Kizil Maske

aka The Red Mask aka Turkish Phantom

1968 SinemaTurk Link
Directed by Çetin Inanç

The Phantom was pretty much the first costumed super hero to have a daily strip in the newspapers. Created by Lee Falk in 1936, the strip continues yet today. The Phantom’s base of operations is the Skull Cave located in the African nation of Bangalla. The Phantom passes down his mantel from father to son for several generations. There is a 1943 serial, which is probably the inspiration for these films, as well as an unofficial follow-up The Adventures of Captain Africa, which was originally going to be a Phantom serial until it was discovered they didn’t have the rights anymore! Check your contracts before you pour money into a project. This is your tip of the day. More information on The Phantom can be found on the internet, maybe you should Google it or something. This isn’t a website that gives you stuff on a silver platter, it is TarsTarkas.NET!

Okay, fine, here is some more Phantom Phacts for you: The Phantom was created by Lee Falk after the success of Mandrake the Magician (who also appeared unauthorized in a Turkish film where he fought Kilink: Mandrake Killing’e Karsi), Falk continued to work on the strip (with brief interruptions) until his death in 1999. The Phantom was the first superhero to not have his pupils show up when wearing a mask. The Phantom operates out of the Skull Cave, and all the previous Phantoms are buried there. Never leave a Phantom behind is their motto. Semper Phantom. The Phantom has three helpers, a mountain wolf called Devil, a horse named Hero, and a trained falcon named Fraka, who must love Battlestar Galactica. He also has dolphins, but dolphins are only good as bonus meat in tuna cans. The current Phantom is #21. The Phantom has two rings, one on each hand. One ring is used to mark his friends, while the second marks his enemies (marks made by punching the enemy in the face!) I am not sure how the friend ring marks work, but I am guessing not the same way.

There are three Turkish versions of the Phantom, two of which are entitled Kizil Maske and came out in 1968. If you think that is confusing, just remember that most of this information I had to decipher from articles written in Turkish! This is the first Kizil Maske, and the other 1968 one is sometimes designated Kizil Maske 2 or Kizil Maske (2). The second film seems to be made to try to bite off the first one, in some sort of Antz/A Bug’s Life or Deep Impact/Armageddon contest. The third Kizil Maske movie is KIZIL MASKE’NIN INTIKAMI (The Phantom’s Revenge), which came out in 1971. As the third movie has little to no information about it anywhere, I cannot say if it is directly related to either of the originals. If you have a copy, send it to me, because that will save me a lot of time looking for it. We are all about being lazy here at TarsTarkas.NET.

This entry was produced, directed, and written by Çetin Inanç, the protege of Yilmaz Atadeniz (who gave world the Kilink films.) Inanc went on to produce a whole ton of Turkish films, both craptacularly awesome superhero fair like this, and more modern stuff that includes violent action films. Kizil Maske translates to Red Mask, in case you were wondering. Remember how in old serials fights would break out all the time randomly, and last like five minutes? That’s pretty much this film. Long fights, lots of manly action, and Turkish men being men. No subtitles, either, because who needs those? At TarsTarkas.NET, we don’t need no stinkin’ subtitles! It is not like you need a flow chart to follow the plot: The bad dudes are bad, and the Phantom punches them for an hour or so. The end.

Let’s meet our exciting cast:

Kizil Maske ‘The Fantom’ (Irfan Atasoy) – Kizil Maske comes to Turkey from Africa to beat the crap out of bad dudes who are up to no good, making trouble in the neighborhood. Kizil Maske gets in fight after fight after fight and Memo gets scared. But Kizil Maske saves the day instead of moving to Bel Air, because that is the coward’s way out. Kizil Maske doesn’t bother to keep his real face hidden, which is pretty weird at times. But you get used to it. Irfan Atasoy was in a lot of the Turkish pulp films including two Kilinks, Casus Kiran, Kara Cellat, and Maskeli Seytan. Sezer (Sezer Güvenirgil) – Daughter of the Professor, because all wizened old professors have incredibly hot daughters who date heroic super hero types. Thus, she is the love interest! Gets kidnapped, because that’s what happens to women in Turkish films. Panter (Faruk Panter) – Hercules is alive and working for Kizil Maske. As Robin to Kizil Maske’s Batman, Hercules gets into scrapes and battles along side his friend, beating up countless goons and creeps. I am guessing he is named Panter because he pants like a dog while fighting his foes. Or the fact he doesn’t wear pants. Either one. Memo (Sami Hazinses) – A comic sidekick/butler character who is like Alfred, except incompetent. Too bad for him. He is our comic relief, but in times like these relief is the last thing you want. I’d prefer Turist Omer over this guy. The Professor (????) – The Professor who has created a magic formula that makes plants grow o full size with just a drop. Thus evil dudes want to kidnap him, for some reason. Maybe they work for some evil agribusiness. He may be named Professor Bennin, but then may be not, as it is very hard to decipher that crazy moon language the Turks speak in. I am not sure who the actor is. Danyal (Ahmet Danyal Topatan) – A bad guy who wears a goofy hat most of the time. Helps Al Kapon Arif kidnap and kill all over Turkey. He is secretly a cop who is good, so don’t hate him too much. And spoilers. Al Kapon Arif (Yildirim Gencer) – Head bad guy. I don’t know if he is supposed to be the real Al Capone or just an admirer. He is evil, and also tries to rape girls on trains. Because he is evil. Yildirim Gencer is in so many films your brain will explode. To prevent damaged craniums I am not listing any here. Suzi (Suzan Avci) – A bad woman who is bad. Because even the evil dude needs a woman. There is someone for everyone, even Match.com has a section for women looking for criminal masterminds. Suzan Avci was in several of the Kilink films and a billion other films, sometimes being the hot evil babe, and sometimes just the hot babe.