Fantômas (1932) User Reviews (6)

An Old Dark House Style Mystery From France

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 19 July 2004]

Despite the fact that I possess an almost no ability to speak French and I watched this without subtitles, I quite enjoyed myself.

Starting in an old dark house where the story of Fantomas is recounted by one of the guests this movie shoots through the old dark house cliches before zipping off into other areas of crime drama. Fantomas, a hooded fiend is wanted by the police, who despite seemingly powerless to catch him make a valiant effort to do so. You'll forgive the lack of details, but as I said I was hampered by not speaking this films language.

Despite my lack of understanding, this is a beautiful movie and seems to be light years ahead of what was being done in Hollywood at the same time. There are camera moves, shots from interesting angles and technical wizardry that few directors were attempting here in the States. The acting is great. I may not have understood much of what was being said but I didn't need to, the performances told all I needed.

And best of all the mystery is pretty good too. Sure some of it comes off as bit silly, but its fun, which is all that matters.

7 out of 10. (Rating subject to finding this with subtitles)

A fascinating antique

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 11 December 2016]

The first half of this movie is almost a textbook example of an "old dark house" thriller; you could call it a catalogue of clichés (dark & windy night, castle cut off from civilization, grim warnings of death, suspicious characters, secret passageways, etc.), but you must remember that it was made in 1932, so it's really one of those movies that invented the clichés instead of following them. The second half moves away from the castle, and includes at least one amazing escape by Fantomas, exciting car racing (it was fascinating to see how they had to change the scoreboard manually!), a tense cat-and-mouse between Inspector Juve and Fantomas, and a hard-hitting, no-holds-barred fight scene to top it all off. This Fantomas is not a suave, cultured master thief; he is a nasty piece of work, a cold-blooded killer. The dynamic editing is sometimes crude and confusing, but most times startlingly well-done. Just don't bother trying to figure out who Fantomas is before it is revealed (despite the tempting "?" in the credits) *** out of 4.

FANTOMAS (Paul Fejos, 1932) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 2 December 2006]

I learned of this film's existence while browsing the Internet after watching Louis Feuillade's Silent serial of 1913-14 and coming upon a website dedicated to this arch criminal! Given director Fejos' involvement, I was obviously intrigued by this version; unfortunately, it turned up on Italian TV while I was in Hollywood late last year - but, thankfully, it didn't take me long to catch up with it after that (hopefully, two other very interesting films I missed out on during that period - Abel Gance's THE END OF THE WORLD [1930] and G. W. Pabst's DON QUIXOTE [1933] - will likewise be re-run shortly)!

Anyway, while essentially dated, the film is great fun throughout. Still, even if the 'old dark house'-style first half is said to be quite faithtful to Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre's very first "Fantomas" novel, the film is not really typical of the criminal mastermind's exploits - especially since he only appears on a couple of occasions in his trademark skin-tight black outfit, and we're left guessing as to his true identity until practically the very end! That first part (with a thunderstorm for backdrop, secret passageways galore and even a robbery/strangling) is nicely shot, however, and plays like a French variant on THE BAT WHISPERS (1930); the remainder involves an automobile race, a murder in an operating theater, a particularly animated fistfight (with the opponents using all the ultra-volatile props and furniture they can get their hands on!) and is capped by a car explosion which allows the titular character to escape (apparently, this was intended as a continuing series but, alas, it never materialized - perhaps it was Marcel Allain's disapproval of the film which put paid to the idea!).

Unfortunately, Jean Galland is nothing like the Fantomas of the Feuillade serial (hiding under multiple disguises throughout) or Andre' Hunebelle's 1960s triptych, featuring Jean Marais sporting a silver mask: his dapper true identity is a disappointment and, even though his regular nemesis Inspector Juve is on hand for most of the proceedings, they only share one scene together! The supporting cast includes Gaston Modot as a suspicious-looking butler and an impossibly young Georges Rigaud (this was the ageing Euro-Cult favorite's film debut) as a cad who eventually turns heroic.

Fan

[dbdumonteil · 31 May 2009]

Jean Tulard ,in the FRench Guide Des Films ,is right when he wrote that the first third of the movie was absolutely brilliant .Then it slowly but inexorably loses steam,and ends in a way you could hope for a "Fantomas 2" -which never came ,although there are many other volumes .

If you have read Souvestre/Allain's book,you will never praise enough the first thirty minutes ,faithful like a dog to these absorbing pages .In his silent saga,Feuillade passed over in silence all that takes place in the castle of the Marquise De Langrune.A mysterious warning: someone is going to get killed tonight;if you stay together,all of you will die.The scene when the guests go up the stairs ,holding a candelabra ,looks like a funeral ,and climaxes the movie.

The worst thing in Feuillade' s screenplay is that it never tells us about Charles Rambert's past:his family has a history of ,say,mental illness.Feuillade made him Juve's friend journalist Fandor .One could expect from Paul Fejos that he would explain the reasons why Charles became Fandor (why he changed his name) why Juve made him his right-hand man (There's something of Luke Skywalker/Dark Vador :the scene in the bedroom between the son and the father).But all that follows the Gothic scenes in the manor is disappointing,and the movie is all in all a failure .

People interested in the Fantomas saga should try and see Chabrol's miniseries:Helmut Berger was ideally cast as Fantomas .And avoid the Jean Marais/Louis De Funès farces which have nothing to do with the genuine Fantomas.

Fantomas's Old Dark House.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 26 March 2019]

Whilst having a good number of French films from 1932,I decided to search round online for anything that I've somehow missed (which has English subtitles.) Aware of the 1913 version, I was excited to stumble on a title with the character from 1932, which led to me entering Fantomas's house.

View on the film:

Housed the same year as James Whale's The Old Dark House, co-writer/(with Anne Mauclair) director Pal Fejos & cinematographer J. Peverell Marley key the opening 30 minutes as a chilly Old Dark House mystery, spanning expressionism-style high walls slotted round the house, and a excellent sound design filling the rooms with the noise of a rustling wind as Fantomas creeps round the abode. Stepping out of the house, Fejos pays ingenious tribute to the serial origins of the character, as Fantomas uses a recording a of what sounds like a Silent movie score to drown out the screams from his attempt at murder, and choppy, fast edits with sped-up film giving the fight scenes a delightfully pulp edge. Keeping Fantomas until the very end, Fejos and Mauclair's spin on Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain's creation with talks in the Old Dark House making the mysterious Fantomas sound mythical, leading to a frantic chase after Inspector Juve learns of a murder victim in the house,and tries to catch the Fantomas.

So who is Fantomas?

[The-Sarkologist · 8/10 · 30 January 2012]

This was one of the very first talkie movies. Made by Paul Fajon, a silent Hollywood director that returned to Europe, this movie was immensely popular and reboosted his career. Fantomas begins as a murder mystery in a house during a storm. A countess is killed and the killer escapes. We at first think that this killer is one of the people in the house, but it quickly becomes a cat and mouse chase when the detectives in charge of the case discover that a plane was used to sneak in and out. This sort of hindered the movie because at first it was expected that is was a murder mystery, but as the movie was based on an older silent series then the viewers at this time would have known what to expect.

Fantomas is a clever movie and is said to be immensely popular. It is a movie where the killer, Fantomas, who is a man who lurks in the shadow and his identity is concealed, eludes the police. The detective figures out who he is though, but does not have any evidence to connect him. Thus Fantomas kills those who can recognise him, and always seems to be one step ahead of the detective.

The end of this movie is not conclusive, but very open ended. Fantomas is not captured or killed, but rather escapes from the police. It feels that the movie will go on further but it does not.

The identity of Fantomas is so secret that the audience is not revealed the information at the beginning of the film. Basically in the cast list the person who plays Fantomas is given a large question mark. We don't know who he is and this is not revealed until the end. In a way, Fantomas seems to be a pilot to a series, but it is not because such things were not made then. Also we are usually not able to keep up with the clues as they are revealed to us, but then I don't think we are expected to.

I enjoyed this movie and say that I can see why it was immediately popular. Not knowing much of the background that others would have, and living in an age where computers make movies, the actual impressiveness of this movie is dragged down, but it is still quite good.