Fantômas II: Juve contre Fantômas

Juve contre Fantomas (1913)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The second film in the series finds Rene Vavarre returning as Fantomas, the master thief who escaped his death sentence and finds himself on the run from Inspector Juve (Edmund Breon) who plans to stop at nothing to bring the man to justice. I had heard that this second entry was a pretty big letdown and that was certainly the case as it really does seem like the filmmakers had forgotten the events of the previous film because there are moments throughout this film where you'd think that they either forgot the previous movie or perhaps another bit was filmed but not shown. The first twenty-minutes of this movie is pretty much a head-scratcher because it really doesn't make since when you look back on the events of the first film. There's a long note that we read that tries to bring us up to date but it does very little. I'm guessing that this note was meant to explain the events that had gone on but they still don't add up very well. Another problem is that the majority of the middle section just features Juve talking about how much he wants to capture his number one case who made a fool out of him. This is fine but it really doesn't add too much entertainment. Feuillade's lack of imagination or style means we really don't get much to look at and the story this time just isn't strong enough to carry us through. Once again Vavarre is good in the role of Fantomas and Breon is good as well. The two actors don't have any problem nor do any of the supporting players. The highlight of the film comes towards the end when Juve is in bed and Fantomas sends a large snake into kill him.

This is the second in the series of detective stories. It is interesting and at times exciting. One feature is the uncoupling of the car from the express and the close-up views of the interior. The collision of the car with the approaching express is very well done. It is studio work, but to many the idea will not occur. The struggle between the great snake and the detective is thrilling. A novel twist is given to the escape of the crook from the detective following the arrest just outside the restaurant. The use of the two false arms will stir any theater. The scenes in the haunted house are finely handled, especially the escape of the crook through his submersion in the tank and the use of the hollow bottle for a breathing tube. As a detective story the picture is of unusual strength. - The Moving Picture World, October 25, 1913

Although I have seen the film listed as about 43 minutes long, the version which I have seen runs about 2 hours long. Which version have the others seen? Obviously, a masterpiece when seen with the rest of the Fantomas serial.

While I found part one to be a great film, part two seems to be when things really start to get interesting! Part one certainly has its amazing moments, but this continuation seems to be nothing BUT amazing moments! In fact, I was shocked at how entertained I was during all of "Juve Against Fantomas".

At the beginning of the film, there's this huge sequence on a train, and the amount of tension, suspense, and sheer epic quality of that sequence actually gave me goosebumps. This film is so amazingly awesome that it will give you goosebumps. How often do you think a film over 100 years old will do that? Not very often.

"Juve Against Fantomas" proves that bias against such old films is absolutely unnecessary, since quite a few films made in the 1910's still seem great and thrilling as ever!

Much like part one, I have to say how impressed I am for what they were able to accomplish in 1913. The picture is crisp, the story is well-done, there is plenty of action. We even have some rather basic special effects.

The focus shifts in this second part to be more on Juve (the detective) rather than Fantomas (the thief). This gives it a feeling of a chase, and indeed on the train there is plenty of movement and pacing. Juve is always on the move, even if he never knows if he is going in the right direction...

This whole series is incredible, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in silent film.