Movie Review: Fantomas Serial (1913-14)

Fantomas Serial (1913-14) directed by Louis Feuillade

This five-part French silent film series is named after its main character. Fantomas (Rene Navarre) is a criminal who focuses on upper-class victims and is a master of disguise. Inspector Juve (Edmond Breon) has been assigned to hunt him down. Juve is assisted by Fandor (Georges Melchior), a newspaper reporter. Each part is about an hour to an hour and a half long. The films were restored by a French consortium in 2013 so the print looks great, the title cards are up-to-date, and the score is wonderful. Here's a part-by-part synopsis.

1. In the Shadow of the Guillotine: Fantomas starts his crime spree robbing a wealthy woman at a hotel. He's bold enough to hide in her room and rob her of 120,000 francs and a pearl necklace as she watches. He makes a fantastic escape. His next caper is the killing of Lord Beltham, since Fantomas has taken a liking to Lady Beltham. She is in on the crime and helps Fantomas to escape from prison when he is caught by Juve. The escape plan is complicated but amazing and works flawlessly.

2. Juve vs. Fantomas: As the title suggest, Fantomas and Juve cross swords metaphorically several times in this part. Lady Beltham is apparently dead--a mangled corpse has identifying documents on it. The corpse was left at a doctor's house. He immediately reported it so as not to be a suspect. But he is in fact Fantomas. He's plotting an elaborate robbery of a wine merchant with help from Josephine (Yvette Andreyor), whom the film describes as "the strumpette!" She's part of his gang and successfully pulls off the robbery. Well, almost successfully--the merchant is carrying half the money from a deal he made, but literally half. All the bills are cut in two with the promise of the other half when the wine merchant's deal is closed. Fantomas goes after the rest of the money but is confronted by Juve, who barely escapes with his life. Meanwhile, Lady Beltham is at a nunnery and is summoned by Fantomas back to her old house for a rendezvous. Juve and Fandor find out and try to lay a trap on a subsequent visit. The trap almost works but Fantomas manages a crafty escape, then blows up the building, bidding the lawmen "farewell!"

3. The Murderous Corpse: Fandor is badly injured and Juve has disappeared. A pile of corpses was found at the house, so he's presumed dead. Meanwhile, Fantomas sends a dead body to a sculptor's studio and the sculptor is accused of the murder. In jail, one of Fantomas's agents kills the sculptor, who is later discovered dead in the holding cell. The next day, the sculptor's body is gone. Fantomas continues his crime spree, now leaving clues behind--the fingerprints of the dead sculptor! Fortunately, Juve is not dead and has been infiltrating Fantomas's gang. He almost catches Fantomas literally red-handed, but the villain makes a fantastic escape (again!).

4. Fantomas vs Fantomas: A theory makes the public rounds that Fantomas and Juve are the same person. That would explain Juve's inability to catch the master criminal. Fandor is outraged as Juve winds up in prison. Lady Beltham puts on a masquerade ball to raise money for the capture of the real Fantomas. Fandor decides to go as the Man in Black (one of Fantomas's identities), though one of the police inspectors makes the same choice. Naturally, Fantomas shows up in his own garb. He picks a fight with the police inspector version of himself. Later, Fandor finds the inspector dead. Fantomas has already escaped and moved on to other plans. He needs to settle things with his gang, who are also wondering if Juve and Fantomas are one and the same. Juve is kidnapped in broad daylight from police headquarters by the gang. They try to trick him into admitting he is Fantomas. Fandor is hiding out at their secret lair and turns the tables on them. The gang winds up captured but Fantomas eludes the police yet again.

5. The False Magistrate: A marquis is in dire straits and needs money so he decides to sell his wife's jewelry to a gem merchant. Through some implausible contrivances, both the jewels and the cash to pay for them are stolen...but not by Fantomas! He's in a Belgian jail serving a life sentence. In order to get him, Juve hatches a fantastic plot. He will go to Belgium as an accomplice and help Fantomas escape from prison. The French police will pick Fantomas up at the border and the Belgians will be forced to release Juve when two Fantomases is clearly one too many. The plan fails when Fantomas dodges the officers following him and he assumes the identity of a magistrate. He then meets up with his gang who pulled off the marquis heist. Plot machinations continue from there as Juve and Fantomas try as many tricks as they can to win the day. 

Overall, the series has a lot to recommend itself. The plots are interesting, if not always plausible, and move along at a steady pace (though it's slower than modern film storytelling). The actors are good, especially at being in disguise. The story uses a lot of doubling, mirroring, and reversing of situations and characters. The first film starts with Fantomas taking on someone else's identity to make his escape; the film ends with him forcing someone else to take his identity so Fantomas can escape. While clever and daring, Fantomas is never really sympathetic--he's too rough on his victims and too duplicitous with his allies. Juve is a good foil for the villain, having many of the same skills but using them in the cause of justice, not selfishly. He depends on Fandor and is true to his allies. The restoration looks great (none of the graininess and choppiness of many silent films) and the musical score has a classical sound but is crisp and clean.

I watched this series on Hoopla.

Recommended.