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Nick Carter Vs Fantomas
New York, 1910. A mysterious criminal mastermind stages a daring escape from the courtroom where he is being tried, after having been arrested by Nick Carter, and challenges the world-famous detective to a contest of Will the mysterious "Mr. Melvil" succeed in kidnapping the rich heiress, Helen Dodler, despite all the resources of Nick Carter and his men? This never before translated play, initially performed at the Theatre de l'Ambigu-Comique in Paris in 1910, was penned by two prolific French vaudeville writers, who had the extraordinary idea to Nick Carter against a villain just as cunning and an enigmatic character, who is none other than Fantômas, the Lord of Terror. The play was translated by Frank J. Morlock, author of Sherlock The Grand Horizontals. The book also features an extensive introduction by Jess Nevins on the history of Nick Carter.
232 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 10, 2016
[emphasis in italics below are all mine]
Cover: "Nick Carter vs. Fantomas adapted by Frank J. Morlock"
p 18: "He deserves to be called by his alias: The King of Crime - Fantomas."
p 31: "There, I immediately recognized the formidable Fantomas, whom I'd fought before."
p 34: "Fantomas in love? The King of Crime singing to the starry sky..."
p 63: "Fantomas! Melvil! The King of Crime"
p 221: "Ha! Ha! You can't get rid of Fantomas that easily! ... I'll be watching you Nick Carter, and one day, I'll have my revenge."
p 223: "...the playwrights introduced us to a mysterious villian,...known only as 'Mr. Melvil'. It is our contention that this enigmatic character, of which we know nothing, is none other than Fantomas..." (in talking about a Nick Carter play which apparently debuted a year before the character Fantomas was introduced to the world.)
Methinks there is some sort of bait-and-switch going on here. After all, very few would read page 223 of this book before buying it! Lets subtract some advertising points based on shiftiness or, at the very least, vagueness, over what adapted by really entails, shall we? I don't think that it should include, as seems to be the case, changing a key character's name....but that's me.
As for the play itself, I found the whole thing far from engrossing. To grant yet another benefit of the doubt, it's possible that the work came across better on stage than on printed page (always the case when reading a play script). However, I tend to doubt it. Carter generates a minimum level of resourcefulness that's at moments amusing. And...that's it.
Verdict: I wish I hadn't spent my time on this one.
Cover: "Nick Carter vs. Fantomas adapted by Frank J. Morlock"
p 18: "He deserves to be called by his alias: The King of Crime - Fantomas."
p 31: "There, I immediately recognized the formidable Fantomas, whom I'd fought before."
p 34: "Fantomas in love? The King of Crime singing to the starry sky..."
p 63: "Fantomas! Melvil! The King of Crime"
p 221: "Ha! Ha! You can't get rid of Fantomas that easily! ... I'll be watching you Nick Carter, and one day, I'll have my revenge."
p 223: "...the playwrights introduced us to a mysterious villian,...known only as 'Mr. Melvil'. It is our contention that this enigmatic character, of which we know nothing, is none other than Fantomas..." (in talking about a Nick Carter play which apparently debuted a year before the character Fantomas was introduced to the world.)
Methinks there is some sort of bait-and-switch going on here. After all, very few would read page 223 of this book before buying it! Lets subtract some advertising points based on shiftiness or, at the very least, vagueness, over what adapted by really entails, shall we? I don't think that it should include, as seems to be the case, changing a key character's name....but that's me.
As for the play itself, I found the whole thing far from engrossing. To grant yet another benefit of the doubt, it's possible that the work came across better on stage than on printed page (always the case when reading a play script). However, I tend to doubt it. Carter generates a minimum level of resourcefulness that's at moments amusing. And...that's it.
Verdict: I wish I hadn't spent my time on this one.
Displaying 1 of 1 review