The Faceless Man (1974)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The man Without a Face |
| Original title | Nuits rouges |
| Country of production | France , Italy |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1974 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Georges Franju |
| script | Jacques Champreux |
| production | Raymond Froment |
| music | Georges Franju |
| camera | Guido Bertoni |
| cut | Gilbert Natot |
| occupation | |
| |
The man without a face (original title: Nuits rouges ) is a French - Italian crime mystery film by Georges Franju from 1974 . Gayle Hunnicutt and Jacques Champreux play the leading roles alongside Josephine Chaplin , Ugo Pagliai and Gert Fröbe in this story about the search for the treasure of the Knights Templar .
action
“For months, Commissaire Dumont from the Paris Criminal Police has been chasing a mysterious man. At least five murders are at his expense, murders without motive. All done with a throwing knife. Dumont receives an anonymous tip. The murderer is hiding in a lonely white villa in a southern suburb of the city. ”The journalists had given the stranger a nickname, they called him: the man without a face . “Nothing happened for two years, and Interpol did not record any crimes of the same kind. Had the man achieved what he wanted, or, like so many, had he fallen victim to private vengeance. Dumont had long since forgotten about him, because for a homicide man there are new surprises every day. "
A butler who is indebted to criminals tries to save himself by selling information about his master, Maxime de Borrego. The butler said that he was not only a respected historian, but also knew where to find the treasure of the Knights Templar. “The man without a face”, leader of a criminal organization that is reinforced by brain surgery experiments of a mad scientist with zombie-like killers, is doing everything possible to get this treasure into their hands. He tortures and kills Maxime de Borrego, then tries to find out from his nephew Paul de Borrego where the treasure has gone.
De Borrego's nephew is supported by the police as well as his girlfriend Martine Leduc, who holds the presumed key to the treasure, and the "poète detective" Séraphin Beauminon in the fight against the arch villain, who appears in many disguises. The Knights Templar, in turn, send their own masked army to avenge the death of their order member Maxime de Borrego. They also want to get back a cult vessel that represented his rank as Seneschal of the Knights Templar. In the end, with the help of the members of the order, Paul de Borrego succeeds in catching and eliminating the super gangster.
production
Production notes
The film was produced by Terra Films, Paris and Newline Cinema as well as SOAT, Milan. The film recordings of the Franco-Italian co-production were made in France in 1974, including at the Place de l'Europe in Paris and at the Hôtel des Ventes Drouot in Paris. Jacques Champreux wrote the script for the film version based on the television series L'Homme sans Visage .
The score includes the Grande Messe des Morts , Hector Berlioz 's setting of the traditional Requiem text.
background
The Faceless Man was the second film after Judex to be made in collaboration between Georges Franju and Jacques Champreux, grandson of Louis Feuillade . The project started out as a remake of Fantômas until it became clear that buying the rights would have devoured half of the budget. An existing script by Jacques Champreux was then used, which combined elements of the Fantômas material with the Knights Templar myth.
reception
Publication, DVD
The film premiered on November 20, 1974 in France, on May 17, 1975 an extended, uncut version was broadcast on French television under the series title L'homme sans visage . The film was released in the USA in May 1975, in Finland in June 1975, in Portugal in February 1980 under the title Noites Vermelhas and in Greece in September 2013 at the Athens Film Festival under the festival title Porfyres nyhtes . In Poland it ran under the title Czerwone noce and in the Soviet Union under the title Красные ночи . The film opened in German cinemas on October 17, 1974 under the title The Man Without a Face . The English title is Shadowman , the Spanish Quien es Mascara Roja?
A DVD was released in Great Britain in 2008 : Judex + Nuits Rouges, Eureka, 2008. The film was released on March 14, 2014 with a German soundtrack in a Collector's Edition on DVD, published by MVL - Medienvertrieb Lauenstein.
criticism
"Strange mixture of horror and crime films in the tradition of old 'Fantomas' stories, ironically and elegantly staged."
Dennis Schwartz from Ozu's Welt Filmkritiken praised that this homage to trashy thrillers did justice to the previous films, even if the film lacked the acting skills, the drive and the atmosphere of these films. Still, it's fun to follow subversive games and disguises as the villain emerges from underground to openly fight the Parisians on their streets and rooftops. Famed Georges Franju, best known for his early reprisals of the 1910 Louis Feuillade serials, is returning to that medium to create this visually stunning and stylish comic book-style masterpiece.
On the DVD-Beaver page it says: “Franju's Judex and Nuits Rouges both paid homage to the surreal, silent series from Feuillade. In collaboration with the grandson of Feuillade - Jacques Champreux - these films show the same poetic magic that made the art of this former master celebre not only for the surrealist movement but also for the world-famous Cinémathèque Française. "
KinoTageBuch said : “It is the unconditional pleasure in a cinema that is as naive as it is over-refined, in simultaneously simple and enigmatic images, in childish mask games and cultivated mystifications that preoccupy the makers. 'Nuits rouges', the condensed, erratic film version of a television column, is anachronistic pulp, surreal poetry, a respectful parody of 'Fantômas' and his friends: of Dr. Mabuse, on red devils, on corpses on horseback. "
On the Schlombie's film reviews page , the film is classified as "entertaining", even if it is noted that we Germans are presented with a wildly cut pile of film scenes that are probably far from Franju's vision. If something fits thematically into the concept, it goes on to say, “then we Germans also like to remodel foreign films, as happened with the French work 'L'homme sans visag'e by director Georges Franju, to whom we saw the future-defining milestone' Eyes without a face ' owe. Looking at 'The Man Without a Face' (not to be confused with the Mel Gibson drama of the same name), one could think the man has lost his gift, as trashy as here in Wallace-style various plot fragments are jumbled together ”. Finally it is stated: “The story wildly mixes up its plans. of the Faceless Man] and the investigation of the police with scenes of a still existing secret Templar order, which only becomes really relevant towards the end and is also responsible for the very sudden and extremely unsatisfactory end of the strip. "
Web links
- The Man Without a Face in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The man without a face full film (German version) sS watchbox.de
- The Faceless Man German Movie Poster
Individual evidence
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↑ a b Dennis Schwartz: This ws Franju's last film for the cinema.
sS homepages.sover.net, October 15, 2014 (English). Retrieved March 11, 2018. -
↑ Nuits Rouges [aka, Shadowman (1974)]
sS rivetsontheposter.wordpress.com (English, including the film in the English version) - ↑ Interview with Jacques Champreux on the Eureka DVD , 2008.
- ↑ Illusions that overturn prowling realism sS cineoutsider.com (English)
- ↑ Nuits Rouges sS eyeforfilm.co.uk (English)
- ↑ a b The man without a face in the lexicon of international films .
- ↑ The man without a face Fig. DVD case
- ^ Judex and Nuits Rouges sS dvdbeaver.com (English, with many film images). Retrieved March 11, 2018.
-
↑ Nuits rouges (Georges Franju, 1974) - The man without a face see
p. kinotagebuch.blogspot.de. Retrieved March 11, 2018. -
↑ The man without a face (L'homme sans visage 1973 Georges Franju)
sS schlombies-filmbesommunikungen.blogspot.de, April 10, 2014. Accessed March 11, 2018.
