Apr

Fantomas is the name of France's glossy riposte to both James Bond and Batman. Modeled on a French fictional supercriminal, he is dedicated to evil rather than good deeds. Fantomas steals diamonds from Van Cleef & Arpels, hijacks a gambling casino, terrorizes Paris and kidnaps blondes, all the while disguised as several law-abiding characters by means of "the most perfect artificial skin." Beneath the masks lurks another mask, a bluish-grey rubbery face girdle that gives him the fiendish aspect of a dirty Mr. Clean.

For the foggiest of reasons, both Fantomas and the hot-shot Parisian journalist who seeks to undo him are played by Jean Marais. He has neither Batman's flair nor James Bond's cool, though he can easily look squarer than Superman. Passionate self-parody is Marais's gimmick, and he earns a snicker whenever he detours into the arms of that demoiselle-in-distress, Mylene Demongeot, at one point with such fervency that he seems about to fling himself out of a rising helicopter.

Foolish, nearly plotless, and with all of its explosions timed to go off just a split second too late, Fantomas ends up hors de combat. In its livelier moments, the picture is devoted to a chase involving runaway automobiles, crazy motorcycles, a freight train, a motor launch, a whirlybird, a miniature getaway submarine and an inflatable raft. Making such movies must be more fun than a picnic. Seeing them turns out to be less fun than the funny papers.

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