''Fantômas'' () is a 1964 French

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

starring Jean Marais as the arch villain

Fantômas Fantômas () is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914). One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas was created in 1911 and appeared ...

opposite Louis de Funès as the earnest but outclassed commissaire Paul Juve. In the film Juve teams up with

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Fandor, also played by Marais, trying to catch Fantômas but never quite succeeding. It was

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

's answer, in 1964, to the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

phenomenon that swept the world at around the same time. It is the first film of a

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games. Three-part works that are considered components of ...

, and ''Fantômas'' became extremely successful in

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, the

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and

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. It found success even in the

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, where fan websites exist to this day. Mylène Demongeot plays "Hélène Gurn", the girlfriend of "Jérôme Fandor", Fantômas'

arch enemy Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a Supergroup (music), supergroup from Halmstad, formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass (band), Carcass, Armageddon (Swedish band), Armageddon, Carnage (band), Carna ...

. The general tone of the films is more light-hearted than the original ''Fantômas'' novels. Commissaire Juve, as played by Louis de Funès, becomes a comedic character, much unlike his

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

counterpart.

Plot

Fantômas is a man of many disguises. He uses ''maquillage'' as a weapon. He can impersonate anyone using an array of masks and can create endless confusion by constantly changing his appearance. In the first episode of the series he is unhappy with Fandor, because of a fictitious interview the journalist wrote about him. He takes his revenge by abducting Fandor and threatening to kill him. He then uses his formidable makeup skills to commit a spectacular crime while disguised like Fandor. When commissaire Juve joins the chase, chameleon-like Fantômas promptly commits a crime wearing a mask looking like Juve. In the end Fandor, Juve and Fandor's girlfriend Hélène are all on the master criminal's trail, all to no avail as the man of a thousand masks finally manages to escape.

Cast

Release

The film was released in France on 4 November 1964 and in the United States on 5 April 1966.

The ''Fantômas'' trilogy

Reception

The film was the fifth most popular movie at the French box office in 1964. It had admissions of 4,492,419.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fantomas (film) 1964 films 1960s crime comedy films 1960s comedy thriller films French crime comedy films Films directed by André Hunebelle 1960s French-language films Fantômas films 1964 comedy films 1960s French films Films scored by Michel Magne Gaumont (company) films French-language crime comedy films eo:Fantômas#Fantomaso