Cinema
Mr. Fantômas
Monsieur Fantômas
Ernst Moerman · 1937
Synopsis
A masked criminal, Fantômas, travels the world in search of his beloved, Elvire. Along the way, he commits crimes and attacks good morals, in a series of scenes with no apparent connection, shot mostly on the Belgian coast with few props: masked on a deserted beach, he reappears in a top hat on a roof. The narrative pushes the dreamed memory of the bandit's adventures to the point of absurdity.
Context
The author had read the thirty-five volumes by Souvestre and Allain and presented his film as the hero's two hundred and eighty thousandth adventure. Silent, shot outdoors and almost without sets, it was shown on 12 October 1937 at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, with Un chien andalou. Fantômas is played there by Léon Smet, credited as Jean Michel, father of Johnny Hallyday; Magritte can be glimpsed painting Le Viol, and lines by Éluard pass through it. Rediscovered in the late 1980s, it was restored in 2024 from the original negative.
Who it is for
A silent black-and-white short film, seventeen to twenty-four minutes depending on the prints, with music by Robert Ledent.
Prizes and reception
The only film of a Belgian poet and lawyer, it has become the image of the Belgian avant-garde, parodic and anticlerical.
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