Joseph Rouletabille


Joseph Rouletabille is a fictional character created by Gaston Leroux, a French writer and journalist. Rouletabille is an amateur sleuth featured in several novels and other works, often presented as a more capable thinker than the police.
Rouletabille is French slang for "globetrotter", one who has been around the world and seen it all. The meaning was later expanded to that of a cool-headed, unfazeable, or nonchalant person.

Overview

In the first novel, The Mystery of the Yellow Room, Rouletabille solves an attempted murder in a locked room mystery. The book reveals that Rouletabille is the nickname of 18-year-old journalist Joseph Josephin, who was raised in a religious orphanage in Eu, a small town near Fécamp.
In the novel Rouletabille meets Ballmeyer, an international criminal of great repute and many identities. As Jean Roussel, Ballmeyer married a rich American heiress, Mathilde Stangerson, the Lady in Black of the second novel.
Ballmeyer returns in The Perfume of the Lady in Black at the end of the story, which takes place in a castle on the French Riviera. Rouletabille finds that he is the son of Ballmeyer and Stangerson. Soon afterwards, Rouletabille is summoned to Russia by the Czar, where he solves a murder at the Imperial Court.
The next novel takes place in 1912. The fearless journalist marries the beautiful Ivana Vilitchkov and defeats the brutal warlord Gaulow.
In Rouletabille chez Krupp, Rouletabille acts as a French secret agent and infiltrates the Krupp factories. This is one of the earliest espionage thrillers. Rouletabille saves Paris from being annihilated by a German missile.
In Le Crime de Rouletabille, the reporter is almost framed for Ivana's murder. Then, in Rouletabille chez les Bohémiens, he helps recover a sacred book stolen from the Gypsies.

Books

  1. Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune
  2. Le Parfum de la Dame en Noir
  3. Rouletabille chez le Tsar . Reprinted as The Secret of the Night in the U.S.
  4. Rouletabille à la Guerre and Les Étranges Noces de Rouletabille
  5. Rouletabille chez Krupp
  6. Le Crime de Rouletabille
  7. Rouletabille chez les Bohémiens
Authorized Sequels by Noré Brunel:
  1. Rouletabille contre la Dame de Pique
  2. ''Rouletabille Joue et Gagne''

    Films

  • The Mystery of the Yellow Room, with Marcel Simon.
  • ', with Marcel Simon.
  • The Mystery of the Yellow Room, with Lorin Raker.
  • ', with Gabriel de Gravone.
  • Le Mystère de la chambre jaune, with Roland Toutain.
  • Le Parfum de la dame en noir, with Roland Toutain.
  • ', with Roland Toutain.
  • * Flying Gold : alternative Hungarian-language version of Rouletabille aviateur.
  • ', with Santiago Gómez Cou.
  • ', with Jean Piat.
  • ', with Jean Piat.
  • The Mystery of the Yellow Room, with Serge Reggiani.
  • Le Parfum de la dame en noir, with Serge Reggiani.
  • The Mystery of the Yellow Room, with Denis Podalydès.
  • Le Parfum de la dame en noir, with Denis Podalydès.

    Television

  • Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune with Claude Brasseur.
  • Le Parfum de la Dame en Noir with Philippe Ogouz.
  • Rouletabille chez le Tsar with Philippe Ogouz.
  • Rouletabille chez les Bohémiens with Philippe Ogouz.

    Comics

  • Rouletabille After a fairly faithful adaptation of the original novels in the early issues, Rouletabille was suddenly transplanted to the 1960s, where he fought enemy spies, etc. With No. 12, Rouletabille merged with its sister magazine Rocambole and became Rocambole et Rouletabille. However, the two characters never met.
  • Rouletabille, written by Claude Moliterni and drawn by Eugenio Sicomoro, the first three published by Dargaud:
  • # Le Crâne de Cristal
  • # La Momie Écarlate
  • # Le Singe d'Or
  • # Sida Connection
  • Rouletabille written by André-Paul Duchateau, drawn by Bernard C. Swysen, published by Claude Lefrancq:
  • # Le Fantôme de l'Opéra
  • # Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune
  • # Le Parfum de la Dame en Noir
  • # La Poupée Sanglante
  • # La Machine à Assassiner
  • # L'Épouse du Soleil
  • # ''Le Trésor du Fantôme de l'Opéra''

    Radio

The Mystery of the Yellow Room was adapted, fairly faithfully, for BBC Radio Four in 1998 starring Nicholas Boulton as Rouletabille and Geoffrey Whitehead as Inspector Larson, with a far looser adaptation of The Perfume of the Woman in Black following around a year later.