FANTOMAS (1964)

We see a well-dressed couple, a British lord and his wife, enter Van Cleef & Arpels, a high-class jewelry shop, pick out 5 million francs worth of jewelry, pay with a check, and leave. No sooner is their car of sight does the writing on the check vanish and the name Fantomas appears. The brilliant crook Fantomas has struck again! Police inspector Juve appeals to the public for calm, but cocky reporter Fandor writes a series of mocking articles, climaxing with a fictitious interview which gets front page placement—along with a faked photograph of Fandor dressed up in a mask and cape—drawing the ire of the real Fantomas who kidnaps Fandor to his lair (very Batcave-ish). Fantomas enters, as dramatic organ music plays (shades of Phantom of the Opera), wearing a skintight blue mask which gives his face a blank, artificial look, and announces his intent to disguise himself as Fandor and commit a daring jewel robbery; as he says to Fandor, “You haven’t heard the last of you!” He later kidnaps Fandor’s girlfriend Helene, intending on seducing her in the guise of Fandor, and then becomes Inspector Juve as he tosses a bomb into a theater showing a movie based on Fantomas’ exploits. Fantomas’ partner in crime, Lady Bentham, becomes jealous when she learns about his plans for Helene and she lets Fandor and Helene escape, but also cuts the brakes on their getaway car, and they go careening down a mountain road. The last half-hour of the movie is basically a long chase scene involving cars, trains and helicopters that lets Fantomas live to wear disguises another day.

The original Fantomas was a criminal mastermind from the pages of French crime fiction, memorably brought to the screen in a series of silent serials and movies between 1910 and the mid 1940s. This version arrived at the height of the popularity of James Bond and partakes of the same spirit of the European comic book movies—such as Danger Diabolik and Modesty Blaise—that came later in the 1960s. This certainly has visual style, humor, and the episodic feel of a serial, and it begins and ends at what feel like random moments in the criminal career of Fantomas. But Jean Marais, a leading man in French cinema since the 1940s (he’s the Beast/Prince in Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast from 1946), is a bit too old the part. He was 50 and looks it, though he was still a handsome man, and he is certainly game for the role’s challenges—apparently he did most of his own stunts, including a dazzling bit where he escapes from a rooftop via a dangling ladder from a helicopter. But when he’s not in action, he seems tired and stodgy. John Philip Law (from Diabolik) or Franco Nero (the original Django) would have been more fun. But I love the blue mask make-up; it looks creepily real, like artificial skin. Louis de Funes, a famous French comic, is fine as Juve, as is Mylène Demongeot as Helene.  There are quite a few nice setpieces, though the epic climactic chase goes on a bit too long for my tastes. Enjoyable enough that I’ll probably watch the two sequels. [Blu-ray]