Estronho e esquésito

Still riding on the success of Nick Carter, le roi des détectives (1908) and of its other serials, the executives at Éclair decided to invest in yet another production starring the famous detective. At that time, Nick Carter was already an extremely popular character, originating from pulp literature and serialized fiction, and French cinema knew how to exploit that popularity very well.

Still among the French pioneers, the third work in our journey through the pioneers of cinematic serials can, in fact, be considered a miniseries, as it had only two episodes, yet it still fits within our theme.

The series took advantage of the fever generated by the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West tour, which traveled through Europe between 1902 and 1906. In France, the show caused such a profound cultural impact that cinema felt the need to replicate the Western genre with a European sensibility, creating what historians call the "Camargue Western" or "French Western".

The serial is based on the character Nick Carter, created by Ormond G. Smith, son of one of the founders of Street & Smith Publications. The publisher was responsible for the New York Weekly, a kind of literary magazine that circulated between the years 1846 and 19151, where the character appeared for the first time. In 1903, he received his first solo publication, the Nick Carter Weekly, by the same publisher.

Although today we associate serials with the comfort of quick, neatly resolved stories on TV, in the days of silent cinema the format was synonymous with danger and absolute suspense. The “serial” thrived on the climax: it invariably ended with the hero in a desperate situation—the famous cliffhanger—to ensure audiences would return to the theater the following Saturday.