French superhero movie!

Welcome to In The Balcony. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Plus, you'll be eligible for the monthly $1 million prize. (Not really.)

Join our community!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Pages:
1
2

French superhero movie!; Really!
Topic Started: Jul 1 2007, 02:16 PM (307 Views)
panzer the great & terrible	Jul 1 2007, 02:16 PM Post #1
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,326 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	On e-bay right now you can buy a legendary movie about a masked superhero remarkably similar to the silent film character Fantomas. Now try to concentrate. After Georges Franju made the excellent JUDEX he wanted to make a Fantomas movie, but the name and character belonged to Gaumont and for some reason they wouldn't let him do it. So he created the character of SHADOWMAN for an 8-part TV serial called L'Homme sans visage (Man without a face). That was later edited into a French feature which was further edited and dubbed into English as SHADOWMAN. That's the version on Ebay. I haven't seen it myself but it's said to be great fun and a little incoherent. Shadowman wears a red mask and has all kinds of disguises, too. His assistant wears a form-fitting catsuit, as in hubba hubba. I ordered one and will report when it comes.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


The Batman	Feb 6 2009, 01:14 PM Post #2
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	First time I have seen this thread, but I have to know: How was the movie, Mr. P?



The Batman	Mar 24 2009, 07:34 AM Post #3
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	Mr. P, caped crusaders are dying to know: Was the flick any good?



Laughing Gravy	Mar 24 2009, 07:37 AM Post #4
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,062 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	I have this and will watch it and let ya know, Bats. My guess is that French superheroes give up really quickly, but what do I know?



The Batman	Mar 24 2009, 07:40 AM Post #5
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	Thanks, LG. Hmmm...I wonder: Do cheese-eating surrender monkeys wear their underwear on the outside of their costumes, too?



panzer the great & terrible	Mar 25 2009, 09:27 PM Post #6
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,326 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	I liked it. It was French TV, but I liked it. Would love to see the whole thing as there are just a few loose ends, as you can imagine.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


The Batman	Mar 26 2009, 05:55 AM Post #7
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	Thanks, Mr. P. Will have to track a copy down.



Laughing Gravy	Mar 27 2009, 04:59 PM Post #8
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,062 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Mr. Panzer's description is not ENTIRELY accurate. According to the notes I have on the British "Masters of Cinema" version (the UK equivalent, more or less, of our Criterion): Nuits Rouges is a companion film to the 8-part television serial called L'Homme sans Visage (1975). Writer Jacques Champreux had written a script based on the Knights Templar, and was asked to adapt it as TV serial. He did that with co-writer Georges Franju, but also filmed the original script (with a few modifications) for theatrical release. "There are obviously some common sequences and characters," we're told, but "one is not a 'digest' of the other." It says here that the serial was meant to be realistic while the theatrical film was intended to have a 'dreamlike' quality. I'm gonna go burn some pirate bootleg Columbia serials to wreck the world economy while I write negative reviews of The Masked Rider just for fun and phone in threats against baby hospitals, and then go pop some corn and watch Shadowman. BBL with a review! How's that?



Laughing Gravy	Mar 27 2009, 07:37 PM Post #9
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,062 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Fascinating stuff! Not a superhero movie at all, as it turns out, but a supervillain movie. The Man without a Face is Nowhere, and Everywhere. He wears a dark coat and red mask that shows only his colossal eyes sometimes, and he's a master of disguise and assumes a number of visages. He's after the treasure of the Knights Templar, and when he kills one of the Knights, the dead man's nephew arrives to investigate. His assistant is a gorgeous redhead in a skin-tight black suit and mask; looks exactly like Julie Newmar as the Catwoman. Dunno what Paul saw; this is definitely a theatrical film (shot on 35mm, unlike the TV serial, and in widescreen). The villain employs an small army of black-clad henchmen who look like The Spider, and a smaller army of brain-dead zombies who look like Night of the Living Dead guys. Great fun, and the DVD includes an interview with Jacques Champreux (grandson of Louis Feuillade), who wrote and stars in this thing. Watching the film, I was struck by how closely he emulated Lon Chaney, particularly in a few Phantom-like scenes and in a sequence in which he channels the old lady from The Unholy Three. Champreux admits that Chaney was his inspiration for the film, and that he loved the Republic serials (mentioning by name Daredevils of the Red Circle, G-Men vs. the Black Dragon, and a Zorro title) and they also were used as a touchstone in creating the film and series. He was also a fan of the comics, and patterned some of his villain's attributes (and no doubt that red mask) to Spider-Man. So there's a lot to interest you here, Bats!



panzer the great & terrible	Mar 28 2009, 12:18 PM Post #10
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,326 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	And Franju is the guy who directed Eyes Without a Face and the modern Judex. The print I got was a bootleg in black & white, small screen -- probably taped off of TV. In a way I'm glad they stopped selling movies on eBay.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


The Batman	Mar 30 2009, 10:17 AM Post #11
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	panzer the great & terrible Mar 28 2009, 12:18 PM And Franju is the guy who directed Eyes Without a Face and the modern Judex. The print I got was a bootleg in black & white, small screen -- probably taped off of TV. In a way I'm glad they stopped selling movies on eBay. Thanks for the great review, LG! Yeah, I'm pumped to see this one. Mr P doesn't speak highly of his DVD version, so where did you get yours, LG?



The Batman	Mar 30 2009, 10:17 AM Post #12
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	panzer the great & terrible Mar 28 2009, 12:18 PM And Franju is the guy who directed Eyes Without a Face and the modern Judex. I loved EYES WITHOUT A FACE, so this is also encouraging, Mr P!



The Batman	Mar 30 2009, 10:18 AM Post #13
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	panzer the great & terrible Mar 28 2009, 12:18 PM The print I got was a bootleg in black & white, small screen -- probably taped off of TV. In a way I'm glad they stopped selling movies on eBay. Since I am not an Ebay user, I must ask. Do you mean no one sells movies on Ebay anymore, or just this particular seller?



panzer the great & terrible	Mar 30 2009, 11:03 AM Post #14
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,326 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Nobody does. The copyright owners sent lawyers to harass EBay and now the public can't get stuff the studios won't release -- at least the portion of the public that doesn't live in Los Angeles. Is this a great country or what?
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


The Batman	Mar 30 2009, 11:23 AM Post #15
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	Wow, thanks, Mr. P. I had not heard of this particular development. Is this a recent occurance?


Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Dans le Balcon · Next Topic »

Pages:
1
2