Aka - Ghosts
Fantomas is a famous character in French crime literature. The hero of 43
novels beginning in 1911 and the final one in 1963. The authors were Marcel
Allain and Pierre Souvestre who alternated writing chapters till Souvestre
passed away in 1914 after 32 published novels and then Allain on his own
wrote another 11 books. Cinema followed in the footsteps of the novels with
five French serials being released in 1913 and 1914 directed by the great
Louis Feuillade, who later of course directed the serial Les Vampires. America
also produced a serial in 1920 with 20 episodes. In 1932 there was this film
- the first Fantomas talkie I believe and there were various other ones afterwards
- the most famous being the Fantomas Trilogy starring Jean Marais as Fantomas
in the 1960s. They were very popular though I found them a bit too 1960s
pop tongue in cheek.
The amazing thing about Fantomas and his enduring popularity is that he is
the villain. A psychopathic equal opportunity killer. Anyone who gets in
his way or if he has a whim is murdered by him. He was the Joker of his time.
A master of disguise who always gets away in the end. He never shows mercy
or remorse. His nemesis is Inspector Juve of the Surete who is obsessed with
catching him as was Javert in Les Miserables. In the trilogy Juve is portrayed
as a bumbling fumbling policeman, but not in the books and not in this film.
Other recurring characters are Jerome Fandor aka Charles Rambert and Lady
Beltran - both of whom show up here. This is based on the first novel, Fantomas.
I read it ages ago - good fun pulp before it was called pulp fiction. Pulp
or whatever they called it back then had a real history and tradition in
France - especially if you count the serializations of the Dumas books, Arsene
Lupin, Fascinax, Rocambole, Judex, the writings of Paul Feval and his vampire
books and the fantastique of Jules Verne. So, by the time of Fantomas, there
was a welcoming literary environment. There were other thieves who
were heroes in literature, both in France, England and America - but they
were not killers and often were reformed. Fantomas stands out as the craziest
and cruelest of them.
A small gathering of seven friends have dinner at the chateau of the elderly
La Marquise de Langrune. A judge among the party brings up the subject of
Fantomas who the others are unaware of. Fantomas? He explains that most of
the unsolved crimes in France are his responsibility. The Princess clutches
her jewelry and the Marquise refuses to take money from someone else - Fantomas!
Oh, says the Marquise, what are the chances that Fantomas will come to this
old off the track place to steal. Then the lights go off, the phone wire
is cut and a note left that someone will die at midnight. Someone is.
Fantomas strangles the Marquise to death and disappears. Juve (Thomy Bourdelle)
shows up - he too got a note from Fantomas to come here. Fantomas may be
a cold-blooded killer but he has a sense of fair game. Juve gets on his trail
- figures out how the crime was committed but not by who. Are Lord and Lady
Beltham somehow involved. Is Charles Rambert really Fantomas? More murders
occur - in one Fantomas disguises himself as a table with a tablecloth when
the police come into the room. Can Fantomas be captured? Enjoyably creaky
but fast moving thriller that sticks with Juve for most of the film after
the initial murder and Fantomas just pops in from time to time to kill someone.
