He's Paris' most notorious villain! He's a master of disguise! He's teal for some reason! This week we're continuing with the Louis de Funès-helmed comedies of the sixties, this time taking a look at an adaptation of one of French cinema's oldest crime stories - an adaptation that, frankly, could only have come from the weirdo postmodernism of the postwar period. Join us as we discuss André Hunebelle's campy take on Louis Feuillade's iconic cinematic rogue...
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FANTÔMAS (1964)
Dir. by André Hunebelle
Stream for free with ads on Tubi.
He can be anyone with a quick costume change - but who is he really? Paris is held in a state of bated breath as a series of thefts, orchestrated by the mysterious criminal genius known only as Fantômas, captures the attention of the populace, with each dastardly feat proving more audacious than the last. It's bad news for the city's jewelers, but a windfall for newsmen like Fandor (Jean Marais), a journalist who has been profiting so much from the hysteria that he's gone so far as to fake new exclusive scoops to boost his readership numbers. But impersonating a famously elusive evil mastermind proves not to be the best idea, and Fandor soon finds himself face to face with the legend himself. With the only person who knows the truth of Fantômas imprisoned in his secret lair, the nation will have to rely on the detective skills of the bumbling Inspector Juves (Louis de Funès) to separate fact from fiction. But when you're up against a master of disguise (one who's got some really convincing latex masks) is anything what it seems?
A borderline absurdist crime caper that has clearly taken some cues from the early Bond movies, Hunebelle's reimagining of the Fantômas serials is full of chases, disguises, and a seeming endless supply of rope ladders. Let's talk about it!
*As a reminder, this is solely a movie discussion group - we encourage you to watch the film independently prior to coming to the meetings.
