Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (1913) - full transcript
Fantômas makes it as the emperor of Crime. First is the robbery at the Royal Palace Hotel. Then he abducts Lord Beltham. As Fantômas' fame increases actor Valgrand creates the rôle of public enemy No.1 on stage. Eventually Inspector Juve, with a little help from Fandor, arrests Fantômas and he is soon sentenced to die on the guillotine. But...
Part One
THEFT AT THE ROYAL PALACE HOTEL
One o'clock in the morning.
Princess Sonia Danidoff
returns to her hotel.
The envelope is ready.
Would Your Highness care to verify
the 120,000 francs are all there?
Terrified,
the Princess raises the alarm.
I'll run to fetch the police.
Shortly thereafter, Princess Danidoff
receives a visit from the inspector.
INSPECTOR JUVE
NATIONAL POLICE
Part Two
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF LORD BELTHAM
In Inspector Juve's office,
he and his friend Jérôme Fandor,
a reporter for The Capital,
read about the latest crimes.
The Royal Palace Hotel affair,
the disappearance of Lord Beltham...
The public is troubled
by this wave of unsolved crimes.
A knock at the door.
NATIONAL POLICE
Inspector Juve is assigned
to locate Lord Beltham
,
now mysteriously missing
for over a week.
Foul play: is suspected.
Chief of National Police
Inspector Juve
goes to Lady Beltham's villa.
Meanwhile, the missing man's wife
drinks in the words of a certain Gurn,
enthralled by his brooding charm.
The public is alarmed at recent events:
First, the Royal Palace Hotel theft
and now, the mysterious disappearance
of wealthy Englishman Lord Beltham.
After 10 days, Lady Beltham's
searches remain fruitless.
Every citizen must ask:
What are the police doing?
When questioned, police officials
seem to have been struck dumb.
Shall Paris become a place where
honest folk fear to walk the streets?
Inspector Juve
National Police
Peculiarly excited, Gurn agrees to
remain hidden in an adjoining room
from which he can eavesdrop.
Did Lord Beltham leave any clues?
An address book, perhaps?
Do you know this Gurn, Madame?
To the Director
of the South Steamship Co.
Please pick up three trunks from my home
at 147, rue Bevert, 20th arrondissement
to be sent to Johannesburg,
where I shall have them collected.
The concierge will unlock
my apartment for you. Gurn.
Juve decides to visit Gurn
at the address he's found...
Please pick up three trunks from my home
at 147, rue Bevert, 20th arrondissement
to be sent to Johannesburg,
where I shall have them collected.
A body.
Blank calling cards.
And so, Gurn and Fantômas
are one and the same...
For months, Juve and Fandor keep
constant watch over Lady Beltham's villa.
The next day,
the headline of the Gaulois.
THE TURBULENT ARREST OF GURN
A MAN SOUGHT BY THE POLICE
FOR MONTHS
Part Three
ALONGSIDE THE GUILLOTINE
Ever since Gurn
has been sentenced to death,
a car stops each night
outside the prison.
Lady Beltham finally makes contact
with a certain Nibet, prison guard.
Nibet tells his colleague about the deal
he's made with the lovely schemer.
Be brave.
Lady Beltham
On Gurn's orders,
Nibet goes to Lady Beltham's villa.
I hereby receive
the sum of 100,000 francs
in exchange for arranging
a 15-minute meeting
between Lady Beltham
and the condemned man, Gurn,
at a house near the prison.
March 12, 1912
Meanwhile, Paris is entertained
by what once made it tremble.
Valgrand, on the stage
of the Grand Tréteau,
prepares to play the condemned man.
For the Grand Tréteau's new production,
The Bloody Stain,
Valgrand has modelled his performance
after Gurn, Lord Beltham's murderer.
On the day before Gurn's execution,
this is a sinister coincidence.
Lady Beltham, from far back in a box,
is struck, more than any other,
by the actor's resemblance
to his model.
The première of The Bloody Stain
draws to a close
and the audience admires
Valgrand's performance
of the condemned man's
last morning.
Sir, Your performance touched
the very depths of my heart.
Allow me to congratulate you.
I have a request which
I hope will not seem too strange...
After the show,
would you join me for tea
in my apartment on Boulevard Arago?
Naturally, for this secret visit,
my dearest wish would be for you
to keep on the costume and make-up
which, as you've guessed,
make you resemble
the darkest despair of my soul.
Lady Beltham
74, boulevard Arago
P.S. Enter through the garden.
Tomorrow morning, the infamous
murderer Gurn will be executed.
All remember the trial,
followed nationwide,
in which the cynical criminal aroused
public indignation with his anarchic retorts.
Tomorrow before dawn,
it is with relief that the awaiting crowd
shall witness dropping into the basket
a head possessed by criminal guile
rather than philosophy, art and science.
As he walks,
Valgrand passes by the prison.
Meanwhile,
Nibet and his accomplice,
bribed by Lady Beltham,
remove Gurn from his cell.
In a rented apartment
on Boulevard Arago,
Lady Beltham anxiously awaits
the one to whom she was bound
by love and murder.
Did you fix the sugar?
The door bell rings.
As the narcotic takes effect,
Valgrand is overcome
by an irresistible drowsiness.
The fifteen minutes have passed,
and the guards return
to fetch their prisoner.
Hear that hammering?
They're erecting the guillotine
for Valgrand.
Deceived, Nibet and his accomplice
return to the prison with the fake Gurn.
Dawn approaches
and Gurn forces Lady Beltham
to watch the executioner's
final preparations.
In the prison, Juve, Fandor and
the officials await the condemned man.
The grim procession arrives at last.
Even with all your tricks,
you can't escape me forever, Fantômas.
Back at Juve's office,
the two friends swear
to bring the criminal to justice.
The young reporter writes
an item for The Capital.
An astonishing occurrence
at the prison this morning:
As the executioner began to remove
the condemned man's collar,
mere instants before his execution,
we realized that the man
about to be decapitated
was not the condemned man.
By what machination was the actor
Valgrand substituted for Gurn?
An investigation
will perhaps reveal the truth.
In the meantime,
Fantômas is still alive.
And he is at liberty.
Fantômas is at liberty...
Juve's worst nightmare.
THEFT AT THE ROYAL PALACE HOTEL
One o'clock in the morning.
Princess Sonia Danidoff
returns to her hotel.
The envelope is ready.
Would Your Highness care to verify
the 120,000 francs are all there?
Terrified,
the Princess raises the alarm.
I'll run to fetch the police.
Shortly thereafter, Princess Danidoff
receives a visit from the inspector.
INSPECTOR JUVE
NATIONAL POLICE
Part Two
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF LORD BELTHAM
In Inspector Juve's office,
he and his friend Jérôme Fandor,
a reporter for The Capital,
read about the latest crimes.
The Royal Palace Hotel affair,
the disappearance of Lord Beltham...
The public is troubled
by this wave of unsolved crimes.
A knock at the door.
NATIONAL POLICE
Inspector Juve is assigned
to locate Lord Beltham
,
now mysteriously missing
for over a week.
Foul play: is suspected.
Chief of National Police
Inspector Juve
goes to Lady Beltham's villa.
Meanwhile, the missing man's wife
drinks in the words of a certain Gurn,
enthralled by his brooding charm.
The public is alarmed at recent events:
First, the Royal Palace Hotel theft
and now, the mysterious disappearance
of wealthy Englishman Lord Beltham.
After 10 days, Lady Beltham's
searches remain fruitless.
Every citizen must ask:
What are the police doing?
When questioned, police officials
seem to have been struck dumb.
Shall Paris become a place where
honest folk fear to walk the streets?
Inspector Juve
National Police
Peculiarly excited, Gurn agrees to
remain hidden in an adjoining room
from which he can eavesdrop.
Did Lord Beltham leave any clues?
An address book, perhaps?
Do you know this Gurn, Madame?
To the Director
of the South Steamship Co.
Please pick up three trunks from my home
at 147, rue Bevert, 20th arrondissement
to be sent to Johannesburg,
where I shall have them collected.
The concierge will unlock
my apartment for you. Gurn.
Juve decides to visit Gurn
at the address he's found...
Please pick up three trunks from my home
at 147, rue Bevert, 20th arrondissement
to be sent to Johannesburg,
where I shall have them collected.
A body.
Blank calling cards.
And so, Gurn and Fantômas
are one and the same...
For months, Juve and Fandor keep
constant watch over Lady Beltham's villa.
The next day,
the headline of the Gaulois.
THE TURBULENT ARREST OF GURN
A MAN SOUGHT BY THE POLICE
FOR MONTHS
Part Three
ALONGSIDE THE GUILLOTINE
Ever since Gurn
has been sentenced to death,
a car stops each night
outside the prison.
Lady Beltham finally makes contact
with a certain Nibet, prison guard.
Nibet tells his colleague about the deal
he's made with the lovely schemer.
Be brave.
Lady Beltham
On Gurn's orders,
Nibet goes to Lady Beltham's villa.
I hereby receive
the sum of 100,000 francs
in exchange for arranging
a 15-minute meeting
between Lady Beltham
and the condemned man, Gurn,
at a house near the prison.
March 12, 1912
Meanwhile, Paris is entertained
by what once made it tremble.
Valgrand, on the stage
of the Grand Tréteau,
prepares to play the condemned man.
For the Grand Tréteau's new production,
The Bloody Stain,
Valgrand has modelled his performance
after Gurn, Lord Beltham's murderer.
On the day before Gurn's execution,
this is a sinister coincidence.
Lady Beltham, from far back in a box,
is struck, more than any other,
by the actor's resemblance
to his model.
The première of The Bloody Stain
draws to a close
and the audience admires
Valgrand's performance
of the condemned man's
last morning.
Sir, Your performance touched
the very depths of my heart.
Allow me to congratulate you.
I have a request which
I hope will not seem too strange...
After the show,
would you join me for tea
in my apartment on Boulevard Arago?
Naturally, for this secret visit,
my dearest wish would be for you
to keep on the costume and make-up
which, as you've guessed,
make you resemble
the darkest despair of my soul.
Lady Beltham
74, boulevard Arago
P.S. Enter through the garden.
Tomorrow morning, the infamous
murderer Gurn will be executed.
All remember the trial,
followed nationwide,
in which the cynical criminal aroused
public indignation with his anarchic retorts.
Tomorrow before dawn,
it is with relief that the awaiting crowd
shall witness dropping into the basket
a head possessed by criminal guile
rather than philosophy, art and science.
As he walks,
Valgrand passes by the prison.
Meanwhile,
Nibet and his accomplice,
bribed by Lady Beltham,
remove Gurn from his cell.
In a rented apartment
on Boulevard Arago,
Lady Beltham anxiously awaits
the one to whom she was bound
by love and murder.
Did you fix the sugar?
The door bell rings.
As the narcotic takes effect,
Valgrand is overcome
by an irresistible drowsiness.
The fifteen minutes have passed,
and the guards return
to fetch their prisoner.
Hear that hammering?
They're erecting the guillotine
for Valgrand.
Deceived, Nibet and his accomplice
return to the prison with the fake Gurn.
Dawn approaches
and Gurn forces Lady Beltham
to watch the executioner's
final preparations.
In the prison, Juve, Fandor and
the officials await the condemned man.
The grim procession arrives at last.
Even with all your tricks,
you can't escape me forever, Fantômas.
Back at Juve's office,
the two friends swear
to bring the criminal to justice.
The young reporter writes
an item for The Capital.
An astonishing occurrence
at the prison this morning:
As the executioner began to remove
the condemned man's collar,
mere instants before his execution,
we realized that the man
about to be decapitated
was not the condemned man.
By what machination was the actor
Valgrand substituted for Gurn?
An investigation
will perhaps reveal the truth.
In the meantime,
Fantômas is still alive.
And he is at liberty.
Fantômas is at liberty...
Juve's worst nightmare.