“Fantômas” / 「ファントマ 危機脱出」, Original Japanese First-Release Movie Poster 1965, Jean Marais / Louis de Funès / Mylène Demongeot, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm)
Sale price$300.00
This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed for the 1965 first Japanese release of Fantômas, released in Japan under the title 「ファントマ 危機脱出」. Directed by André Hunebelle and starring Jean Marais, Louis de Funès, and Mylène Demongeot, the film was produced in 1964 and opened theatrically in Japan on 13 February 1965, distributed by Towa.
The film launched Hunebelle’s celebrated three-film Fantômas cycle of the 1960s, followed by Fantômas se déchaîne and Fantômas contre Scotland Yard. Combining crime thriller, spy adventure, extravagant action and broad comedy, the series transformed the sinister literary master criminal into one of the most flamboyant figures of European popular cinema.
Film background
Based on the legendary criminal mastermind created by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, Fantômas follows journalist Fandor, played by Jean Marais, after his sensational reporting draws the attention of the seemingly omnipotent criminal Fantômas.
Marais performs a memorable dual role as both Fandor and Fantômas, while Louis de Funès plays the excitable and increasingly exasperated Commissaire Juve, whose attempts to capture the master criminal provide much of the film’s comedy. Mylène Demongeot stars as Hélène, Fandor’s photographer companion and romantic partner.
The story moves rapidly through disguises, kidnappings and increasingly elaborate pursuits, culminating in a succession of spectacular chases involving cars, motorcycles, trains, helicopters, motorboats and a submarine.
Hunebelle’s film established the formula that would define the trilogy: the elegance and mystery of Fantômas, the straight-faced heroism of Jean Marais and the extraordinary comic energy of Louis de Funès.
Poster design
This Japanese first-release B2 is a wonderfully distinctive example of mid-1960s Japanese pop-art-influenced movie advertising.
Rather than relying upon a conventional painted portrait or densely packed photographic montage, the design uses large areas of cream negative space, isolated photographic cut-outs and enormous multicoloured Japanese typography.
Across the upper half, the title:
ファントマ
is broken into huge abstract characters in red, ochre, violet, pink and orange, giving the sheet a playful, almost modernist quality. Beneath it, the subtitle:
危機脱出
appears in bold black and grey characters.
The title treatment is especially effective because it reflects the film’s mixture of menace and comedy. The typography is oversized and slightly chaotic, while the surrounding photographic elements seem almost to float independently across the page.
At the very top, a large black silhouetted hand reaches downward into the composition, immediately suggesting theft, manipulation and the unseen presence of Fantômas.
At upper right appears the unmistakable mask-like face of Fantômas, incorporated directly into the French-language billing:
JEAN MARAIS LOUIS DE FUNES MYLENE DEMONGEOT FANTOMAS UN FILM DE ANDRÉ HUNEBELLE
The original TOWA distribution logo appears immediately alongside it, an important period detail confirming the poster’s Japanese first-release campaign.
Below, the poster explodes into a series of wonderfully eccentric action images.
A helicopter banks dramatically across the right side while a figure hangs suspended beneath it. Jean Marais appears both in mid-air and again in a large lower portrait, reinforcing the film’s relentless chase structure.
At lower left, Mylène Demongeot is shown smiling with her camera, identifying Hélène visually as the photojournalist who accompanies Fandor.
Along the very bottom, additional action imagery—including coastal scenery, boats and Louis de Funès as Juve—creates a miniature cinematic panorama beneath the otherwise sparse design.
Japanese campaign copy
The pink promotional line across the lower-middle section reads:
「手に汗にぎる迫力！常識破りの面白さ！ スリルいっぱいの超大型アクション！」
Approximately:
“Palm-sweating excitement! Outrageously unconventional fun! A gigantic action spectacle packed with thrills!”
The copy perfectly captures how the film was marketed in Japan: not simply as a European crime picture, but as a colourful, oversized international action-comedy event.
Immediately above it, the Japanese cast billing highlights:
ジャン・マレー ルイ・ド・フュネス ミレーヌ・ドモンジョ
followed by:
名匠アンドレ・ユヌベル監督
— identifying Hunebelle as the film’s celebrated director.
The poster also advertises the production in フランスコープ (Franscope) and full colour, reinforcing the scale and spectacle being promised to contemporary Japanese audiences.
The 1960s Fantômas phenomenon
The character of Fantômas originated much earlier, in the extraordinarily successful crime novels created by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre beginning in the early 20th century.
By the 1960s, Hunebelle reconceived the character for an era fascinated by James Bond, international espionage, futuristic gadgets and glamorous European adventure cinema.
The result is a peculiar but highly entertaining hybrid.
Fantômas himself remains genuinely sinister—an emotionless masked criminal capable of changing identities almost at will—while Louis de Funès pushes the surrounding police procedural into increasingly frantic comedy.
The success of the first film led directly to two sequels, making the trilogy one of the most recognisable French popular-cinema series of the decade. The Japanese first film was released on 13 February 1965, with Towa handling domestic distribution.
Condition
Excellent original condition overall.
Please review all photographs carefully; they show the exact poster for sale, front and reverse.
This poster is an original Japanese theatrical B2 from the film’s 1965 first-release campaign.
