Night of Open Sex (1983)

Night of Open Sex (La noche de los sexos abiertos) is a 1983 Jess Franco movie that springs a few surprises. It’s not quite what it initially appears to be.

This is one of the movies Jess Franco made for Golden Films. This was both the worst and the best part of his career. It was his worst period in the sense that Golden Films turned out to be totally incompetent when it came to securing foreign distribution for his movies. These movies remained entirely unseen and unknown outside of Spain.

On the other hand it was his happiest period because Golden Films offered him an unprecedented level of creative control. He could do absolutely anything he wanted to do. And nothing mattered more to Franco than creative control.

Even when Franco’s cult following later started to build these movies continued to be almost totally unseen and unknown to his fans outside of Spain. This finally started to change some years back and these movies are now available, in subtitled form (they were never dubbed into English) and in remarkably good transfers, on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Their initially very poor reputation among eurocult fans has gradually grown but they are still far too often overlooked.

Night of Open Sex introduces us to erotic dancer Moira (Lina Romay). Through the rather sleazy Vickers (Miguel Ángel Aristu) she has become mixed up in some sort of espionage plot. Her job is to take the place of another girl, Tina Klaus (Juana de la Morena), and deliver a secret message to the General. Vickers has kidnapped Tina and she has been forced to reveal the plan concerning the message.

Al Crosby (Antonio Mayans) appears on the scene. The name suggests that he is going to be another variation on the Al Pereira character who pops up in so many Franco films, usually in the guise of a hardboiled private eye.

Whatever deal is going down, Al wants in on it. He wants Moira to accept him as a partner.

He also wants to sleep with Moira. He has to be very forcefully persuasive at first but Moira seems delighted with the outcome.

Al and Moira have a problem. They have the message but it’s in code and they have no idea what it’s all about. Al figures there’s money involved.

There’s still the problem of Vickers, and there’s another couple who want a piece of this action. There’s plenty of potential here for violence and double-crosses.

It all leads up to a totally unexpected ending which I absolutely loved.

There’s a staggering amount of sex and nudity. Lina Romay is nude for the majority of the film’s running time and you won’t be surprised to see a lot of shots of the most intimate parts of her anatomy. The other actresses spend a lot of time naked as well. The sex scenes are softcore but very raunchy.

The highlight of any Franco movie is likely to be the nightclub act scenes and Moira’s act has to be seen to be believed. When you’ve seen it you still won’t believe it. The things she does with those magazines. And the car. She’s a very imaginative lady.

At some point in this movie you’re going to have one of those “I don’t think we’re in Kansas any more Toto” moments. It’s not that anything supernatural or paranormal or science fictional, or impossible, happens. You just know that this is not reality. Maybe part of it is reality. Or maybe none of it. You start to realise that the plot is following dream logic rather than ordinary logic. Characters suddenly do wildly unexpected out-of-character things. It’s clear that this is not a flaw in the script. This is intentional. Uncle Jess is playing with our heads.

Stephen Thrower has suggested that the entire movie is an extended sexual fantasy (or series of sexual fantasies). I think he’s probably spot on. It’s a sexual fantasy rather than a dream or a hallucination or an exercise in surrealism.

Which raises lots of interesting questions. Are we supposed to believe that these people have any actual existence? Is this Jess Franco’s sexual fantasy which he’s inviting us to share? Is it to any extent Moira’s fantasy? And given the close collaboration between Franco and Lina Romay and the fact there was apparently quite a bit of improvising going on, are there any elements that might be Lina’s fantasy? Or a fantasy shared by Jess and Lina?

There is one genuinely shocking scene, but of course if this really is supposed to be taken as a fantasy then that scene becomes much less disturbing. Other mildly disturbing scenes become not disturbing at all.

The sex scenes are very passionate but they’re also just a little jokey. They’re mostly good-natured. You have to love the way Moira starts yelling “Oh Tarzan” as her sexual frenzy increases and in one encounter she gives an actual Tarzan jungle call when she comes. It’s one of the things that is so engaging about this movie - these sudden goofy moments.

The final sex scene is priceless. It may be the culmination of Franco’s career as a filmmaker. It’s not that it’s graphic, it isn’t, but the context is delightfully surprising.

Night of Open Sex is crazy, but it’s crazy in a subtle way. The craziness creeps up on the viewer. I liked it a lot. Highly recommended.

Severin have provided a great transfer with some very desirable extras. As always the pick of the extras is Stephen Thrower’s perceptive video essay.

OSS 117: Mission to Tokyo (1966)

OSS 117: Mission to Tokyo (AKA Terror in Tokyo, original title Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117), is a 1966 French eurospy movie directed by Michel Boisrond and starring Frederick Stafford. This was the fourth of the 1960s OSS 117 movies, based on Jean Bruce’s novels featuring secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, codenamed OSS 117.

A mystery organisation claim to have invented a super-weapon which they will use unless governments pay them a hundred million dollars. Military bases will be their targets.

CIA agent OSS 117 is assigned to the case. The best lead is a woman in Tokyo who is being blackmailed by the mystery organisation into providing them with the information they need to target those bases.

The woman is Eva Wilson (Marina Vlady). The plan is for Eva to make contact with the bad guys. Hubert will pretend to be her husband (her actual husband is in Washington).

Hubert and Eva decide that it’s important to make Hubert’s masquerade as her husband convincing so they sleep together.

There’s a meet in a girlie bar where Hubert encounters a pretty Japanese girl, Tetsuko (Jitsuko Yoshimura). Tetsuko might be able to provide a further lead but even if she can’t Hubert doesn’t mind. He doesn’t really need a reason to pursue pretty girls.

Hubert’s problem is that he is now involved with two women and he can’t be sure if he can trust either of them. Maybe he’ll have a better idea of that after he’s slept with both of them.

Hubert’s bigger problem is to find the villains’ secret headquarters, and their super-weapon. He has to deal with lots of heavies who want to do him harm.

This was Frederick Stafford’s second and final appearance as OSS 117. He looks like the kind of guy who might be a secret agent, he’s good in the action scenes and he’s likeable and charming. Hubert is a skirt-chaser, but he only chases girls who like to be chased.

Marina Vlady and Jitsuko Yoshimura are fine as the two women mixed up in the case. Jitsuko Yoshimura in particular is bubbly and cute.

Perhaps the villains could have been more colourful.

The plot is a pretty standard eurospy plot but it’s serviceable enough. The movie moves along fairly briskly. The fight scenes are reasonably good.

The bad guys’ secret lair doesn’t compare to anything from a Bond movie but it’s OK.

Director Michel Boisrond doesn’t try anything fancy but he’s quite competent.

There’s a decent mix of action and romance. Perhaps surprisingly it’s all played very very straight with no comic interludes.

The action finale is fairly exciting. Obviously a lot less spectacular than a Bond movie but for a modestly budgeted movie perfectly satisfactory.

OSS 117: Mission to Tokyo doesn’t quite have as much eurospy craziness as I would have liked.

On the whole this is a thoroughly enjoyable rather lighthearted spy thriller and it’s highly recommended.

I’ve reviewed the two previous OSS 117 movies, OSS 117 Is Unleashed (1963) and Panic in Bangkok. They’re worth seeing.

Mission Bloody Mary (1965)

Mission Bloody Mary, released in 1965, was the first of a series of three eurospy movies featuring Ken Clark as American secret agent Dick Malloy, Agent 077. It was an Italian-French-Spanish co-production. It was followed by From the Orient with Fury (Agente 077 dall'oriente con furore) and Special Mission Lady Chaplin (Missione speciale Lady Chaplin).

Confusingly it appears that Agent 077 was named Jack Clifton in the European versions but renamed Dick Malloy in the English dubbed versions.

Mission Bloody Mary begins in a typical eurospy way. Someone has been causing US military aircraft to crash and they have stolen a new super H-bomb nicknamed the Bloody Mary.

It’s obviously a case for the CIA’s top agent Dick Malloy, if they can tear him away from the case he’s working on at the moment. That case happens to be a beautiful blonde. Agent 077 hates leaving a job unfinished but he promises the blonde that he’ll be back to finish the job.

Agent 077 finds his contact and of course she’s a glamorous female, Dr Elsa Freeman (Helga Liné). There’s another glamorous female who seems likely to be more dangerous, a Chinese stripper named Kuan (played by Mitsouko).

The bodies slowly start to accumulate. And people are trying to kill Dick Malloy, so he must be getting close to something.

The CIA can’t provide Dick with much information. They know the Black Lily is involved, but they don’t know whether the Black Lily is an organisation or a person, or whether it refers to a man or a woman. The Black Lily might be operating independently, or on behalf of the Chinese or the Soviets. And that bomb could be hidden anywhere.

There will of course be double-crosses. This is after all a spy story. The script provides plenty of twists. Some of them you’ll see coming but some of them you won’t.

There are glamorous women and poor Malloy has no idea which of them he can trust. He gets into plenty of tight corners but he’s a tough guy and he can slug or shoot his way out of most situations.

Ken Clark was one of those American actors who realised that they weren’t going to reach the top in Hollywood but might do a lot better in Italy. He made peplums, spaghetti western, eurospy and action movies. He was the ruggedly handsome American type who prospered in 60s eurocult movies. He makes a more than adequate square-jawed wise-cracking hero.

Helga Liné and Mitsouko add some glamour. The other cast members are all perfectly competent.

The major difference between the Bond movies and eurospy movies was of course money. The makers of eurospy movies did not have the budgets for elaborate sets, fancy gadgetry and spectacular action set-pieces. They had to rely on more conventional action scenes. A lot depended on just how good a director was at staging such scenes. In this case Sergio Grieco proves to be very competent. The action scenes are excellent.

And there are plenty of them. Pacing is crucial to the success of these kinds of movies. The lower the budget of the movie the less forgiving the audience is going to be of slow patches. This movie has no slow patches. It just keeps powering along.

Director Sergio Grieco had a fairly typical career for an Italian genre director. He made peplums, swashbucklers and quite a few eurospy movies. Later he dabbled in poliziotteschi and sex comedies.

This was 1965 so there’s no nudity but there are some witty sexy moments. A good place for a woman to hide a secret message is in her bra, especially if she can be sure that the man for whom the message is intended will get the chance to look inside her bra. And Mitsouko gets to do a strip-tease routine.

At one point Malloy has to make sure that a female agent is not an imposter. To do so he will have to make a careful examination of her left breast. Fortunately one of Malloy’s secret agent skills is persuading young ladies to remove their clothing.

The violence isn’t graphic but the fight scenes are quite full-blooded.

Mission Bloody Mary has relatively few of the outrageous and fantastic elements that populate a lot of eurospy movies, in fact it has almost none, but it manages to provide plenty of excitement, and it’s stylish enough in a slightly gritty sort of way. On the whole this is a top-notch eurospy offering and it’s highly recommended.

The German Pidax Jack Clifton Agent 077 DVD boxed set includes all three 077 movies, with the English soundtracks as well. The transfers are fine.

I’ve reviewed the other two Agent 077 movies, From the Orient with Fury (1965) and the superb Special Mission Lady Chaplin (1966).

OSS 117: Mission for a Killer (1965)

OSS 117: Mission for a Killer (Furia à Bahia pour OSS 117) is one of the French eurospy thrillers based on Jean Bruce’s books featuring secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, codenamed OSS 117. It was the third movie in the series to be directed by André Hunebelle.

Kerwin Matthews had played OSS 117 in the previous two films. In OSS 117: Mission for a Killer the role was taken over by Frederick Stafford.

Our spy hero is enjoying a skiing holiday but the holiday is cut short when he is assigned to investigate a series of suicide bombings in South America. The suicide bombers have no political histories and there is a suspicion that they are being turned into human robots through the use of some mysterious drug. OSS 117 soon finds himself on an airliner bound for Rio de Janeiro. He will be posing as a man named Hubert Delcroix.

On arrival he discovers that his contact, Ellis, has had an unfortunate car accident which was unlikely to be an accident. Visiting Ellis in hospital leads to a wild and lengthy (and very well done) fight scene but Hubert is too late to save Ellis from an assassin. Hubert has to beat a hasty retreat from the hospital before the police arrive and he takes the girl with him.

What girl you may be asking? The girl is Anna-Maria Sulza (played by the gorgeous Mylène Demongeot) and Hubert doesn’t know where she fits in but she fits in somewhere.

Hubert has three females to deal with (all of them gorgeous) and he’s by no means sure which of them (if any) he can trust. Of course there are also various people trying to kill him.

There’s an important clue in Ellis’s safe, which suggests that Hubert needs to find out what is happening with a remote Indian tribe. This might lead to an explanation of the hypnotic super-drug being used to turn people into remote-controlled killers. The tribe lives near Anna-Maria’s ranch.

There’s some kind of revolutionary group behind all this. In fact it’s a whole revolutionary army. Their agenda isn’t too clear but they definitely want power and they mean business.

Frederick Stafford makes a fine hero. He’s a fairly typical eurospy hero, quick with the wise-cracks and with an eye for the ladies and he has real charm. Mylène Demongeot makes a terrific sexy heroine.

Eurospy movies naturally couldn’t hope to match the truly spectacular action set-pieces and the outrageous sets of the Bond movies. The most successful eurospy movies tried to make up for this with as many decent fight scenes as they could shoehorn into a movie and the fight scenes in this movie are good and very imaginatively staged. In fact they’re very good indeed. And there’s a well-handled full-scale battle at the end. Lots of stuff gets blown up.

Eurospy movies also relied on style, and this movie has plenty of that.

It manages not to look cheap and there’s some fine location shooting in Brazil. The budget was obviously reasonably generous.

Director André Hunebelle did this sort of thing extremely well. He directed several of the OSS 117 movies as well as the three 1960s Fantomas movies (which are much more lighthearted but just as energetic and fast-moving).

The plot has the touches of outrageousness that the eurospy genre demands but it remains quite coherent.

I’ve now seen three of the OSS 117 movies and this may be the best I’ve seen so far.

Kino Lorber have released five of the OSS 117 movies in a Blu-Ray set (and on DVD as well). The transfers are excellent. This set is an absolute must-buy for eurospy fans. It’s a real treat to see such movies decently presented in their correct aspect ratios and looking terrific.

OSS 117: Mission for a Killer is pure high-octane fun and is highly recommended.

I’ve reviewed the two previous OSS 117 movies, OSS 117 Is Unleashed (1963) and Panic in Bangkok as well as André Hunebelle first two Fantomas movies, Fantomas (1964) and Fantomas Unleashed (1965). All are worth seeing.

Claude Chabrol’s Blue Panther (1965)

Claude Chabrol’s Blue Panther (the original French title is Marie-Chantal contre Dr Kha) is a lighthearted 1965 eurospy romp, or at least that’s what you might assume you're going to get. That assumption would be entirely incorrect.

What you're actually going to get is a French New Wave deconstruction of the spy movie. And it gets very meta and very postmodern. If that sort of thing appeals to you then you'll enjoy this movie. If you were hoping for a fun eurospy move you'll be very disappointed.

My full review can be found at Classic Movie Ramblings.

Kommissar X – Three Golden Serpents (1969)

The seven West German Kommissar X eurospy movies made between 1965 and 1971 were based on the incredibly popular Kommissar X book series. Paul Alfred Mueller (1901-1970) wrote 620 Kommissar X books under the name Bert F. Island. Yes, you read that right. 620 books.

Drei goldene Schlangen (AKA Three Golden Serpents AKA Island of Lost Girls AKA Beautiful Lost Girls in Hell's Island) was the sixth of the Kommissar X movies and was released in 1969.

The Kommissar X films started out as standard erospy movies (albeit very good eurospy movies) but the later entries in the cycle have more to do with crime-fighting than espionage. At least in this one it’s an international crime syndicate so the feel is not too different from a eurospy film, it just lacks the gadgets and the slightly science fictional touches one associates with eurospy flicks. It seems quite likely that the switch to crime-fighting was the result of increasingly tight budgets.

The two lead actors are once again Tony Kendall (as Joe Walker) and Brad Harris (as Captain Tom Rowland). Rowland is on holiday in Bangkok when an American woman, a Mrs Leighton, asks him for help. She believes that her daughter Phyllis has been kidnapped. The mother doesn’t want the police involved. Rowland reluctantly agrees that maybe Joe Walker is the man who can help.

In these later movies Joe Walker is a private eye rather than a secret agent but he’s as cocky and cheerful and irresponsible as ever. Tom Rowland is still pretending to be horrified by the thought of having to work with Joe yet again. He disapproves of Joe’s irresponsibility but of course if you’ve watched the earlier movies you know that these two really are buddies. Tom just likes to complain. It makes him feel better.

Almost immediately there is an attempt on Joe’s life. Followed by numerous additional attempts. It’s obvious that he’s stumbled into something big and he’s up against people who are both murderous and persistent. Fortunately they’re not very competent.

Joe and Tom do have one important clue. Two of the would-be assassins have a tattoo showing three entwined snakes. It sounds like a religious cult or a crime gang.

Phyllis has indeed been kidnapped and her captors intend to sell her into prostitution. First they will break her spirit wth drugs and psychological torture. While being held captive she meets Petra. Petra appears to be working for the crime gang, but she promises to help Phyllis. We don’t know what to make of Petra. Is she planning to double-cross the crime gang or is she intending to betray Phyllis? Either way Petra is definitely one feisty gal. After escaping she steals a boat, and killing the three crew members is like child’s play for her.

Joe and Tom have heard rumours of an island which men can visit, but they have to agree to be drugged for the trip there so that they have no way of knowing where the island is. When they get there they will find an assortment of very pretty girls to entertain them.

The island may be owned by Madame Kim Soo, a very rich very respectable lady active in charity work. The police are sure she would never be involved in anything shady, and would certainly not be running an island brothel.

Joe decides he’d like to visit this island. He’ll pretend to be a Texan millionaire. He’s sure no-one will recognise him.

Nothing can go wrong because he has a radio transmitter in his sunglasses. Tom Rowland will be able to keep in touch with him and the police should be able to use the signal to locate the island (which they do using a groovy machine with a spinning globe on top of it). It’s a good plan. As long as nothing happens to those sunglasses.

Joe’s mission is not just to close down Madame Kim Soo’s sex island. His main task is to rescue Phyllis, presumably held prisoner on that island.

The action is pretty much non-stop and it’s done quite well. The violence isn’t graphic at all but the body count is high.

The Thai locations are used well. By this time the Kommissar X movies were being shot in colour and Three Golden Serpents looks impressive.

There are lots of beautiful women and lots of topless scenes.

The battle on the mud flats is a crazy but effectively weird touch.

Tony Kendall and Brad Harris were working together as a well-oiled machine by this stage. The supporting players are all perfectly competent.

Director Roberto Mauri worked in the usual array of genes and was also responsible for the delightfully goofy King of Kong Island (1968). His work on Three Golden Serpents might not be inspired but he keeps things moving.

Three Golden Serpents isn’t trying to be anything more than pure entertainment and as long as you accept this and don’t try to analyse the movie it works on that level. Perhaps not quite as good as the previous movie in the series, Three Blue Panthers, but still recommended.

The German DVD boxed set offers this movie in both German and English language versions. It gets a pleasing anamorphic transfer.

Kommissar X - Drei blaue Panther (1968)

Released in 1968, Drei blaue Panther (AKA Three Blue Panthers AKA Kill Panther Kill) was the fifth of the seven Kommissar X eurocrime/eurospy movies made in Germany between 1965 and 1971. They were based on a prolific and hugely successful series of books written by Paul Alfred Mueller under the name Bert F. Island. He wrote no less than 620 Kommissar X books!

The heroes of both the books and the films are American private eye Joe Walker (played in the films by Tony Kendall) and New York cop Tom Rowland (played by Brad Harris). Joe Walker is a devil-may-care sort of guy fitting pretty neatly into the stereotype of a glamorous private eye. Tom Rowland is a tough no-nonsense cop who thinks his pal Joe is wild and irresponsible.

This adventure begins with the ambush of a police van. The object was to spring convicted robber Arthur Hillary. Hillary knows where the loot from a spectacular jewel robbery is hidden. His brother Robert has the jewels and Arthur doesn’t know exactly where they’re hidden.

The two brothers don’t get on, partly because Arthur thinks Robert stole his girl Elizabeth (Erika Blanc). Elizabeth is now married to Robert.

In the English dubbed version the surname Hillary is changed to Tracy.

Robert lives in Canada and that’s where Arthur and his accomplices are heading. That’s also where Tom Rowland is. He’s helping the local Canadian police on this case.

Tom is rather taken aback when he discovers that Joe Walker, who is supposed to be Brazil has just checked into the same hotel he’s staying in. What on earth is Joe doing in Canada?

Joe is in fact working for the insurance company so he’s trying to recover the jewels. Since Tom is trying to find the thieves it makes sense for them to coöperate which, after much squabbling, they do.

There’s much more serious disagreement between the two Hillary (or Tracy) brothers. When I tell you that they’re twin brothers you’ll have some idea of the likely nature of those complications.

Arthur’s accomplices want the jewels as well. There’s not much honour among these thieves.

Finding the jewels is the challenge. Whenever they are they’re very well hidden.

Another complication is Robert’s nurse/secretary Emily (Corny Collins). Robert seems very fond of her, and Elizabeth has noticed this.

Tom also seems to have grown very fond of Elizabeth, in a way that might conceivably affect his professional judgment.

The plot revolves around those missing jewels, with various characters willing to bump each other off and resort to other nastiness in order to get them.

At this point you might be thinking that this doesn’t sound like a eurospy movie. Where are the gadgets? Where is the outlandish spy thriller plot in which the fate of the world hangs in the balance? You’d be right to wonder. The Kommissar X movies certainly started out as typical (and very fine) examples of the eurospy genre. By the time we get to this fifth film we find that the series has morphed into something entirely different. This is a pure crime thriller. There’s no hint whatsoever of spies or diabolical criminal masterminds or international intrigue.

It seems that the producers had decided that the 60s spy craze had just about run its course and that glamorous crime thrillers set in exotic locations (liberally sprinkled with pretty girls) were going to be the wave of the future. They may have been correct in feeling that the eurospy genre was close to being played out.

You might also think that Canada is an odd choice as the setting, since eurospy movies usually had more exotic settings. The reason may have been that Expo 67 was happening in Montreal at the time the movie was being shot. Expo 67 was the biggest and most successful world’s fair in history. It’s used as the background for much of the action in the movie and at the time it would have given the movie a very up-to-date and topical feel. And since this is a crime movie rather than a spy movie the futuristic trappings of Expo 67 (monorails and such things) supplied some of the technological coolness that had been provided by the secret spy headquarters and the gadgetry of the earlier spy-oriented films.

The action moves along at a brisk pace. There’s a pretty cool fight scene in a martial arts club. Theres an epic fight scene later on. Being outnumber six or eight to one doesn’t even slow Joe and Tom down. Corpses slowly accumulate. Lovely ladies are threatened with torture.

Tony Kendall (who was of course Italian) and Brad Harris always make a great team. In this film their constant efforts to get the better of each other provide extra amusement. There are very satisfactory villains and three lovely ladies all of whom can act. There’s mayhem aplenty but no graphic violence and no sex.

The early Kommissar X movies have long been available in English dubbed versions but sourced from very poor washed-out prints. The recent German DVD boxed set provides lovely bright vibrant transfers and the English-dubbed soundtrack of Kommissar X - Drei blaue Panther is provided as well.

Although it’s not technically a eurospy movie it still has much of the eurospy vibe to it. A fast-paced fun movie. Highly recommended.

Fantomas Unleashed (1965)

Fantomas Unleashed, released in 1965, was the second of André Hunebelle’s three Fantomas movies.

The great diabolical criminal mastermind Fantomas, created by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, made his first appearance in print in 1911 and would eventually feature in 43 novels, as well as comics and movies. The Fantomas books are outrageous pulpy fun with unbelievably convoluted plots and an air of breathless excitement and mystery as Fantomas seemingly has the ability to strike when and where he chooses.

The first of Hunebelle’s movie adaptations, Fantomas, came out in 1964. It was a huge success and very influential. The various pop art and comic-inspired fantasy adventure movies of the 60s, movies like Danger: Diabolik and Barbarella, were inspired to some extent by Fantomas. Fantomas also had a huge influence on the spy and action-adventure genres in the late 60s.

What’s interesting about Fantomas Unleashed is that it makes use of many of the plot devices that Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre loved so much. Both the good guys and the bad guys in the novels are continually adopt ingenious disguises and it’s obvious right away that this 1965 movie is going to make plentiful use of this device. I think this is very cool since it’s totally in tune with the spirit of the source material.

In the novels Fantomas’s arch-enemies, Inspector Juve and journalist Jérôme Fandor, often have to battle official scepticism. In this movie Commissioner Juve (Louis de Funès) has just been presented with an official decoration for his achievement in ridding France of the menace of Fantomas.

In fact Fantomas is still very much alive and he’s hatching his most ambitious and most evil plot to date. He has kidnapped a scientist, Professor Marchand, and he intends to force the unfortunate scientist to develop a super mind control weapon for him. But one scientist is not enough. Fantomas will also need to kidnap Professeur Lefèvre.

This is where the disguise idea really takes off in outrageous directions. Fantomas is impersonating Professeur Lefèvre, but Fandor is impersonating him as well in an attempt to trap Fantomas. There are three Professeur Lefèvres running about, creating ever-increasing chaos.

Fantomas also tries to manipulate Fandor’s girlfriend Hélène. He hopes to use her to put pressure on Fandor but mostly we get the impression he just wants to make her his mistress.

Juve disguises himself as well, as the chaos level just keeps increasing.

Juve also puts a great deal of faith in gadgets (this was 1965, a time when the Bond movies were just beginning to embrace the idea of gadgets). Juve’s gadgets are remarkably silly although it has to be admitted that his trick raincoat really is quite funny.

Naturally Fantomas has some gadgets of his own up his sleeve, one of which provides a rather Bond movie ending.

The movies have a sillier more lighthearted tone than the novels but in the mid-60s that was probably a sensible commercial decision. Personally I think Louis de Funès overdoes the comic stuff a little as Juve. Juve becomes a bit of a Clouseau-like bumbling ass. It does have to be said however that Louis de Funès did know how to do comedy.

Jean Marais plays both Fantomas and Fandor, as he does in all three Fantomas movies. In a movie in which so much of the plot hinges on disguises that was quite a clever move. And in this movie Marais plays Professeur Lefèvre as well. Marais’ performance is one of the movie’s greatest strengths.

Mylène Demongeot is funny and charming and sexy as Fandor’s fiancée Hélène. She played Hélène in all three Fantomas movies.

Fantomas is like Dr Fu Manchu. You know that his plans will almost certainly be foiled but you also feel pretty sure that he’ll escape. He has to escape, in order to appear in the next instalment.

The sets are wonderful, very pop art and very eye-catching. And of course the Fantomas blue makeup became iconic. The pacing just doesn’t let up. There’s no danger of boredom. There are fine stunts and the special effects were pretty cool in 1965.

This movie is included in Kino Lorber’s three-movie Fantomas boxed set (on DVD or Blu-Ray) which really is an absolute must-buy if you’re a eurospy fan or a fan of comic book-inspired eurocrime movies. The transfers are excellent.

Fantomas Unleashed is a worthy follow-up to the first Fantomas movie. Highly recommended.

I've reviewed several of the books at Vintage Pop Fictions, including the book that started it all in 1911, Fantômas.

Danger: Diabolik (1968), Blu-Ray review

Danger: Diabolik (the original Italian title was Diabolik), released in 1968, is Mario Bava’s spectacular big-budget comic-book action adventure thriller, except that he didn’t have a big budget. The movie was made on what was, by the standards of Hollywood action adventure thrillers, a very modest budget. He didn’t care. He just made do with the money he had and came up with one of the finest movies of its type ever made.

It’s one of quite a few European movies of its era to be influenced by European comics, especially Italian fumetti. These European comics are very very different in flavour to American comics. They’re aimed at adults and they’re sexy and witty and exciting and they provide perfect material for movies. Diabolik was one of the most successful comics in the Italian fumetti neri genre, adult-oriented comics focusing on crime, sex and violence. The Diabolik comic was created in 1962 by two sisters, Angela and Luciana Giussani. By the mid-60s the comic had become a pop culture phenomenon in Italy and the time was right for a movie version.

Bava’s movie has no sex and the violence is fairly restrained and it has a fairly lighthearted tone (it’s much less violent than the Diabolik comic). It does however retain the comic book flavour and the comic book aesthetic. The movie has zero interest in realism. There are incidents which could have been silly (such as Diabolik disrupting an official press conference with laughing gas) but if you accept that this is the world of comics then these incidents just add to the comic book feel. We don’t mind the amazing and indeed impossible escapes from danger.

This is not a spoof and it does not have the high camp sensibility of the Batman TV series. That’s something that needs to be emphasised. It’s a fun movie and it’s very amusing at times but you cannot appreciate this movie properly if you treat is as a spoof or an exercise in camp. Bava is having fun but the movie takes the fumetti genre seriously. There’s a respect for the source material and for the conventions of the genre.

Danger: Diabolik starts with a ten million dollar heist. Elaborate precautions have been taken to ensure the money’s safety. The authorities know that such a large amount of money will be a temptation that the notorious Diabolik will be unable to resist. But Diabolik has been one step ahead of them all the way.

Diabolik makes it back to his huge underground headquarters after the heist, with his girlfriend Eva. And we start to get a sense of what motivates Diabolik. He’s a thief and he likes money but there’s more to it than that. Being a super-criminal is fun and it excites him, and it excites Eva. They already have money but it’s the challenge of planning and executing a heist rather than the money that really excites them. And it’s a chance to thumb their noses at authority figures. There’s a definite anti-authority tone to the movie (which was very much in tune with the zeitgeist of the late 60s). Diabolik and Eva are the villains but they’re a whole lot more likeable than those authority figures. They have chosen an outlaw lifestyle.

Diabolik’s next coup will be the theft of a fabulously valuable emerald necklace. Because the idea of possessing that necklace thrills Eva, and Diabolik will give Eva anything she wants. And Eva knows he will enjoy stealing it for her. They’re madly in love with each other, and they’re madly in love with the idea of being outlaws.

Then there’s the gold heist, and this is a heist that is purely an anti-authoriatrian gesture.

Inspector Ginko isn’t a particularly nasty cop as cops go but he represents the law and we want Diabolik to win. The Minister for Home Affairs (a terrific comic performance by Terry-Thomas) is an absurd figure because he represents the government. If it’s a duel between a bungling pompous government and two glamorous sexy outlaws whose side are you going to be on?

John Philip Law was not the world’s most expressive actor but he is perfectly cast as Diabolik. He looks like a cool handsome sexy super-criminal and Mario Bava was always primarily interested in the visuals. And Law gives the right performance - he’s super-cool and always in control.

The gorgeous Marisa Mell is also perfect as his girlfriend Eva. She looks like the kind of super-model who would be dating a super-criminal. Interestingly enough Catherine Deneuve was originally cast in this role but was fired by Bava because she thought some scenes were too sexy. Deneuve was a major star and a great actress but she would have been totally wrong. Marisa Mell wasn’t a star but she was the right choice.

Which brings us to the eroticism of the movie. There are no graphic sex scenes, not even moderately graphic ones. There’s no actual nudity. But it’s still a very very sexy movie. There are scenes that go tantalisingly close to nudity and Marisa Mell wears some extraordinarily revealing outfits but Bava is teasing us, and it makes the movie more erotic rather than less so.

Apparently the budget was around $3 million but Bava had no idea what to do with all that money and ended up making the movie for $400,000.

The sets are spectacular, particularly Diabolik’s underground headquarters, but they aren’t sets. They’re Bava’s visual magic tricks. The scenes cost almost nothing to shoot, much to the amusement of producer Dino De Laurentiis who joked that he was going to tell Paramount the set cost a million dollars. And they’d have believed him. What they wouldn’t have believed was that Bava could do stuff like that for a few hundred dollars. And Bava preferred doing it the cheap way because then he had perfect control.

There have been countless movies and TV series based on comic books but the only director who has ever done it properly was Mario Bava. Bava understood what made comics work, he understood the structure and the grammar and the vocabulary of comics and the dynamic of the comic book medium. Danger: Diabolik remains the only comic book movie ever made that captures the authentic flavour of comics.

Bava also understood the tone of the fumetti neri. He understood that comics have their own logic. Things that would seem ridiculous in a novel or a straightforward movie make sense in the comic book world. The fumetti neri were intentionally outrageous and frenetic and supercharged. If you try to adapt a comic and you adopt a mocking or ironic tone or if you aim for camp you will fail. Diabolik is not a figure of fun. He’s a particular kind of super-villain, a comic book super-villain, but he has to be played straight. Eva is a comic book super-villainess and she has to be played straight. There can be no tongue-in-cheek aspects to the performances.

Mention must be made of Ennio Morricone’s score. It’s not just brilliant. It captures the comic book feel to perfection.

Shout! Factory’s Blu-Ray includes two audio commentaries (both worth listening to) and a very good documentary on the links between the movie and the fumetti neri.

It should be added that one of the inspirations for the Diabolik comic was the Fantomas novels, and the 1964 Fantomas movie undoubtedly had some influence on Bava's movie.

Danger: Diabolik is just so much fun, and so stylish and fast-paced. Very highly recommended.

OSS 117 Panic in Bangkok (1964)

OSS 117 Panic in Bangkok (AKA Shadow of Evil) is one of the very popular French OSS 117 eurospy movies.

The character of Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath was created by Jean Bruce in a lengthy series of spy novels. After his death the series was continued by his wife Josette and later by his daughter Martine and her husband. The series eventually ran to over 250 novels (published between 1949 and 1993). The first movie adaptation was made in 1956. The character was revived very successfully in 1963 with OSS 117 Is Unleashed featuring American actor Kerwin Mathews as OSS 117. OSS 117 Panic in Bangkok followed in 1964, again with Kerwin Mathews. It was the first film in the series to be shot in colour and in the Cinemascope aspect ratio. The success of the previous film had obviously led to an increase in the budget.

An agent has been killed in Bangkok. He was investigating an outbreak of plague in India. The plague outbreak seems to be associated with anti-cholera vaccinations. OSS 117, using the name Hubert Barton, is sent to take the place of the deceased agent. His aim is to find out what is going on Hogby Laboratories (which produces the anti-cholera vaccine).

He is tailed as soon as he arrives in Bangkok and he finds someone searching his hotel room (which leads to some martial arts action).

OSS 117 is also rather interested in the activities of fashionable physician Dr Guna Sinn (Robert Hossein). He’s also pretty interested in Dr Sinn’s beautiful sister Lila (Pier Angeli).

He’s also interested in his secretary Eva Davidson (Dominique Wilms). OK, he’s interested in anything in a skirt. The problem he has on his hands is two very attractive young women who are both mixed up in the case in some way but can he trust either of them?

He has an ally in the person of his assistant Mr Sontak (Akom Mokranond). He can trust Mr Sontak. Probably. What about Dr Hogby? The plague seems to be originating from his company but whether Dr Hogby himself is involved is an open question.

The problem with this film is that, at 105 minutes, it is much too long and the pacing suffers. It takes way too long for the plot to really kick in.

Once it gets going the plot is quite good. There’s a diabolical criminal mastermind, a fiendish secret society and a plot for world domination.

There’s some great location shooting (done in Thailand). The bad guys’ secret headquarters (complete with mad scientist laboratory) is pretty cool. There’s nothing to complain about as far as the visuals are concerned. There’s too long between the action scenes but they are done quite well.

Kerwin Matthews makes a decent hero, with plenty of charm. The supporting cast is solid and the film’s two babes, Pier Angeli and Dominique Wilms, look great although their acting is not quite so impressive.

The problem facing everyone in the 60s trying to cash in on the Bond craze is that none of them had the budgets to match the action set-pieces of the Bond films. The best of the eurospy movies compensated for this by upping the craziness levels. This one doesn’t quite have enough outrageousness. It does have some outrageousness but we have to wait a long time for it.

Kino Lorber have released five of the 1960s OSS 117 movies in a boxed set (available in both Blu-Ray and DVD versions). OSS 117 Panic in Bangkok gets an excellent transfer.

OSS 117 Panic in Bangkok is a good but not great eurospy movie. Had it been cut by twenty minutes or so it would have been a very good eurospy movie. It was however a substantial box-office success and led to further OSS 117 movies.

It’s reasonably good entertainment and it looks wonderful, so it’s recommended.

Fantomas (1964)

Fantomas, released in 1964, was the first of the three very popular French adventure/crime films about master-criminal Fantomas which were directed by André Hunebelle. Superficially they have a lot in common with the eurospy movies of the 60s and they were certainly influenced by the success of the Bond movies.

The movie begins with a daring jewel robbery in Paris, in broad daylight. The arch-fiend Fantomas has struck again. There is public outrage. What are the police doing to protect decent citizens from this brilliant but ruthless master-criminal? What is Commissioner Juve (Louis de Funès) doing to bring Fantomas to justice? The press is having a field day, particularly popular muck-raking journalist Fandor (Jean Marais). Fantomas may be a menace to law and order but he certainly helps to sell newspapers.

Fandor has come up with an ingenious theory. Fantomas does not exist. He was invented by Commissioner Juve as a means of diverting public attention away from the incompetence of the police. But Fandor will soon discover that Fantomas is very real indeed.

For Fantomas it is not enough just to commit very profitable crimes. He derives even more enjoyment from humiliating the forces of law and order and toying with his enemies. Making a fool of Commissioner Juve is almost too easy but Fandor at least presents him with a bit of a challenge.

Fantomas intends to set up both Juve and Fandor, using his abilities as a master of disguise (an aspect of his genius that is lifted directly from the original novels). There’s no great advantage to Fantomas in this - it’s motivated by pure malevolence. Fantomas also has plans for Fandor’s girlfriend Hélène (Mylène Demongeot). And again his motive is pure spitefulness.

Meanwhile Juve has come up with that he thinks is a brilliant idea. He will lay a trap for Fantomas, with a vast fortune in jewels as the bait. But trapping Fantomas is no easy matter. It would be no easy matters for a great detective, and Juve is most definitely not a great detective. He’s a bumbling ass. Perhaps Fandor will have a better chance of foiling Fantomas’s schemes.

Fantomas is the villain, and he’s a villain with no redeeming features whatsoever, but he is very much the focus of the movie. No matter how diabolical he might be we can’t help feeling that he deserves to get away with his crimes because he is clearly so much cleverer than either Fandor or Juve. Fantomas is the character we’re really interested in.

The tone of this movie is always tongue-in-cheek and often straight-out comic. Juve is a character played entirely for comedy. And it has to be said that he is genuinely very amusing.

There are some very impressive stunts and towards the end we get a terrific extended chase sequence - a chase by car, motor-cycle, train, helicopter, boat and submarine. It’s executed in a witty and very clever manner. While this movie was influenced by the first two Bond movies in some ways it anticipates the style of the 1970s Roger Moore Bond films.

The arch-criminal Fantômas, created by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, made his first appearance in print in 1911 in the novel Fantômas and featured in another 42 novels (the last of which was published in 1963). Fantômas made the transition to film as early as 1913. Fantômas subsequently featured in several other films such as Juve contre Fantômas (1913) and later in comics right up until the 1990s. There was a 1980 French Fantômas TV series. Fantômas occupied a place in French pop culture somewhat analogous to that of Dr Mabuse in German pop culture.

This 1964 Fantomas movie retains much of the spirit of the original Fantômas but inevitably such a movie made in 1964 was going to be heavily influence by the massive pop culture phenomenon that was the Bond movies. As a result it has a much more tongue-in-cheek flavour and it has a lot of Bond-style visual elements.

This movie also has something in common with the 1960s German Dr Mabuse movies which began with Fritz Lang’s The 1,000 Eyes of Dr Mabuse (1960) and continued with The Return of Dr Mabuse (1961), The Invisible Dr Mabuse (1962), Dr Mabuse vs Scotland Yard (1963) and Death Ray Mirror of Dr Mabuse (1964). There’s also a slight resemblance, especially in tone, between Fantomas and the wonderful Lemmy Caution movies such as Poison Ivy (1953) and Dames Don't Care (1954). And a slight affinity also to movies such as Danger: Diabolik! and Satanik.

André Hunebelle also directed quite a few of the OSS117 eurospy movies including OSS 117 Is Unleashed (1963). He certainly had an affinity for adventure movies. He does an excellent job here, pulling off some remarkably cool action sequences.

Fantomas is a total romp, much more light-hearted and whimsical in tone than the source novels. Those source novels could have been the basis for an interesting much darker film but in 1964 Hunebelle’s approach was probably, in commercial terms, the wisest one to take. And as it stands Fantomas is a movie that is, to an extraordinary degree, in tune with the 60s zeitgeist. It’s a great deal of stylish fun as well. Highly recommended.

Kino Lorber have released all three 1960s Fantomas movies is an excellent boxed set (available on both DVD and Blu-Ray editions). The 1964 Fantomas includes an excellent audio commentary by Tim Lucas. The transfer is excellent.