Available on Blu-ray January 5 in 4K Restoration by Gaumont and le Centre National du Cinema in collaboration with the Cinémathèque française, packed with bonus features including audio commentaries, a documentary, two short films by Feuillade, and more. 

Kino Lorber is proud to announce the Blu-ray release of Louis Feuillade's landmark silent film serial FANTÔMAS (1913), presented in a stunning 4k restoration by Gaumont and the Centre National du Cinéma, in collaboration with the Cinémathèque Française.

This 2-disc Blu-ray set of FANTÔMAS contains all five films in the series, and will become available on January 5th, packed with special features including two audio commentaries by film historian David Kalat, a short documentary "Louis Feuillade: Master of Many Forms" (2009, 11 min.), two short films by Louis Feuillade: The Nativity (1910, 14 min.) and The Dwarf (1912, 16 min.), and an animated gallery of cover artwork from the Fantômas novellas (courtesy of Tim Lucas). 

French filmmaker Louis Feuillade (1873-1925) remains one of the most important figures in the formative years of cinema. A versatile director whose work encompassed many forms and genres, he is undoubtedly best remembered today as the pioneer of the serial form of cinema, with his highly influential serials including FANTÔMAS, Les Vampires (also available on Blu-ray & DVD from Kino Lorber), and Judex, made in France around the time of the first World War. Feuillade's films laid the foundation for episodic cinema to follow, from the classic Hollywood serials to the golden age of television today. 

Synopsis:

René Nacarre stars as the criminal lord of Paris, the master of disguise, the creeping assassin in  black: Fantômas. Over the course of five feature films (which combined to form a five-and-a-half-hour epic), Fantômas, along with his accomplices and mistresses, are pursued by the equally resourceful Inspector Juve (Edmund Bréon) and his friend, journalist Jérôme Fandor (Georges Melchior).

Based on the phenomenally popular French pulp novellas by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, Louis Feuillade's outrageous, ambitious FANTÔMAS series became the gold standard of espionage serials in pre-WWI Europe, and laid the foundation for such immortal works as Feuillade's own Les Vampires and Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse films.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the film's release, Gaumont and the Centre National du Cinéma, in collaboration with the Cinémathèque Française, have created a 4k restoration that is stunning in its richness and clarity.