Fantômas


Book Description

The shocking debut of France’s most ruthless villain After dinner, the guests of the Marquise de Langrune amuse one another with tales of the chilling deeds of Fantômas, a fiendish criminal whose reach is limitless, whose thirst for mayhem can never be quenched. The next morning, young Charles Rambert leaves early to meet his father at the train station. When he returns, the chateau is in an uproar. The Marquise has been slaughtered in her bed. She was found not long after Rambert’s departure, her body soaked in blood, her neck severed all the way to the bone. Suspecting his son may be the killer, Charles’s father insists they leave immediately. But Inspector Juve sees the hand of Fantômas in the grisly deed, and in two other dastardly crimes that have Paris in an uproar: the brazen theft of Princess Sonia’s pocketbook and the murder of Lord Beltham, whose body was found stuffed in a trunk. Juve has pledged his life to apprehending the criminal mastermind and will stop at nothing to see Fantômas hang. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.




Fantômas


Book Description

"Years after his first appearance, Fantômas is still scary." — The Washington Post "A brilliant criminal … a great romp." — San Francisco Chronicle A noblewoman is hacked to death in her chateau, a Russian princess is boldly robbed in a posh hotel, and a lord's lifeless body is found stuffed inside a trunk. Everyone recognizes the deeds of Fantômas, a master of disguise whose daring and diabolical crimes paralyze Parisians with terror. One man has sworn to bring the phantom killer to justice: Inspector Juve, who ventures from dark alleys to brilliant salons in his relentless pursuit of the evil genius. The first in a series of wildly popular French thrillers, Fantômas created a sensation in pre-WWI Europe. The original pulp fiction, its appeal transcended every level of society. Cocteau, Colette, and Picasso were avid readers, and subsequent generations of artists, writers, and musicians have drawn inspiration from this enduringly stylish and suspenseful novel.




The Five Sedgwicks


Book Description

Individually and together, The Five Sedgwicks are among the unsung heroes of early filmmaking in Hollywood. Their work took them from vaudeville to silent film, through the studio era and into the Golden Age of television. By the late 1920s the Sedgwick siblings were well-known motion picture personalities: Edward was satirized by actor Harry Gribbon as an enthusiastic comedy director in King Vidor's 1928 silent comedy hit Show People; Josie was a star of Western films and was presented the honorific title of "Queen of the Roundup"; Universal Films promoted Eileen as their "Queen of the Serial." This book details the family's extensive contributions to the entertainment industry.




The Fantômas MEGAPACK®


Book Description

The Fantomas books, created and written by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain, form one of the longest-running and most famous crime series in France. Fantomas first appeared in 1911 and was featured in a total of 32 volumes written by the two collaborators, then a subsequent 11 volumes written by Allain alone after Souvestre's death. The character was also the basis of various film, television, and comic book adaptations. In the history of crime fiction, he represents a transition from Gothic novel villains of the 19th century to modern-day serial killers. This volume collects the first 5 books in the series: I. FANTOMAS The Adventures of Detective Juve in pursuit of a master in crime. II. THE EXPLOITS OF JUVE In this continuation Fantomas appears as the leader of a gang of Apaches, and as a physician of standing. Juve tracks the criminal to his secret hiding-place, but Fantomas escapes. III. MESSENGERS OF EVIL Filled with hair-raising incidents this tale is a fascinating recital of remarkable happenings in the life of the master-criminal of Paris. IV. A NEST OF SPIES In this volume Fantomas is an ambassador for a foreign power engaged in Paris in obtaining important military secrets for Germany. Detective Juve unmasks him, but the criminal again escapes. V. A ROYAL PRISONER This volume tells of the daring exploits of Fantomas in his attempts to get possession of the King of Hesse-Weimar’s famous diamond. If you enjoy this ebook, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see more of the 290+ volumes in this series, covering adventure, historical fiction, mysteries, westerns, ghost stories, science fiction -- and much, much more!




The Long Arm of Fantômas


Book Description

"The sixth novel in the Fantomas series finds the master criminal up to his old tricks, while Inspector Juve is stuck in prison and Fandor is on the run from police."--Goodreads.




Distributing Silent Film Serials


Book Description

Tracing the international consumption, distribution, and cultural importance of silent film serials in the 1910s and 1920s, Canjels provides an exciting new understanding of the cultural dimension and the cultural transformation and circulation of media forms. Specifically, he demonstrates that the serial film form goes far beyond the well-known American two-reel serial—the cliffhanger. Throughout the book, Canjels focuses on the biggest producers of serials, America, France, and Germany, while imported serials, such as those in the Netherlands, are also examined. This research offers new views on the serial work of well known directors as D.W. Griffith, Abel Gance, Erich von Stroheim, and Fritz Lang, while foregrounding the importance of lesser known directors such as Louis Feuillade or Joe May. In the early twentieth-century, serial productions were constantly undergoing change and were not merely distributed in their original form upon import. As adjusted serials were present in large quantities or confronted different social spaces, nationalistic feelings and views stimulated by the unrest of World War I and the expanding American film industry could be incorporated and attached to the serial form. Serial productions were not only adaptable to local discourses, they could actively stimulate and interact as well, influencing reception and further film production. By examining the distribution, reception, and cultural contexts of American and European serials in various countries, this cross-cultural research makes both local and global observations. Canjels thus offers a highly relevant case study of transnational, transcultural and transmedia relations.




Masquerade and Social Justice in Contemporary Latin American Fiction


Book Description

Contemporary Latin American fiction establishes a unique connection between masquerade, frequently motivated by stigma or trauma, and social justice. Using an interdisciplinary approach that combines philosophy, history, psychology, literature, and social justice theory, this study delineates the synergistic connection between these two themes. Weldt-Basson examines fourteen novels by twelve different Latin American authors: Mario Vargas Llosa, Sergio Galindo, Augusto Roa Bastos, Fernando del Paso, Mayra Santos-Febres, Isabel Allende, Carmen Boullosa, Antonio Benítez-Rojo, Marcela Serrano, Sara Sefchovich, Luisa Valenzuela, and Ariel Dorfman. She elucidates the varieties of social justice operating in the plots of contemporary Latin American novels: distributive, postmodern/feminist, postcolonial, transitional, and historical justices. The author further examines how masquerade and disguise aid in articulating the theme of social justice, why this is important, and how it relates to Latin American history and the historical novel.




Latin American Literature and Mass Media


Book Description

This volume examines Latin American literature in the context of a complimentary audiovisual culture dominated by mass media such as photography, film, and the Internet. The articles gathered here, all of them published for the first time, critically assess Latin American media theories (Garcia Canclini et al.), pointing out their strengths and shortcomings; show how literary works have been able to sustain their visibility in a highly competitive media ecology, accommodating to pop and mass culture while at the same time reaffirming the authority of the literary intellectual. Overall, the book's foregrounding of the impact of mass media on Latin American literature opens the critical debate on an increasingly essential subject.







Magic and Illusion in the Movies


Book Description

From top hats to top secrets, this book is a celebration of illusion technology and mechanisms of trickery through a genre-crossing selection of films. Heroes, villains, spies, con-men, and madmen, magicians all, have utilized complex constructs and trickery in thrilling cinematic adventures from the earliest days of cinema to the present. Current blockbusters such as Spider-Man: Far from Home and the Mission: Impossible series feature amazing acts of deception, often appearing far-fetched, that are in fact surprisingly close to today's technology. Along with the James Bond saga, classics such as The Wizard of Oz, Nightmare Alley, and The Sting are joined by a host of other movies superficially seeming to be very different, yet proving there is more than meets the eye.