Film Review
Le Faux Magistrat is the fifth and final instalment in Louis Feuillade's
popular and hugely influential
Fantômas thriller series.
By far the weakest entry in the series,
Le Faux Magistrat lacks the
pace and artistry of the preceding episodes and is a comparatively mundane affair
- you sense that Feuillade has grown tired with the subject and is keen
to move on to pastures new. The following year, undeterred by the privations
of World War I, he'd be busy with his next crime series,
Les Vampires (1915).
This sense of apathy is immediately apparent both in the lacklustre plot, which feels like
reheated left-overs, and the diminished status of the main characters. The
master crook Fantômas has lost his capacity to chill and is just another
run-of-the-mill criminal, whilst his arch-enemy Juve is reduced
to the level of a raving imbecile (not too far removed from Louis de Funès's
portrayal in the
1964 remake).
Even the heroic Fandor, the original action hero, gets
very little to do.
There are one or two striking set pieces (the best being the gruesome bell-ringing sequence, where
blood and jewels rain down on a Church congregation), but overall this fifth
Fantômas outing offers nothing new and it is painfully
obvious that the series has run its course. It doesn't help that the
surviving print is of poor quality, with many important scenes missing.
© James Travers 2001
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Louis Feuillade film:
Les Vampires (1915)
Film Synopsis
With their leader, the criminal mastermind Fantômas, securely incarcerated
in a Belgium prison, two crooks named Paulet and Ribonard decide to target
the Marquis de Tergall. Facing financial ruin, the Marquis has no option
but to sell his wife's valuable jewels, but both the jewellery and the money
from the sale are stolen by Fantômas's cunning criminal associates.
Inspector Juve hasn't given up his hope of seeing his devious archenemy brought
to justice in France, so he hatches a plan to allow Fantômas to escape
from prison so that he can be picked up later.
Juve's scheme goes badly wrong, with the result that the out-manoeuvred police
inspector is imprisoned and Fantômas is at liberty to resume his nefarious
career. Assuming the disguise of a respectable magistrate, the notorious
king of crime returns to France and immediately sets about trying to extort
a fortune from the unfortunate widow of the Marquis de Tergall. The
ever-resourceful journalist Fandor sees through the disguise, but Fantômas
isn't defeated yet. He still has one trick left up his sleeve...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.