After the tremendous popular success of the 　　Fant?mas 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 Fant?mas films which critic 　　David Thomson has described as "the first 　　great movie experience."