| Arsène Lupin (TV series) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Crime |
| Created by | Jacques Nahum |
| Starring | Georges Descrières Yvon Buchard Roger Carel Marthe Keller |
| Theme music composer | Jean-Pierre Bourtayre [1] |
| Country of origin | France |
| Language(s) | French |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Jacques Nahum |
| Running time | 55 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ORTF |
| Original run | 1971 – 1974 |
Arsène Lupin is a French TV show which was co-produced with German, Canadian, Belgian, Dutch, Swiss, Italian and Austrian TV stations. It was only loosely based on Maurice Leblancs novels.
Georges Descrières' portrayal of Arsène Lupin showed more similarity to Graf Yoster than to Maurice Leblanc's original. He behaved in the first place as a perfect gentleman who never got angry. He was always relaxed, because whatever could possibly had bothered him in daily life was taken care of by his butler. It wasn't questioned how he had come to his financial independence although the series sometimes discreetly implied that he was a professional criminal. Besides rescuing damsels in distress Lupin took on (other) criminals, competing with their wit and intelligence. Either he stole paintings from rich people who had to be considered white-collar criminals or he acted as a detective who derailed criminal schemes. However, when he was attacked, he could defend himself effortlessly by using elegant jiu-jitsu methods. (Graf Yoster left such matters to his butler.)
Among the guest stars were German actors such as Günter Strack and Sky du Mont.
Jean-Paul Salomé said in his commentary on the DVD version of his film Arsène Lupin (2004) he had like this series as a child. German TV, one the investors, would broadcast the show eventually between 18:00-20:00 o'clock because it was only allowed to show commercials within that very timeslot. For them to get a finacial return on investment the show had to be appropriate for families and also for children who would watch it alone. Subsequently it was nearby to ask to defuse and flatten some of Leblanc's plots in order to avoid possible complaints that could force the station to broadcast the show beyond the "Vorabendprogramm".
Jean-Paul Salomé's film is closer to Maurice Leblanc's novels and even dares to show that Lupin enjoys stealing from women.
Arsène Lupin (TV series) on IMDB