Fantomas (1964)

One must travel back to the 19-Sixties to appreciate 'Fantomas' to the full.

In those days English James Bond was taking off with his second or third film, creating a hype that is exceptional in film-history right up to this day. According to the customs back then, the French came up with 'Fantomas', providing a counter-weight that made considerable impact. However, in the long run James Bond has lived on while Fantomas is by now clear history.

Watching this film for the first time since 1965 or so, one must conclude that 'Fantomas' makes a comedy, as well as a clever persiflage of the contemporary James Bond (performed by Sean Connery). Shot with the techniques available back then, catching well-acted roles by prominent French actors and actresses of those years.

For those who were not around in 1965, I fear that 'Fantomas' has not much to offer. Knowledge about the mid-Sixties is necessary to understand this film to the full.

Fmovies: Recently saw this one on TV again, rekindling some childhood memories. The plot is laughable but does not even seem to take itself seriously. There is a hunch of some of the Bond movies with the mysterious almost-all-powerful villain, improbable chase and action sequences and a behaviour by the main figures that sometimes defies any attempt at rationalization. Watchable for the 60's feel, some comic and some burlesque scenes.

Simplement culte de chez culte. A voir et à revoir

Fantomas fmovies. The Fantomas novels were resurrected in the early 1960's as France's own answer to the James Bond frenzy that swept the Continent and the world. The first one of the trilogy was filmed in 1963-64 and released in 1964. This film was just Brilliant, from the acting, the super funny dialogue and to the incredible action. YES! the film had some really amazing action for its budget, make and year of release.

The opening sequence of the film is already a gas: Fantomas pulls up in a chauffeured driven Rolls Royce Silver Cloud to a fancy jeweler's store next to the Paris Ritz Hotel. His mask identifies him as a British Lord. He pays for the jewelry with a personal check and then drives off with his stunning lady friend, smiling and laughing his distinct laughter. Next, we see the check being held in the hands of the jeweler, when suddenly, the amount and signature written on it disappear (invisible ink!) and the word "FANTOMAS" appear. Pretty high-grade stuff for 1964.

Interesting to note that in all three films, the actor Jean Marais played both the criminal mastermind Fantomas and ladies man Fandor, the journalist.

I also enjoyed looking at the journalist Fandor's hip mansard apartment. Top gimmick is the rubber masks that offer Fantomas anyone's identity at will. The flying Citroen car debuted here and was used on an AMC car that flew with retractable wings 10 years later in a Bond movie.

It would be so nice to be able to get the Fantomas films on DVD here in North America.

I had always been intrigued by the exploits of this famous criminal mastermind, and especially its initial cinematic adaptation via the Silent Serial of 1913-14 made by Louis Feuillade (whose French 2-DVD Set I purchased, rather costly, and enjoyed a great deal). Another interesting version was the 1932 Paul Fejos film, which recently turned up on late-night Italian TV (in the original language!) - but I missed out on it because at the time I was in Hollywood!!

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from the Sixties revival but, as it turned out, it's a likable - and stylish - enough triptych, even if it's somewhat unbalanced by the comic relief (which increased with each new entry). Also, since I watched the three films back-to-back, they've become more or less interchangeable in my mind - especially given the fact that they have much the same cast and crew!

It's interesting that Jean Marais has a dual role - as had been the case with Jean Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946), where he was hidden behind an amazing animal make-up for virtually the entire film, as well as playing the rather bland hero - as both Fantomas (his features are still recognizable behind the rather wonderful blank-faced mask) and the intrepid reporter hero (at which he managed to be credible, despite being 50 years old!), with an equally brave partner (the lovely Mylene Demongeot) in tow; while popular comic Louis De Funes appears as Commissioner Juve, forever in pursuit of the elusive and fiendish criminal, abetted - but more often hindered - by a rotund Inspector played by Jacques Dynam.

Unfortunately, the film aspired more to the tongue-in-cheek approach, colorful scenery and the gadget-heavy thrills of the James Bond extravaganzas (featuring even a similar score!) rather than the poetic touch - which went hand in hand with the inherent surrealism of such fare - which Georges Franju gave to a contemporaneous remake/compression of another Feuillade Silent Serial, JUDEX (1963; the original was released in 1916-17). Perhaps the best scene(s) of the film is the extended set-piece at the climax in which Fantomas utilizes five separate means of transportation - train, car, motorbike, boat, submarine - in order to escape the clutches of the Law (successfully).

While the English word "actor" and the German word "Schauspieler" (lit. "watch-player", i.e. player for those who watch) are neutral concerning the genre of acting (drama, horror, comedy, etc.), the French word "comédien" means originally the player of a comedy (Comédie Française). In this linguistic difference one may recognize why in France the comedy has a quite different place-value than it has in most other countries where the comedies are for acting about what the desserts are for a meal: welcome but basically unnecessary last delights. While, consistently, comedies in France look back to a very long tradition, the specific film comedies are children of the 50ies, 60ies and 70ies and inseparably connected with names like Fernandel, Bourvil and Louis De Funès, the so-called triumvirate of French Comedy. This is most interesting not only because of its late appearance compared to the long tradition of comical stage-acting, but mostly, because its emergence goes almost hand-in-hand with that of the rather abstract, non-entertaining films of Nouvelle Vague which officially started in 1958. Another reason of interest is that, e.g. in Germany other other surrounding states of France, this is unparalleled: In Germany, e.g. the sixties have been characterized basically by "Lederhosen-" and "Heimat-Films" on the one side and by criminal movies à la Edgar Wallace and its imitations, but not by a specific form of comedy. The year 1964, in which the first of the three "Fantômas"-movies appeared (the others followed in 1965 and 1967), was the same year when the first of the six "Gendarm De Saint-Tropez" movies were shown. If one compares these two movies with the later pictures De Funès did, one can easily see that he was not yet allowed to give that typical kind of performance which made him famous. De Funès, who had been already a famous stage actor for decades and also had appeared in dozens of smaller film roles, had to become 50 years old before someone detected that his comical talent would attract the masses in France. However, it took some more years before his attraction was detected even outside of France. So, in the early 70ies, one got to see in the cinemas of the German-speaking middle Europe up to 4 different De Funès movies per year that could even stand the concurrence of the Spaghetti Westerns which reached their high popularity in the same time. Probably because he knew of his weak heart, De Funès worked like a candle that burns from both sides at once, he would not even stopped after the first of a series of severe heart-attacks. Only in his last two or three movies, when he was not allowed to make more than one picture per year, he become quieter, approximately so as we see him in the three Fantômas movies, but still exciting for everybody not familiar with him.