Fantomas was a fictional master criminal created by French writers Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre in 1911. This extreme villain was lone of the most popular characters in French crime fiction and appeared in 32 novels by the pair, with an additional eleven novels by Allain alone. He appeared in at least thirteen films from 1913 to 1967; only one of which was made in America -- a 20-episode 1920 serial that was truncated to twelve episodes in its French version. Fantomas appeared in four episode in a French television production in 1980, and a French film provided the character for a Czechoslovakian television show from 1979 to 1981. There was an unproduced film adaptation planned for 2010. A new Fantomas film and a series are now scheduled for 2027. Fantomas has appeared in French, Mexican, Polish, and American comic books. At least two short stories and one novel have been written by other hands.
Fantomas was lauded by the French avante garde elite, including Guillaume Apollinaire and Rene Magritte. He has been the subject of countless pastiches, parodies, and homages -- two unauthorized appearance appeared in French plays, one pitting him against Nick Carter, the other against Sherlock Holmes. Critic Kim Newman has suggested that he was the basis for Blake Edward's Pink Panther.
In the 1947 film, Fantomas (Marcel Herrand), thought dead, returns to prevent the marriage of his daughter Helene (Simone Signoret)to the newspaperman Fandor (Andre Le Gall). He does this in the most ,logical way possible -- by killing the mayor who% to have married the couple. He tops this off by demanding a billion dollars in gold or he will kill one million Parisians. Fantomas is not on=e to make idle threats; he has a death ray.
What follows is a cat and mouse game between Fantomas and Inspector Juve (Alexandre Rignault). But who is the cat and who is the mouse? There's a lot of back and forth and a lot of peril, and the film ends -- as many of the Fantomas capers do -- with the villain presumed dead...until the next time, I'm sure. And Helene and Fandor finally get married, so yay for true love.
Directed by Jean Sacha and scripted by Jean-Louis Bouquet and Francoise Giroud, from a novel by Allain -- most likely Fantomas Attaque Fandor (1926).
English subtitles have been added to the print linked below.
Enjoy one of the most dastardly villains ever to appear between printed pages:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOd_fIp3Dco
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