Nuits Rouges

{{Infobox film | name = Nuits Rouges | image = 1974 Nuits rouges.jpg | alt = | caption = | native_name = | director = Georges Franju | producer = Raymond Froment<ref name="bfi-credits" /> | writer = | screenplay = Jacques Champreaux<ref name="bfi-credits" /> | story = | based_on =  | narrator = | starring = {{plainlist| *Gayle Hunnicutt *Jacques Champreux *Gert Froebe *Joséphine Chaplin *Ugo Pagliai }} | music = Georges Franju | cinematography = Guido Renzo Bertoni<ref name="bfi-credits" /> | editing = Gilbert Natot<ref name="bfi-credits" /> | studio = {{plainlist| *Terra Film *S.O.A.T.<ref name="bfi-credits">{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/44639?view=credit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201143928/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/44639?view=credit|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 1, 2009|work=BFI Film & Television Database|accessdate=November 17, 2013|title=Credits|publisher=British Film Institute|location=London}}</ref>}} | distributor = Planfilm<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cinema.encyclopedie.films.bifi.fr/index.php?pk=48620|work=Bifi.fr|title=Nuits rouges (1973) Georges Franju|accessdate=November 17, 2013|language=French}}</ref> | released = {{Film date|1974|11|20|France}} | runtime = 105 minutes | country = {{plainlist| *France *Italy<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/44639|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090117174345/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/44639|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 17, 2009|work=BFI Film & Television Database|accessdate=November 17, 2013|title=Nuits Rouges|publisher=British Film Institute|location=London}}</ref>}} | language = French<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/44639?view=release|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201143916/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/44639?view=release|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 1, 2009|work=BFI Film & Television Database|accessdate=November 17, 2013|title=Release|publisher=British Film Institute|location=London}}</ref> | budget = | gross = }}

'''''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).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baudou |first1=Jacques |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RH5YDwAAQBAJ&dq=Nuits+Rouges+Franju&pg=PT482 |title=Meurtres en séries : les séries policières de la télévision française |last2=Shleret |first2=Jean-Jacques |date=1989-12-31 |publisher=FeniXX réédition numérique |isbn=978-2-402-09240-1 |language=fr}}</ref>

== Premise == 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== * Gayle Hunnicutt as the woman * {{ill|Jacques Champreux|fr}} as the Faceless Man * Josephine Chaplin as Martine Leduc * Ugo Pagliai as Paul de Borrego * Gert Froebe as Police commissioner Sorbier

==Production== ''Nuits Rouges'' was filmed in 1973.<ref name="Ince58">Ince, 2005. p. 58</ref> The film is a 100-minute theatrical version of a film originally commissioned for television.<ref name="Ince58" /> The budget for the film was so modest that Franju had to film all interiors of the film on a studio set.<ref name="Ince59">Ince, 2005. p.59</ref>

Jacques Champreux (Louis Feuillade's grandson<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nuits rouges (Georges Franju, 1973) - La Cinémathèque française |url=https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/48620.html |access-date=2023-10-22 |website=www.cinematheque.fr |language=fr}}</ref>) 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ince |first=Kate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7OsMLZjh7IC&dq=Nuits+Rouges+Franju&pg=PA58 |title=Georges Franju |date=2005-07-22 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-6828-7 |language=en}}</ref>

''Nuits Rouges'' is Franju's last feature film.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buache |first=Freddy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nGigEAAAQBAJ&dq=Nuits+Rouges+Franju&pg=PT92 |title=Georges Franju : poésie et vérité: Rétrospective G. Franju organisée par le Festival de Belfort-Entrevues, 23 novembre-1er décembre 1996 |date=1996-01-01 |publisher=FeniXX |isbn=978-2-307-25154-5 |language=fr}}</ref>

==Release== ''Nuits Rouges'' was released on November 20, 1974, in France.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/nuits-rouges-v44006|work=Allmovie|publisher=Rovi Corporation|title=Nuits Rouges|last=Erlewine|first=Iotis|accessdate=April 17, 2026|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015190633/http://www.allmovie.com/movie/nuits-rouges-v44006|archivedate=October 15, 2012|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

==Reception== ''Nuits Rouges'' received mixed and even mocking reviews from French critics on its release.<ref name="Ince60-61">Ince, 2005. p.60-61</ref> ''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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/catalogue/nuits-rouges|work=Eureka Video|title=Nuits rouges|accessdate=November 17, 2013|archive-date=May 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509233434/http://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/catalogue/nuits-rouges/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Notes== {{reflist}}

===References=== * {{cite book | author = Ince, Kate | title= Georges Franju | publisher= Manchester University Press | year= 2005 | isbn= 0-7190-6828-2}}

== External links == * {{IMDb title|0069593|Nuits Rouges}}

Category:1974 films Category:Films directed by Georges Franju Category:French crime thriller films Category:Italian crime thriller films Category:1974 French-language films Category:1974 crime thriller films Category:1974 French films Category:1974 Italian films Category:French-language crime thriller films