''Fantômas se déchaîne'' (, "Fantomas Unleashed") is a 1965 film starring

Jean Marais Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais (11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998), known professionally as Jean Marais (), was a French actor, film director, theatre director, painter, sculptor, visual artist, writer and photographer. He performed in over 100 f ...

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 Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza (; 31 July 1914 – 27 January 1983) was a French actor and comedian. He is France's favourite actor, according to a series of polls conducted since the late 1960s, having played over 150 roles in fi ...

as the earnest but outclassed commissaire Juve and the journalist Fandor, also played by Marais. 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, with the Fantômas

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 ...

starting 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 second in the trilogy of Fantômas films, that became extremely successful in Europe and

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and found success even in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In this film Jean Marais also plays professor Lefebvre.

Plot

In the second film of the trilogy Fantômas kidnaps distinguished scientist professor Marchand with the aim to develop a super weapon that will enable him to menace the world. Fantômas is also planning to abduct a second scientist, professor Lefebvre. Journalist Fandor develops an ingenious scheme whereby he disguises himself as Lefebvre and attends a scientific conference in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to lure Fantômas into attempting to kidnap him. The plan seems to work until commissaire Juve steps into the fray and as usual messes things up, although Juve redeems himself by saving the troupe with an array of special

gadget A gadget is a machine, mechanical device or any ingenious article. Gadgets are sometimes referred to as ''wikt:gizmo, gizmos''. History The etymology of the word is disputed. The word first appears as reference to an 18th-century tool in Glass ...

s which he has developed especially for his hunt for Fantômas. Yet, once again Fantômas escapes in style, using his

Citroën DS The Citroën DS () is a Front-mid-engine, front-wheel-drive layout, front mid-engined, front-wheel drive executive car manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1955 to 1975, in fastback/sedan, wagon/estate, and convertible body configurations ...

with retractable wings that converts into an airplane in what amounts to one of the most unexpected and spectacular scenes of the

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

.Picture of the Fantômas Citroën DS with retractable wings
through Internet Archive

Cast

Release

The film premiered in France on 8 December 1965. It was the sixth most popular film of 1965 in France, after ''

The Sucker ''The Sucker'' (, ) is a 1965 French, Italian and Spanish comedy film by Gérard Oury starring Louis de Funès, Bourvil and Venantino Venantini. To this day, it remains one of Oury's best-known films. Plot Leaving Paris for his summer vacati ...

'', '' Goldfinger'', '' Thunderball'', ''

Gendarme in New York ''Gendarme in New York'' () is a 1965 sequel to the French comedy film '' The Troops of St. Tropez''. It stars Louis de Funès as the gendarme along with Michel Galabru, Christian Marin, Guy Grosso and Michel Modo. Plot The gendarmes of St. T ...

'' and ''

Mary Poppins Mary Poppins may refer to: * Mary Poppins (character), a nanny with magical powers * Mary Poppins (franchise), based on the fictional nanny ** Mary Poppins (book series), ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fanta ...

'' and before '' God's Thunder'' and '' The Wise Guys''. It had admissions of 4,412,446.

The ''Fantômas'' trilogy

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fantomas Strikes Back 1960s crime comedy films 1960s comedy thriller films 1965 films French crime comedy films Films directed by André Hunebelle 1960s French-language films French sequel films Films set in Rome Fantômas films Italian crime comedy films 1965 comedy films 1960s Italian films 1960s French films Films scored by Michel Magne Gaumont (company) films French-language crime comedy films