While the English word "actor" and the German word "Schauspieler" (lit. "watch-player", i.e. player for those who watch) are neutral concerning the genre of acting (drama, horror, comedy, etc.), the French word "comédien" means originally the player of a comedy (Comédie Française). In this linguistic difference one may recognize why in France the comedy has a quite different place-value than it has in most other countries where the comedies are for acting about what the desserts are for a meal: welcome but basically unnecessary last delights. While, consistently, comedies in France look back to a very long tradition, the specific film comedies are children of the 50ies, 60ies and 70ies and inseparably connected with names like Fernandel, Bourvil and Louis De Funès, the so-called triumvirate of French Comedy. This is most interesting not only because of its late appearance compared to the long tradition of comical stage-acting, but mostly, because its emergence goes almost hand-in-hand with that of the rather abstract, non-entertaining films of Nouvelle Vague which officially started in 1958. Another reason of interest is that, e.g. in Germany other other surrounding states of France, this is unparalleled: In Germany, e.g. the sixties have been characterized basically by "Lederhosen-" and "Heimat-Films" on the one side and by criminal movies à la Edgar Wallace and its imitations, but not by a specific form of comedy. The year 1964, in which the first of the three "Fantômas"-movies appeared (the others followed in 1965 and 1967), was the same year when the first of the six "Gendarm De Saint-Tropez" movies were shown. If one compares these two movies with the later pictures De Funès did, one can easily see that he was not yet allowed to give that typical kind of performance which made him famous. De Funès, who had been already a famous stage actor for decades and also had appeared in dozens of smaller film roles, had to become 50 years old before someone detected that his comical talent would attract the masses in France. However, it took some more years before his attraction was detected even outside of France. So, in the early 70ies, one got to see in the cinemas of the German-speaking middle Europe up to 4 different De Funès movies per year that could even stand the concurrence of the Spaghetti Westerns which reached their high popularity in the same time. Probably because he knew of his weak heart, De Funès worked like a candle that burns from both sides at once, he would not even stopped after the first of a series of severe heart-attacks. Only in his last two or three movies, when he was not allowed to make more than one picture per year, he become quieter, approximately so as we see him in the three Fantômas movies, but still exciting for everybody not familiar with him.
Review of Fantomas
