Despite World War I limiting the audience for the film (unlike Feuillade's earlier work "Fantômas") it was a huge success in France, massively outshining the original competition from Pathé and the serial "The Mysteries of New York". Much of the film's success is said to have been from the inclusion of Musidora as the antagonist Irma Vep, who fit well with the archetypes of "vamp" and "femme fatale", often being compared to Theda Bara. The police force, however, condemned the series for its apparent glorification of crime and dubious morality. Some of the episodes were temporarily banned, but these bans were retracted after a personal appeal from Musidora.