Fantomas (1913)

4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Influential and entertaining too

Stephen Simpson from Croydon, England, 13th March, 2006

You may ask why you should spend six hours watching a French serial from 1913. Firstly, this is very influential, as it is one of the first crime dramas, makes excellent use of cliffhangers and its themes (master criminal versus determined cop) are still used today. It is not hard to imagine Fritz Lang seeing this (Fantômas is a similar character to his Dr Mabuse). Lang influenced Hitchcock, who in turn influenced everyone. There are even parallels with a very modern show like 24. Secondly, and more surprisingly, this is still very watchable – it is compelling and suspenseful, although some of its technical limitations need to be viewed sympathetically one hundred years on.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Silent Days

A Customer from Berkhamsted England, 26th June, 2006

You have to slow down a bit for this. The pace is measured and the crimes more dastardly than horrific, but the images are pure poetry. Beautifully put together. A wonderful recreation of an era.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Daft as they come

Kobilisy from from Golcar, Huddersfield, 2nd February, 2007

This is as daft as they come. Full of illogical turns in the plot. The original colouring of the film is preserved and apart from the last of the 5 films all are in remarkably good condition. So much of the popular film industry started from this point that it is easy to watch them in a spirit of archaeology, but far more fun to watch them in a convivial group and indulge in the supreme daftness of the whole enterprise

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Demonstrating Modern Cinema Didn't Just Happen

makgrey from from Southampton, 22nd February, 2008

The Fantomas series demonstrate that modern cinema, the best of it (art direction, cinematography, character and bravado) plus the worst (schlock, flogging a dead horse to the water of a sequel/s), existed there where it began, in France, in the silent era. Don't rent if film doesn't really interest you, you'll yawn to see what you can now see played out in Bond movies or sixties caper films or in a myriad of forms with sound and colour.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

the basics of all crime drama

itstinks from , 24th October, 2006

Though not as good as Dr Mabuse this is still an amazing example of how most of what are taken for crime drama standards now. There is an interesting cat and mouse game between the inspector and Fantomas but you still feel that there is more favour for the criminal than the law. It does amaze you about how little dialogue you need to follow most stories.

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