Nuits Rouges (lit. Red Nights, in French) is a 1974 French-Italian crime thriller film directed by Georges Franju. The film was released in the U.S. in an English-dubbed version by New Line Cinema under the title Shadowman in 1975. It is an adaptation of a 1973 French-Italian-Yugoslav TV mini-series titled "L'Homme sans visage" (The Man Without a Face).[5]

Nuits Rouges
Directed byGeorges Franju
Screenplay byJacques Champreaux[2]
Produced byRaymond Froment[2]
Starring
CinematographyGuido Renzo Bertoni[2]
Edited byGilbert Natot[2]
Music byGeorges Franju
Production
companies
  • Terra Film
  • S.O.A.T.[2]
Distributed byPlanfilm[3]
Release date
  • November 20, 1974 (1974-11-20) (France)
Running time
105 minutes
Countries
  • France
  • Italy[1]
LanguageFrench[4]

Premise

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Paul de Borrego is a scholar whose field of research is the history of Templars. His discoveries are used by a criminal organisation led by the mysterious Faceless Man to help the latter expand his army of killers composed of people with dead brains.

Cast

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Production

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Nuits Rouges was filmed in 1973.[6] The film is a 100-minute theatrical version of a film originally commissioned for television.[6] The budget for the film was so modest that Franju had to film all interiors of the film on a studio set.[7]

Jacques Champreux (Louis Feuillade's grandson[8]) who plays one the lead roles, had directed the series that inspired the film. He also had worked on Franju's Judex, which was also based on a film series.[9]

Nuits Rouges is Franju's last feature film.[10]

Release

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Nuits Rouges was released on November 20, 1974, in France.[11]

Reception

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Nuits Rouges received mixed and even mocking reviews from French critics on its release.[12] Nuits Rouges was released on DVD in the United Kingdom as part of Eureka's Masters of Cinema series along with another film by Georges Franju, Judex (1963) in 2008.[13]

Notes

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  1. ^ "Nuits Rouges". BFI Film & Television Database. London: British Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 17, 2009. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Credits". BFI Film & Television Database. London: British Film Institute. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  3. ^ "Nuits rouges (1973) Georges Franju". Bifi.fr (in French). Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  4. ^ "Release". BFI Film & Television Database. London: British Film Institute. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  5. ^ Baudou, Jacques; Shleret, Jean-Jacques (1989-12-31). Meurtres en séries : les séries policières de la télévision française (in French). FeniXX réédition numérique. ISBN 978-2-402-09240-1.
  6. ^ a b Ince, 2005. p. 58
  7. ^ Ince, 2005. p.59
  8. ^ "Nuits rouges (Georges Franju, 1973) - La Cinémathèque française". www.cinematheque.fr (in French). Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  9. ^ Ince, Kate (2005-07-22). Georges Franju. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-6828-7.
  10. ^ Buache, Freddy (1996-01-01). Georges Franju : poésie et vérité: Rétrospective G. Franju organisée par le Festival de Belfort-Entrevues, 23 novembre-1er décembre 1996 (in French). FeniXX. ISBN 978-2-307-25154-5.
  11. ^ Erlewine, Iotis. "Nuits Rouges". Allmovie. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  12. ^ Ince, 2005. p.60-61
  13. ^ "Nuits rouges". Eureka Video. Archived from the original on May 9, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2013.

References

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