Film Review
Georges Franju's last film for the cinema was to be his second homage
to the silent Louis Feuillade crime serials of the 1910s - the first
being his inspired remake of
Judex in
1963.
Nuits rouges is a
curious cinematic
beast that owes as much to the adolescent American fantasy-thriller
serials of the
1940s and 1960s as it does to Feuillade. It is certainly not what
you
would have expected from a man with a reputation as a serious filmmaker
and co-founder of the Cinémathèque Française,
France's national film library.
The film was conceived by Jacques Champreux, the grandson of Louis
Feuillade, who had previously collaborated with Franju on the
screenplay for
Judex.
Champreux was eager to mount a remake of Feuillade's
Fantômas,
but along very different lines to the family-friendly comedic treatment
that
André Hunebelle had given it in his mid-1960s remake. In
an interview he gave in 2007, the actor-writer stated that he wanted to
capture something of the sinister essence of Feuillade's film series,
making a film that would be as shocking to contemporary audience as the
original
Fantômas was
in 1913. Although Champreux managed to find financial backing for
the project, he was unable to afford to buy the rights to
Fantômas, and so he came up
with this alternative - which was
Fantômas
in everything but name. As well as writing the screenplay,
Champreux also got to play the principal baddy in the film, although
for most of the time his face is hidden by a red balaclava.
Two versions of the film were made - one for cinema, entitled
Nuits rouges (released in
English-speaking countries in a dubbed version,
Shadowman), the other for
television. The latter was broadcast in France in July-September
1975, in eight instalments of 55 minutes each. The two versions
of the film were shot separately - on 32mm film for the cinema release,
on 16mm for the TV version. When some of the 32mm film was lost
(apparently stolen), the matching 16mm film was used in its placed,
resulting in an obvious degradation of picture quality.
Nuits rouges was to prove a
disappointing end to Franju's filmmaking career. The director
would make two further TV films for French television in the late 1970s
but this was his last cinematic offering. Its French
release in November 1974 coincided with a series of national strikes
which resulted in very poor box office takings. Critical reaction
to the film at the time was generally very negative. Today, along
with much of Franju's work,
Nuits
rouges is somewhat more highly regarded. Whilst clearly
not his best film, it is an enjoyable romp that managing to be both a
respectful homage and a glorious send-up of Feuillade's work.
Enjoyable as the film is, it is hard to overlook both its artistic
and technical faults. Some of the
acting is pretty cringe-worthy and the plot is so absurd that it makes
Dan Brown's
The Vinci Code
(which treads similar ground in somewhat lighter footwear) seem almost
plausible. But the eye-pleasingly kitsch art and costume design
and some stylishly realised action sequences ' not to mention the
tongue-in-cheek comedy that permeates nearly every scene - more than
make up for this. It is worth watching the film just for the
haunting rooftop sequence in which a sleek Gayle Hunnicutt, garbed in
the slinkiest black catsuit as an Irma Vep look-alike, fends off her police
pursuers with a blow pipe, fulfilling just about every male
fantasy as she does so. And
Doctor Who fans
will doubtless be sent into a paroxysm of delight when the sinister Autons (homocidal
shopwindow dummies that are guaranteed to inflict recurring nightmares on
any child under ten) put in an appearance, apparently without the consent
of the BBC.
Nuits
rouges may not match the excellence of some of
Franju's previous films, but for entertainment value and sheer
undiluted weirdness it is unsurpassed.
© James Travers 2008
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Georges Franju film:
Le Sang des bêtes (1949)
Film Synopsis
A mysterious master criminal is determined to recover the lost treasure
of the Knights Templar, but the one man who may be able to help him -
the historian Maxime de Borrego - prefers death to giving away the
secret. De Borrego's nephew, Paul, offers his services to
Sorbier, the police commissioner leading the murder investigation, and
together they conceive a plan to trap the criminal mastermind. An
auction is arranged to dispose of De Borrego's artefacts, including
three seals which, according to an eminent English professor, will
reveal the location of the lost treasure. The bait is
irresistible, but Sorbier hasn't reckoned on the cunning and
ruthlessness of his masked adversary...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.