FANTOMAS CONTRE FANTOMAS (1914)
(a.k.a. FANTOMAS VS. FANTOMAS)
Article #703 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 2-16-2003
Posting date: 7-16-2003
Directed by Louis Feuillade
Featuring Rene Navarre, Edmond Breon, Georges Melchior

Juve is framed under the suspicion that he is Fantomas, and an American detective is brought in on the case.

The title of the fourth episode of the serial not only reminds me of the title of the second episode (JUVE VS. FANTOMAS), but of an old Monty Python sketch in which Graham Chapman wrestles himself. Actually, the title is apt; with part of the plot revolving around Juve being mistaken for Fantomas, and a costume party sequence in which three people arrive disguised as Fantomas, the sense of identity is a bit of knotty problem. It is this very confusion that makes the storyline somewhat more difficult to sort out this time round, but I think I more or less got the gist of what’s happening before it was all over. This one has some memorable moments, particularly during a sequence where a worker punches a hole in a wall and blood comes out. Only one more episode, and I’ll have finished with the series.