The
explosive opening to Mario Bava’s Danger: Diabolik that tells you
everything you need to know about the film's mission statement. Our eponymous
anti-hero - played with arched-eyebrow cool by John Phillip Law* -
returns to his subterranean lair, and speeds through numerous hi-tech corridors
in his sleak E-Type Jaguar revealing a secret base – oh how I love a secret base! –
far bigger than even that underneath Wayne Manor. Welcome to the underworld of
a supervillain with a heart of... who knows, maybe gold but certainly a sense
of fun for this man is a likeable rogue as much in the tradition of Dr Mabuse
and Goldfinger as Batman or James Bond. Welcome to super psychedelic spy adventures, Italian
style!
The origins of the character actually predate all of the above in the form of Fantômas a super criminal created by French writers Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre in 1911 before appearing in Louis Feuillade’s ground-breaking film serial from 1913-14. This was followed by Les Vampires, Judex and other science-driven criminals and detectives which were undergoing a revival in the early 1960s including three Fantômas (1964) films directed by André Hunebelle and featuring with Jean Marais.
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| John Philip Law and Marisa Mell |
In his
excellent video extra, Leon Hunt, author of the Cultographies volume on Danger:
Diabolik, explains that co-creator Angela Giussani was inspired after
finding a Fantômas novel on a train. Adapting the format – a booklet
slightly smaller than A5 – she and her sister Luciana began producing Diabolik
stories, known as the fumetti neri (“black comics”). Initially derivative of
their source these soon developed a style of their own and became very
successful.
Hunt then
explains the development of the film and its divergence from the comic… there
was very little notion of “fan service” back in the pre “Extended Universe”
days, and the filmmakers took the concept and made the character the mix we see
between a dark version of Batman and James Bond. Diabolik is an amoral adventurer,
willing to casually kill anyone getting in the way of his thrills and whilst
the film has a pop-psychedelic sheen, he’s counter cultural in the most
anarchic way.
As the
action explodes, Diabolik has just got the better of some very determined men
trying to prevent his latest heist – just the $10,000,000 - and once he parks up
next to the unfeasibly mod living quarters, he still has the energy for some
play with his partner in crime, the stunning Eva Kant (Marisa Mell). Both shower
in glass cubicles that just about hide their dignity before rolling together on
a bed covered with their ill-gotten gains – money is sex and their crime is a statement
of style and ego. It’s a sequence that is as much substance as style; 1960s
Euro-decadence that feels like it comes from an alternative future passed. How
could we miss that?
I have
dug through more than a few "dusty video boxes" of Italian genre
cinema and Bava was a master of many – absolutely a Master of Cinema as the
Eureka badge confirms. Whether he was inventing giallo with Blood and Black
Lace, scaring us in new ways with Black Sunday, or producing stylish
space gothic opera in Planet of the Vampires he always delivers atmospherics
and a high-content style, especially on a limited budget. With Danger:
Diabolik, he was reasonably well funded (courtesy of Dino De Laurentiis),
and the result is a psychedelic explosion that makes the contemporary James
Bond films look staid in comparison.
Eureka’s
Masters of Cinema stunning new 4K UHD and Blu-ray edition gives this
influential film the UK home media release it deserves. Bava’s comic-book colours
pop out of the screen and the clarity of the psychedelic mise-en-scene beats
your old import DVD. Diabolik’s Jaguar E-Type has an intense black glean and everything
looks as fresh as a Mediterranean spring morning.
Bava
strips away the more murderous edges of the comic character and creates a more
playful "anti-establishment" rogue, albeit one who still kills.
Diabolik doesn't just steal; he makes a show of the forces of order even a they
try and entrap him – no trap is too tight for him to evade it, or is it? He
makes a mockery of the police led by Inspector Ginko (Michel Piccoli) and the
government, here represented by Terry Thomas – boy could we use a leader like
him right now – by targeting the tax system leaving the Minister to ask tax
payers to tell him what they owe. There’s also knockabout fun with a Government
press conference brought laughing to a close by "Exhilaration Gas" that
could have come straight out of Batman’s
utility belt (the Adam West TV series started in January 1966, a pop-cultural
classic).
 |
| Terry Thomas |
There are
also actual baddies in the form of Ralph Valmont (the great Adolfo Celi), who
forces the gang bosses to work together with the police in trying to capture Diabolik.
Can the master criminal out-wit them all and save Eva? The beauty of the film
is in seeing our anti-hero face every challenge with a swagger and an
arched-eyebrowed smirk… like all super-heroes, he is the embodiment of our need
for fantasy and some kind of justice. His power is his intelligence and his
ability to get ahead of every situation. We can only dream (or read comics).
Underpinning
this all is Ennio Morricone’s psychedelic score which features a swooning main
theme that reflects the relationship between Diabolik and Eva – it stresses
their love and concern as we are all wrapped up in their battle against the
forces of law and disorder. There are all the trimmings you’d expect from this
period of music – sometimes saccharine sweet whilst hyper dramatic when it
needs to be. Like the characters themselves you can’t quite put your finger on
it but it serves the whole to pleasing affect.
Special
Features:
Limited
Edition: The first
2,000 copies are housed in a hardbound slipcase with package design by Nick
Wrigley and include a Limited Edition 60-page book featuring new essays on
Danger: Diabolik by Italian film historian Roberto Curti and comic book scholar
Jochen Ecke, a new introduction to fumetti neri by crime genre expert Sergio
Angelini and new writing on the film’s director by Troy Howarth, author of The
Haunted World of Mario Bava
Both a 4K
UHD and a Blu-ray.
Three audio commentaries:
-
with film historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson,
-
Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava: All the Colors of
the Dark
-
actor John Phillip Law and Bava authority Tim Lucas
Features:
Criminal Intent – new discussion of the origins
and evolution of Diabolik from page to screen with Leon Hunt, author of the
Cultographies volume on Danger: Diabolik
Radical Behaviour – new video essay on Danger:
Diabolik as anti-establishment pop culture by Italian genre cinema expert
Rachael Nisbet
From Fumetti to Film – archival featurette
Body Movin’ – music video by Beastie Boys, which
samples Morricone’s score, with optional commentary by Adam “MCA” Yauch
Dusty
Verdict:
Danger:
Diabolik is a
film of its time and it has never looked or felt fresher to modern eyes after
this restoration. As a prime example of a cult film of the mid-60s it has been
influential both in terms of the likes of sundry spoofs such as Austin Powers
but also in the way action movies and super-heroic films are presented. If
there’s any deeper meanings you can find them but it was and remains a lot of
fun. It is a comic book movie and pulp distraction just as Louis Feuillade knew
Fantômas was in 1913.
*Barbarella
was produced by Dino De Laurentiis at almost the same time so, a busy year in
Europe for John Phillip Law
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