This is the second episode in the 1913-14 serial featuring the mysterious, black-hooded bandit, Fantomas (René Navarre), "the master of terror and torture and the emperor of crime", relentlessly pursued by the detective Juve (Bréon). Louis Feuillade based his stories on the 1911-14 serial-novel of Souvestre and Allain, who used Zola's method of setting each volume in a clearly defined social milieu. "Feuillade imitated this approach and the sequences in Fantomas alternate between the natural landscape of Paris with its suburbs, and living rooms full of Dufayel furniture. The films (like the books) have a singular poetic lyricism and sense of fantasy (much admired by the Surrealists) and are a veritable documentary about life in France on the eve of the First World War. Fantomas was an immense worldwide success, especially in Russia, and helped establish the advent of serials in the USA." (Georges Sadoul, Dictionary of Films)