The film that made Marisa Mell an international cult icon, one of the greatest cult films of all-time, directed by one of the greatest low budget directors of all-time. Danger Diabolik!
Regarded by many as one of the top Italian thrillers of it's time. Perversion Story features one of Marisa's Mell most memorial and well known performances, as she was in the prime of her career.
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With a couple more Barbara Bouchet reviews lined up for the coming weeks I thought it would be a good time to resume with the Picture of the Week segment, which appears from certain site statistics to be the more popular aspect of this on going series. The next film to be reviewed is In Harm's Way. So I felt this to be a proper point for posting the more common Bouchet picture found on the web and a promotion photo for the film.
Enrico Rossini (Fabio Testi) is a young professor at London's St. Hilda's Catholic Girls School and has the reputation for having an nontraditional rapport with his students, which knowingly or unknowingly to the rest of the school staff has lead to possibly numerous student/teacher relationships. His latest one is with senior Elizabeth Seccles (Cristina Galbo) who believes she saw a murder on the riverbank while the two of them are making out in a boat, but Rossini thinks she was making it up to get him to stop.
The next morning they learn the body of fellow classmate Hilda Ericson was discovered brutally murdered, stupidly Rossini returns to riverbank and goes to the scene of the crime and quickly becomes one of the police's prime suspects. He could easily exonerate himself if he only explained how he knew where the murder took place, but doing so would reveal he had been there the day before with Elizabeth and that would create a school scandal. But when the murders continue Rossini's secret affair must be revealed, with his job on the rocks and his freedom at stake he'll stop and nothing to uncover the true murderer.
What Have You Done to Solange? (aka Cosa avete fatto a Solange?) is another giallo that tends to rank high on fan favorite lists. Like most of it's genre the film does an excellent job of making almost every main character appear to be capable of murder, whether it's Rossini's wife whose relationship with her husband is seeming over and is jealous of his "extra-curricular" relationships or the perverted professor who is constantly peeping into the girls locker room. Everyone appears to be a possible suspect for the murders.
On top of that the killings themselves open up a mystery. What's the connection between the murders, aside from the fact almost all the victims attend the same school and are classmates, and what is the reason behind the grizzly deathly final blow where the murder weapon is lodged into their nether regions? The revelation was unexpected, as was the discovery of who the murderer ultimately is.
The two highlights of the film for me was main actor Fabio Testi who was at times is the spitting image of a young Sean Connery with a full on beard; if Connery was a couple inches taller, skinner and Italian. And he had a spot on resemblance to Connery's brother (Neil Connery) from that cult James Bond rip-off Operation Kid Brother. Secondly as mentioned before the film does a pretty good job of keeping up the mystery and suspense, and sticking with the classic giallo format of making everyone out to be the potential villain. Still aside from the rather bizarre subject matter, What Have You Done to Solange? isn't overly note worthy in any particular aspect for me like Perversion Story or The Girl Who Knew Too Much, but for giallo fans it's definitely a sufficient diversion.
Not being a fan of "graphic novels" (which I assume is what this film is based off of) like Sin City, and not being a fan of boyish looking Natalie Portman, I didn't think I would find this film enjoyable in the least. Even the previews didn't look that intriguing to me and it seemed to continue the tired out film style of The Matrix trilogy which the writers and producers of this film also penned.
The film starts out in 1605 when a man named Guy Fawkes is hanged for attempting to blow up Parliament as a way to induce the fall of the British government which many had believed and grown corrupt. Hundreds of years later, a man whose life was ruined by the horrors of such a government has decided to complete what Guy Fawkes had set out to accomplish, his name is V.
The British government now more controlled than it had ever been before and has turned the country into a prison for the citizens who are constantly kept in check by Parliament and told that such rule is for their own good, less they become like the fallen United States who crumbled due to war and disease. V only sees Britain as becoming a more communist nation that only wishes to have a choke hold on its people, so he takes matters into his own hands.
First, V begins to knock off the various people who were apart of a national travesty which had been covered up by the government, then on Guy Fawkes day, November 5th, he plans to ignite Parliament in the same fashion and purpose as Fawkes had. All in the hopes of ending the reign of an government of dictatorship and bring forth the birth of a new, better government.
I was surprised that I actually quite enjoyed V For Vendetta, it's really kind of a strange film yet the atmosphere and the plot blend together perfectly. The film is really more a political and social spew than it is a big budget action film, although the ending does offer a rather bloody encounter. You could probably spend months going through this film and estimating what represents what in comparsion to issues in the world today. [But as America continues to spiral into a more communistic form of rule itself the ideals and messages of this film begin to hit a little closer home.]
The acting was good I honestly didn't know Hugo Weaving was V until the credits rolled and I saw his name, although many times throughout the film I thought to myself he sounds very familiar, and I kept thinking of Agent Smith in The Matrix saying "Mr. Anderson". Natalie Portman was bearable, I have never found her attractive or talented, but she didn't screw up the film even though her English accent was laughable at times and was more like a Saturday Night Live impression.
In the end, V For Vendetta is a pretty good film; personally my favorite part was the ending when the whole town gathered on November 5th and were all dressed up like V, which was hilarious! The film definitely has some major political & social agendas going on and I'm not talking about the dictatorship aspect but its got some things it in that are obviously trying to push a certain way on issues that are going on in our country today. So if you can look past some of the blatant propaganda in this film it's pretty enjoyable.
Like many other people who probably rented this film I only rented it because of RT's (Rotten Tomatoes) gorilla marketing campaign to force this down our throats with the constant banner ads and advertisements. Other than that I rented it out of curiosity for how bad it was going to be... well my curiosity has been filled, and this film is sufficiently bad, I hope RT got lots of money for advertising this because if they actually thought this film was worth advertising then we have more problems than the constant crashes and maintenance of this website (referring to Rotten Tomatoes buggy site).
Edison Force is about a group of undercover cops who are apart of a group called FRAT, First Response Assault & Tactical unit, made up of a bunch of highly skilled shooters who have all served prison time. FRAT is above the law and while they have technically cleaned the city up, in all actuality they have now become the ones responsible for causing all the messes.
The film has a quite impressive cast of well known names; grant it there isn't a whole lot of talent to back up those names. The film follows rapper LL Cool J, who has only recently become a member of FRAT, but he's not too comfortable with their ways of handling situations. Dylan McDermott is his drugged up, trigger happy partner who gains his pleasure from killing and beating up civilians. After McDermott executes an unarmed guy during a drug bust he forces the guys buddy to take the wrap for the whole thing claiming he came after him with a knife.
LL Cool J was not comfortable with any of this but goes along with the story during the trial, adding to the fact that the defendant did appear to have been in fear of his life when they arrived on the scene. The defendant thanks him while he exits the courtroom which catches the ear of newbie reporter Justin Timberlake. Timberlake's curiosity is sparked by this exchange and decides to delve in further but is unable to get any information. When he goes to the defendant in prison he spills some information about this all being a cover-up for the cop. This was all he needed to continue his story, yet as he gets closer and closer to the truth he puts his life in even more danger. In the end the only one who can help bring justice to the dead and end the corruption of FRAT is one of the guys whose actually in it.
I really wasn't expecting much out of this film at all, so I wasn't terribly surprised when it ended up being a total piece of crap. This is also one of those horribly written films that somehow believes that continual cursing will make the film more intense and hide the fact it's worse than a TV movie. I'm really surprised at the number of people they got to actually do this film even though most of them aren't that talented, from LL Cool J, Dylan McDermott, Justin Timberlake, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Piper Perabo, Roselyn Sanchez, and even the dad from Home Alone (that ones not a surprise).
For the most part the acting was horrible, of course I'm sure it has something to do with the bad story, but some of the characters were beyond bad. Dylan McDermott as a deranged cop became hilarious as he overacted the entire role. Justin Timberlake, while not the worst in the film wasn't very convincing in his role and seemed to simply be excited to be an in film. Kevin Spacey had a horrible wig on that sunk his character into truly cornball city right off the spot, hard to not burst out laughing when he first appears on screen. Morgan Freeman was alright but he's basically exactly the same as he is in every film, pretty dull and monotone.
In the end, it was as bad as I thought it would be and probably worse, an extremely bad film with sub standard actors, and a horrible script. But what do you expect when the two leading actors are LL Cool J and Justin Timberlake!?! Both of these guys really need to stick to music. I'm getting tried of people in the music business thinking they can act, I have yet to see anyone who was truly great at both. I'm a big fan of Will Smith and his music but even I'll admit he's really not that great of a rapper, acting is his strong suit, and these guys need to go back to their strong suit. Let this film go by unless you're intentionally prepared to watch a total piece of crap, it's truly direct to DVD material.
I can't think of a better way to kick off the new year than a review of one of the greatest cult films I have ever seen. Danger: Diabolik a film that combines the brilliant feats of low budget director/cinematographer Mario Bava, the beauty and stage presence of Marisa Mell and the bizarre yet engrossing Italian comic book character protrayed by John Phillip Law of the anti-hero Diabolik!
Danger: Diabolik is regarded by many comic books writers as one of the best and loyal comic to film transitions. The character of Diabolik was created in the winter of 1962 by the Milanese sisters during a time in Italian history where the people where growing weary of government rule, and even though Diabolik was a criminal and in some regards a terrorist by today's standards he had an established code of ethics many criminals did not have and his crimes mostly centered around a corrupt police force, the crime underworld, and a government that was constantly bent on abusing it's citizens through taxation and other regulations. So in this era of Italian history when this type of government abuse was going on a character like Diabolik was welcomed, even though he wasn't a Robin Hood type by giving his ill gotten gains to the poor he was "sticking it to the man", something most of the countries poorer citizens welcomed.
Danger: Diabolik takes a series of serial adventures from the Italian comic and intertwines them into one fantastically well paced euro-spy action film. It all kicks off when Inspector Ginco comes up with the "brilliant" idea of transporting $10,000,000 in a Rolls Royce to attempt to throw off Diabolik from the scent. But as the viewers quickly learn Diabolik is no dummy, he is not deceived and securing the money turns out to be fairly easy as he and the lovely Eva Kant make a quick getaway and return to their underground hideout for one of the film's memorable moments, a nice "romp in the cash". This scene happens to be one of quite a few on the fly inserts by director Mario Bava, as it never appeared in the actual script.
In response to the robbery the Minister of the Interior holds a press conference to announce the reinstatement of the death penalty, but the conference is quickly turned into another farce by Diabolik, when he and Eva sneak in and release laughing gas into the room. Made to look the fool on so many occassions the Minister orders Ginco to put an end to Diabolik's reign, therefore Ginco sets up a plan to turn the underworld upside down. He makes a deal with notorious crime boss Ralph Valmont for his help in bringing Diabolik out in the open. Throughout the remainder of the film Ginco and Valmont attempt to outsmart Diabolik but ultimately it's them who seem to get outsmarted each time, that is until Diabolik potentially gets in over his head in his final plot to outsmart the police.
The original casting for Danger: Diabolik was rather interesting. Prior to Mario Bava's involvement in the film Jean Sorel and Elsa Martinelli were cast as Diabolik and Eva Kant, they would later go on to star in Perversion Story alongside Marisa Mell in 1969. That version of the film was mysteriously aborted and later re-approached with a recommended director by the name of Mario Bava. Bava was essentially the Roger Corman or Ed Wood of Italy, he had the ability to make films on a shoe string budget relatively quickly, the only major difference is Bava's films were actually very good, leaps and bounds above American B-movie quality that was put out by Wood or Corman.
Bava was so used to making all the decisions, a big budget film (at least to him) was an entirely different can of worms as he was required to run everything by the production company for approval. Even with a budget of $3,000,000 everything had to be approved and accounted for, something Bava was not used to doing and therefore didn't bother using the full amount, amazingly he completed the film at around $400,000! This was accomplished by some amazing techniques that are barely noticeable, especially when you don't know about them before hand. In Diabolik's underground lair Bava created all that using mattes attached to glass plates, the same technique was used on the deserted cabin where Eva Kant was being held, there was no cabin it was a magazine cutout attached to a glass plate!
Under Bava's direction John Phillip Law was cast in the role of Diabolik, he was also scheduled to star in Barbarella shortly after filming wrapped. Law wanted to do the character justice and focused on the movement of the eyebrows, which were this only aspect of the character that wasn't hidden beneath the costume. This ended up helping him get the part as he held his eyebrow high during the interview and Bava frequently said "Look! It's Diabolik!"
The hardest character to cast was Eva Kant. Bava always wanted either Marilu Tolo or Marisa Mell to play the role, but once again his decisions were countered by the production company. Two girls were tested prior to Mell being cast, an unknown blonde who was a girlfriend of one of the Paramount executives (who couldn't act), and Catherine Deneuve. Deneuve was a talented actress but didn't get along well with Bava and ultimately didn't fit well in the part or seem to have much chemistry with Law. She refused to take part in the love making scene in the pile of money, and wouldn't even allow her calf or ankle to be shot, all quite ironic stance when right after she returned to France she starred in Belle de Jour where she was practically naked! Bava again lobbied for Marilu Tolo but the producer simply did not want her, so Bava's second choice of Marisa Mell eventually became the big compromise. But it was quickly evident that Marisa Mell was the best choice. The chemistry between her and Law was remarkable (in fact the two even lived together while shooting the film) and her seductive and mysterious charm was Eva Kant. The films' eventual release on video years later in the United States lead to Marisa Mell's stateside cult status.
Danger: Diabolik wasn't much of a success upon it's release, at least compared to Roger Vadim's Barbarella, which Law also had a role in. In the Italian box office it only brought in around $178,000 (Barbarellabrought in three times that), yet expenditures to income made Danger: Diabolik the more profitable venture. Still it seemed to be successful enough in the eyes of the producer to request Bava return for a sequel, something he adamantly refused, and ventured back into directing films with even lower budgets where he was able to make all the decisions.
Often compared to the early James Bond series, the fact that Adolfo Celi (main villain from Thunderball) is one of the main adversaries for Diabolik probably doesn't help the sometimes numerous claims that Danger: Diabolik swipes a lot of Bond aspects. But the truth is it's more the other way around as it's a film that has done more of the influencing, including Bond films that followed. One film it definitely inspired was Roman Coppola's CQ, which I reviewed a year or so back and commented on how I'd wish someone would do a full feature film in the style of the "film within the film", Code Name Dragonfly. Well turns out Danger: Diabolik was the inspiration of that, and Mario Bava was the inspiration behind the character Jeremy Davies plays of a cinematographer who turns director.
When it's all said and done Danger: Diabolik will always be mixed in with some of the similar style films of the 1960's, like Barbarella which it's often lumped together with. But the fact is while it may not have gained the commercial success it's a superior film in almost every sense. From the non-static staged backdrops, superior story and acting, musical score by the famous Ennio Morricone, and the nothing short of amazing directing and style of Mario Bava who could create magic with a budget that wouldn't even cover a brief CGI sequence of a modern day film, Danger: Diabolik is easily one of the best cult films around, and everyone ought to see it once.
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