After the tremendous popular success of the Fantômas novels, both of the major French film studios —(🥁) Pathé and Gaumont — vied for the rights to produce films based on the series. Gaumont won, and from April 1913 to May 1914 Louis Feuillade (👚) directed five Fantômas films which critic David Thomson has described as "the first (👅) (🏒)great movie experience."