Fantômas

Opening a trilogy about the same villain, the 1964 French-Italian crime comedy Fantômas was directed by André Hunebelle. Made by Gaumont, it was France's answer to the James Bond craze; the screenplay by Jean Halain and Pierre Foucaud draws on the novels of Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. It opened on 4 November 1964 and drew about 4.5 million viewers in France and, once released there in 1967, more than 45 million in the Soviet Union; it also did well across Europe, in Japan and in the United States.

Jean Marais plays both the criminal mastermind Fantômas and his arch-enemy, the journalist Jérôme Fandor. Louis de Funès, as Commissaire Paul Juve, carries the comedy: earnest but forever outclassed, he becomes a figure very unlike his literary counterpart. Mylène Demongeot plays Fandor's girlfriend Hélène Gurn, with Robert Dalban also in the cast.

Rather than follow Louis Feuillade's 1913 silent serial faithfully, Hunebelle built an action comedy close to parody; Allain sued over the production and died before the case ended. The hit led to Fantômas se déchaîne (1965) and Fantômas contre Scotland Yard (1967).