easily pass for being the 1920s...

Everything perfect in Louis Feuillade's FANTOMAS series.Action is very expressive and leave behind any possible dialog.Gestures of actors are accurate and laconic.Text between grounds styled in form of visiting cards or newspaper articles.Much significance have the space outside of frame.Stairs,curtains,lifts,windows and walls are produced the intricate labyrinth where every becomes victim or criminal.Poor decorations work as guide in this tangled area.This active space of film no need special effects or even camera travelings.As result we have pure cinematic product which speak with audience by language of images.Leterature and theater resources are slaves of this cinema triumph.