Louis Feuillade: The Complete Crime Serials (1913-1918) (Blu-ray) (UK Import)

An early cinematic pioneer with an undeniably pervasive influence, Louis Feuillade made hundreds of films in a short career spanning only a few decades. Today, he is best remembered for his landmark serials Fantômas, Les Vampires, Judex and Tih Minh, four crime epics that have had an immeasurable impact on popular culture around the globe. The Masters of Cinema series is honoured to present these silent masterworks on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from astonishing 4K restorations.

Adapted from a series of popular novels by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, Fantômas stars René Navarre as the eponymous criminal mastermind. Across the serial’s five episodes, Fantômas is pursued by Inspector Juve (Edmund Breon) and newspaper reporter Jérôme Fandor (Georges Melchior) as he carries out his nefarious schemes. In Les Vampires, journalist Philippe Guérande (Édouard Mathé) attempts to investigate an enigmatic criminal gang operating in the Parisian underworld – a group known only as the Vampires. In Judex, a mysterious vigilante (René Cresté) sets out to bring down a corrupt banker named Favraux (Louis Leubas). Finally, in Tih Minh, a young man (Cresté) returning from an expedition in Indochina becomes embroiled in a game of espionage and thievery with a gang of mysterious jewel thieves.

Feuillade’s crime serials had an enormous impact on some of the greatest filmmakers of the twentieth century, chiefly Fritz Lang and Alfred Hitchcock. They also played an important role in the development of the criminal mastermind and masked vigilante characters that would proliferate in pulp magazines, film, television, radio and comic books over the next few decades, including Dr Mabuse, The Shadow and Diabolik. Feuillade’s celebrated serials are collected here in their entirety alongside a wealth of special features.