I posted the following in my silent film group, but I thought Id share it on my main page as well, for all you superhero film fans. Before The Avengers, before Iron Man, before Batman, before Superman, there was... LATLETA FANTASMA (THE PHANTOM ATHLETE) (1919) This is the very first masked superhero movie, released in Italy in June 1919. You just may spot some familiar story elements in my painstaking plot synopsis below that predate such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, etc. etc. etc. And, here is the aforementioned plot synopsis, written by yours truly after some Google Translate adventures with freeze-framed French intertitles while watching the film: Jenny (Elsa Zara), the beautiful, enterprising, imaginative daughter of the wealthy Mr. Ladimoor, is engaged to the handsome but timid Harry Audersen (Mario Guaita-Ausonia). Jenny daydreams of having grand adventures, among them being attacked by wild jungle animals and then saved by a dashing hero; her down-to-earth fiancée pokes fun at her for such frivolity and says thats what adventure films are for, prompting her to call him unbearable! Oops! After that faux pas, shes not quite as enthusiastic about the upcoming nuptials... Anyway, at tea that afternoon, along with a white-haired gentleman friend of the family by the name of Lord Robertson, they all read a newspaper article about an ancient Hebrew relic called the Urim & Thummim (the jeweled breastplate of the High Priest Of Israel) being put on exhibit by the local Museum Rupert (named after its owner/director). Jenny is fascinated by its history; the High Priest was murdered, the breastplate was stolen, then killed for and stolen again and again throughout the ages, says the article. Unfortunately, two crooked antique dealers by the names of Tesy and Mesy also read the article, and break into the museum that night to steal it. However, they are thwarted by the intervention of the Phantom Athlete, a masked hero who has been making headlines recently for his crime-fighting exploits. Tipped off by his associates, he disguises himself as a museum statue, catches them and throws them out the window! Upon reading about the foiled breastplate robbery in the newspaper the next day, Jenny declares she has a special attraction to the jeweled pendant and tells her father that shed like it for her birthday present. Coincidentally enough, Rupert, the museum director, decides in the wake of the attempted robbery that the breastplate is too risky to have around and puts it up for sale at auction. Despite their earlier failure, Tesy and Mesy still havent lost interest in the bejeweled bauble. They get wind of the auction and decide to hire the services of a professional, a local gang boss named The Professor, sealing the deal at the local pub, The White Horse. One of the gang disguises himself as a cop helping with auction security and manages to spirit away the breastplate, palming it off to The Professor out in the street. Meanwhile, Mr. Ladimoor, anxious to get his daughter a birthday present shell never forget, goes to see Rupert. He asks to buy the breastplate, and of course, the case is now discovered to be empty... Tesy and Mesy meet the gang at their hideout to hand over the cash for the breastplate. No sooner do they finish the transaction when all of a sudden the Phantom Athlete shows up, singlehandedly destroys the place, grabs the breastplate AND the two schmuck losers and hauls them away. The next morning a package arrives at the auction house containing the breastplate and an anonymous note; they telephone Rupert to give him the good news. The artifacts mysterious return makes it into a special edition of the newspaper, which makes Jenny desire it even more. Rupert comes to visit Mr. Ladimoor with breastplate in hand, and Ladimoor immediately cuts him a check. Birthday present dilemma solved...for now...meanwhile, the Professor stews, tormented by the memory of the Phantom Athletes humiliating destruction of his hideout and the loss of the breastplate... Mr. Ladimoor presents his daughter with the breastplate on her birthday. While she is overjoyed to finally receive it, she realizes security would be prudent and asks her father to put it in the safe, which he does. That night, four gang members show up to crack the safe, but fortunately, our old friend the Phantom Athlete shows up too, spectacularly beats the piss out of them, ties them all together and leaves them on a table, with a note underneath them that tells the Ladimoors not to worry, the police will soon be there to help them get rid of their bulky parcels. :-) On his way out of the place, the Phantom runs into a guy on the street, picks him up, holds him upside down and demands to know who he is. He identifies himself as Jolm Macloy, reporter for The Minute newspaper. The Phantom then puts him down and tells him to just wait right there for a few minutes if he wants a story. The Ladimoors are awake by now and discover the tied-up thugs and the note. Mr. Ladimoor hurriedly checks the safe and finds the breastplate safe and sound. Jenny reads the Phantoms note, and then kisses it with a dreamy look in her eyes... Back at the police station, a rock is thrown through the window, with a note attached regarding the latest foiled robbery. The cops show up at the Ladimoors and the reporter follows them in. Later, the Phantom sends an associate to bug the gangs hideout. The gang is overheard discussing plans to steal the breastplate during one of Jennys morning horseback rides through the woods. The next day, Jenny is kidnapped by the gang during her morning horse ride and taken to the top of an abandoned tower. The Phantom Athlete marshalls the police and gets them to meet him at the tower. He then starts to scale the tower via a rope the thugs had tossed over the side for quick escape purposes if need be. Meanwhile, the thugs are attempting to get Jenny to sign a piece of paper giving them ownership of the breastplate. She refuses, so theyre about to toss her off the tower when the Phantom arrives and starts tossing thugs off the tower instead, with one hand even! The cops have arrived by this time and are catching the plummeting criminals in the traditional outstretched canvas and hauling them away. Unfortunately, the Professor escapes unscathed, having watched the operation from nearby... The Phantom unties Jenny and tells her to get in a car thats waiting for her nearby the tower, and shell be driven to safety. He then climbs back down the tower, gives instructions to his associates in the car to drive Jenny to Lord Robertsons house and gives them a note to pass on to him. He then takes off. Jenny descends the tower from the inside, exits, and gets in the car and they drive away. Ladimoor has been going crazy with worry all these hours. Soon Jenny is deposited at Lord Robertsons house, with a note from the Phantom telling him to accompany Jenny home. Robertson takes Jenny inside, gives her a snack and telephones her father to let him know shes all right. The gang is now wise to the fact they were bugged, so now theyre doing their plotting in writing...though theyre still being watched, this time through the eyes of a painting hanging on the wall...they plot to kidnap Jenny from Lord Robertsons and take her to an abandoned mine. Some of the gang shows up, and one of them offers to watch the car out front while the apparently extremely thick-headed Phantom associates go and grab some lunch. The Phantom then arrives, climbs a tree in back of the place, swings in through a window, grabs a pack of playing cards from the table, removes one card, rips the deck in half, puts one half in his pocket and writes something on the top card of the other half. He then notices Jenny in the next room getting gussied up to meet her father. He runs in and tells her shes in great danger and theres no time to lose, grabs her, goes back out the window and they climb back down the tree. By this time Jennys exhausted, so the Phantom picks her up, takes her to the car and they get in. And then theyre promptly ambushed by the impostor driver and his buddy, who proceed to rough up and tie up the Phantom... The rest of the gang meets them at the mine. The Phantom and Jenny are hauled out of the car. The Phantom somehow manages to untie himself and starts whomping the thugs, much to Jennys delight, but the Professor instructs everyone to pile on, and they prove to be too much for him this time, so he is subdued and tied up once again. And now...for the moment youve all been waiting for...that moment when the Professor gets round to unmasking the identity of his nemesis...which proves to be...wait for it...shock of shocks, the ass-kicking Phantom Athlete is none other than HARRY AUDERSEN, Jennys mild-mannered fiancée! Never woulda seen that comin... Meanwhile, Harrys associates realize they were duped and flag down another car... To make the rest of the story short, Harry and Jenny are thrown down different mine shafts and the gang takes off in the car. The erstwhile Phantom Athlete doesnt quite make it to the bottom, and gets stuck in the shaft. Ironically, he is saved by his lady love Jenny, who survives her ordeal and manages to locate him underground and pull him free. Luckily, his associates show up and rescue them by throwing a rope down to them, the end of which Harry grips in his teeth while his girl holds tight against him as they are hauled up. Jenny finally accepts Harrys declaration of love, and they return home. Harry walks in, surprising Mr. Ladimoor and Lord Robertson. Harry says not to worry, that Jenny is safe. He produces the other half of the deck of cards, thus proving he was the Phantom Athlete all along, and we now see that he had written a question mark on each half of the deck. He mentions that one card is still missing: the Queen Of Hearts! And of course, we get a close up of a smiling Jenny holding the card, and she makes her triumphant entrance. There are hugs and handshakes all round, and a final embrace between Harry and Jenny for the fadeout. But wait, thats not all; theres one final tag scene which shows the gang members talking anxiously amongst themselves, when all of a sudden, iron bars slowly and quite symbolically lower themselves in front of them. Second final fadeout. Then theres one more final tag scene of our happy couple embracing outside in the sunlight. Third final fadeout. I just love me a happy ending! The video at the link below was made from a 35mm triacetate positive print with French intertitles held in the Museum of Cinema in Turin, projected at 18 fps. There are no English subtitles, and no musical accompaniment, but were lucky to be able to view it at all, I say! Until it gets properly released, this is what weve got. Are you brave enough to watch???
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 10:48:09 +0000
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