Fantomas

I watched this film tonight on TV5 again for the first time in 20+ years and loved it. I had always wanted to see it again because it had left only good memories from when I was a teenager and watched it on German TV where it was very popular in the 70s. The main character is an evil rogue who outwits his pursuers by his skills in disguise and technical resources. The film (and its sequels) is based on a series of 1910s French pulp novels which have only sparsely been released in the U.S. (sadly unavailable in print right now). The novels influenced French surrealist and avant-garde artists/writers because of their fascination with moral transgression and black humor (a term coined by the surrealist Andre Breton in the 1930s). If you like slapstick comedy you will also enjoy Louis de Funes in the role of Inspector Juve. Sure, the film is badly made by today's standards and technically not as brilliant as the 1960s James Bond movies that it mocks--but, hey, at least the bad guy is smarter than the good ones, which is still refreshing to see compared to most oh-so-morally-PC Hollywood flicks today.

Enjoy!