Fantomas (Hunebelle)

Pierre Souvestre’s Fantômas was originally adapted for the screen by legendary filmmaker Louis Feuillade (Les vampires) in 1913. André Hunebelle (OSS 117: Mission for a Killer) introduced a revamped and modernized version of Fantômas to the 1960s OSS 117 and 007 audience. All three films starred the great Jean Marais (Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast) as Fantômas, a criminal mastermind and man of a thousand faces. The three films co-starred Louis de Funès as Le commissaire Juve, Mylène Demongeot as Hélène, Jacques Dynam as L’inspecteur Bertrand and Robert Dalban as Le directeur du journal. The first film, Fantomas (Fantômas), was released in 1964, followed by Fantomas Unleashed (Fantômas se déchaîne) in 1965 and Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard (Fantômas contre Scotland Yard) in 1967. All three films were beautifully shot in ’Scope, the first two in Eastmancolor and the finale in Technicolor.