Fantomas (original french poster)

Fantomas returns

Fantomas against Scotland Yard

Fantomas is a french criminal created by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain in 1911. He appeared in 32 novell written by the two author and became one of the most popular character in modern french crime fiction. In the novells Fantomas is a thief and ruthless killer who uses various bizarre and improbable techniques. He is also a master of disguise.

Fantomas' popularity spawned many films starring him. The first was a silent film serial in 1913 by Louis Feuillade. Later in 1932 Paul Féjos made another Fantomas film, in which he updated the story into an action film of that time. This practice became common with Fantomas, as the next two films in 1947 (Fantomas and Fantomas against Fantomas) included flying saucers and death rays.

So it was natural that when the Bond-mania arrived to France Fantomas became a perfect villain for a Bond-spoof. André Hunebelle decied to make the film. He wasn't unfamiliar in the Eurospy genre, as he already made OSS 117 se déchaine, another Bond-spoof, in 1963. Fantomas now became a typical Bond-villain, wearing a mask to hide his real face. His base was hidden in an old castle, he had uniformed henchman and used a great variety of gadgets. The good guys are Fandor, a journalist, his girlfriend, Helen, and inspector Juve. The first film, Fantomas (1964), was succesfull and Hunebelle made two sequels, Fantomas returns (1965) and Fantomas against the Scotland Yard (1966).The films starred Jean Marais as both Fantomas and Fandor. The second film was the most obvious Bond-spoof. In one scene, where Juve shows some gadgets to the other policemans, there's even a reference to the real Bons-film. Juve says the gadgets are the most important thing and than says "Don't you watch films?".

The more interesting thing is that there are things which later resurfaced in real Bond-films. These are:

• In Fantomas returns Fantomas has a vulcan base, two years before You Only Live Twice.
• In the same films Fantomas had a car which can be turned into an airplane, nine years bafore The Man With the Golden Gun.
• In Fantomas against the Scotland Yard Fantomas' men kidnap Helen and escape on an airplane. Fandor goes after them on horse and jumps on the airplane before it takes off. A similar scene appeared in Octopussy 17 years later. You can see it on the trailer too.
• Also in this film Fandor uses a similar costume May Day uses 19 years later when she kills Aubergine on the Eiffel Tower in A View To A Kill.

Coincidences? Perhaps, since it's not likely that the makers of the Bond-films saw these films, but still, it is interesting.

Cast:

Those,who appear in all three films

Jean Marais as Fandor/Fantomas
Louis de Funés as Juve
Myléne Demongeot as Helen
Jaques Dynam as Bertrand
Robert Dalban as the editor of the "Point du Jour" newspaper

Fantomas trailer (french)

Fantomas returns trailer (french)

Fantomas against Scotland Yard trailer (french)