Jul 14th  
Fantomas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine*
(Fra 1913)  

The stealing of a princess's valuable necklace and the escape from execution at the guillotine are the work of a cunning gentleman thief known as Fantomas.
Drawn-out as a detective thriller narrative with most of the plot twists telegraphed, but given the context for its time a thrilling mystery which proved a big smash in France, and was also the first of a serial.

Written and Directed by: Louis Feuillade, based on stories by Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre.
Producer: Romeo Bosetti.
Starring: Rene Navarre, Edmund Brecon, Renee Carl, Georges Melchior.
Photography: Georges Guerin.

Preceded by:
The Musketeers of Pig Alley**
(US 1912. 17m. bw. silent; A musician has his money stolen by gangsters, but they make it up to him when he retrieves the money and bales them out at the end of a gang fight. The first "gangster" film, so called, but more a characteristic Griffith melodrama with his emerging and exciting new dramatic style.; w: D.W. Griffith, Anita Loos; d: D.W. Griffith; s: Lillian Gish, Walter Miller, Elmer Booth, Alfred Paget, Harry Carey.)