Inspector Juve is tasked to investigate and capture an infamous criminal Fantomas.

+Commentary by film historian David Kalat

4.84GB | 58m 26s | 960×720 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/14BCCA19189DF44/Fantomas-A.l’ombre.de.la.guillotine.1913.720p.BluRay.AC3.x264-HaB.mkv

Language(s):French
Subtitles:English

The post Louis Feuillade – Fantômas – À l’ombre de la guillotine AKA Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (1913) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
It is an outstanding film that sees Feuillade experimenting with this new cinematic genre that will lead to his classics, Fantomas, Les Vampires and Judex. The film is also notable for its introduction of the actor René Navarre, who plays detective Julien Kieffer and will go on to play Fantomas.

Le trust, ou les batailles de l’argent has a most unusual plot. The film involves the detective Julien Kieffer helping the industrialist Jacob Berwick spy on his rival Darbois in order to steal Darbois’ discovery of a formula to manufacture artificial rubber. This is the earliest example of a film that is based around corporate espionage; surprisingly, the film transcends its plot and proves to be compelling viewing.

This is because Feuillade employs a number of devices that one would expect to find in detective fiction (it is worth remembering that Sherlock Holmes was created in 1887 and that the Golden Age of Detective Fiction is still a decade away). There is cross-dressing, mistaken identity, double-crossing, kidnapping and even invisible ink. All of these are conventions that we anticipate when we encounter a ‘detective film’, but it is worth noting how novel such ideas would have seemed to contemporary audiences; the plot is constructed in a fluid manner that allows the film to captivate the modern audience as well.

The film lacks a moral centre, and is all the more interesting for undertaking such a bold decision. Although Darbois and his secretary are the victims of Kieffer’s plotting; the film’s opening shot of Darbois, with his bulging eyes and expensive surroundings ensure the audience do not identify either him or his secretary as the protagonists of this film. In fact, the setting reminds us of one of the great early cinematic villains, The Wheat King in D.W. Griffith’s Corner of Wheat.

Griffith has continued the Lumiere Brothers’ exploration of realism, whereas Feuillade has continued Méliès’ exploration of the fantastical. Returning to the earlier point, although Griffith has proven himself to be a master of creating iconic scenes and images, I would argue that Feuillade has a stronger grasp of plotting and storytelling. Both Le trust, ou les batailles de l’argent and The Fairy of the Surf have a cumulative effect that few films manage from any era.

431MB | 24m 00s | 762×572 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/EE5C9C40EBA833C/le.trust.ou.les.batailles.de.l’argent.1911.dvdrip.x264.ac3.mkv
https://nitroflare.com/view/06F86A8CC65263F/le.trust.ou.les.batailles.de.l’argent.1911.dvdrip.x264.ac3.en.srt

Language:French
Subtitles:English,Spanish

The post Louis Feuillade – Le trust, ou les batailles de l’argent (1911) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Restored by “La Cinémathèque Française” in 1988

Plot :
A ghost has been seen during the night in the Louvre Museum (Paris), and a guard is found dying near the statue of Belphégor, a god of Moabites and Ammonites. A young reporter, Jacques Bellegarde, begin to investigate but soon he’s being threatened by some letters sent by … Belphégor

It’s a silent mini-serie in 4 parts, after a popular book of Arthur Bernède, in the style of the 1st Fantômas (in fact, René Navarre was Fantômas in the Louis Feuillade’s movie)

Nearly 40 years later, a remake of this serie was made with Juliette Greco and met a great success in France, and is much better known that this one.

https://nitro.download/view/91C53792E653859/Belphegor.1927-1.(Henri.Desfontaines).avi
https://nitro.download/view/488F64E53D051BA/Belphegor.1927_1._Henri.Desfontaines.srt
https://nitro.download/view/C350ED1406CA9E0/Belphegor.1927-2.(Henri.Desfontaines).avi
https://nitro.download/view/27FA3437982F870/Belphegor.1927-2.(Henri.Desfontaines).srt
https://nitro.download/view/C4271B25A84F7C7/Belphegor.1927-3.(Henri.Desfontaines).avi
https://nitro.download/view/DBDD64019E855E5/Belphegor.1927-3.(Henri.Desfontaines).srt
https://nitro.download/view/A82CF91A78EF79D/Belphegor.1927-4.(Henri.Desfontaines).avi
https://nitro.download/view/B8D929E9421F7D1/Belphegor.1927-4.(Henri.Desfontaines).srt

Language(s):Silent, French intertitles
Subtitles:English

The post Henri Desfontaines – Belphégor (1927) first appeared on Cinema of the World.