AVENGER X (1967)

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *sociological*

The original title to this Italian supercriminal film was MISTER X, after a popular Italian comic book of the same name. Possibly the American version stuck “Avenger” in the title just to make clearer that this wasn’t a mundane mystery, though even the English dub uses the name “Mister X” for the protagonist.

Like his predecessors Fantomas and Diabolik, Mister X has been robbing rich people for years without being apprehended by the law-dogs. Despite, or maybe because of, this reputation, a schemer named Lamarro decided to frame Mister X for one of his own crimes, the better to divert the police from Lamarro’s big operation: that of smuggling drugs into Europe under the cover of a reputable pharmaceuticals enterprise. X, however, doesn’t like being framed, and over the course of the film the super-crook makes it his business to chastise these lesser felons. Sometimes, like Fantomas, X assumes disguises to execute his schemes, and a couple of times he dons a black catsuit with a hood and a domino mask. Still, most of the time the master criminal runs around in ordinary clothes. One online review claimed that X uses “gadgets,” but all I saw was a mundane smoke bomb. X receives assistance from his girl Friday, a lady with the odd name of “Timmy,” who shows off a little judo-skill in one scene.

It’s rare that I’ve seen native Italian actors pull off the charming qualities necessary for this sort of roguish character, but Pier Paolo Coppoli—billed with the name “Norman Clark”—acquits himself well in the charm department, as well as pulling off the brief action-scenes well. For fans of sixties Euro-flicks the best-known name in the cast is surely Helga Line, playing a secondary villain. However, in the version I saw, she’s last seen heaping scorn upon the captive Timmy—but though X frees Timmy, Line’s character just disappears from the story.