Kelly WandDanger: Diabolik
October 1st 2006 06:31
I could start this review by saying yeah baby, this is groovy. I could throw a borrowed made up words like Shagadelic and generally make a dick out of myself in the process.
Or I could not.
It would be fairly easy to write “Danger: Diabolik” off as a piece of camp Sixties kitsch. Whilst it may share a flamboyant visual style with films of the era, it never pauses to show a tongue within it’s cheek. This is a fantasy film in the purist sense and it is a wild and exciting ride.
The hero, Diabolik, is a murderous thief who robs from the rich and keeps for himself and his girlfriend Eva. If there is one thing amazing about Diabolik is that he finds any time in his busy schedule of shagging Eva to commit these spectacular robberies. Diabolik wears kinky leather costumes, lives in a palatial underground lair and drives an endless parade of black Jaguar sports cars. When he writes one off, the next one just appears. Who says crime doesn’t pay?
Director Mario Bava is most associated with his bleak gothic horror films. Here, his famous skill with visual design explodes into colour. His use of the frame is spectacular and the score by Ennio Morricone is among his best.
There’s plenty of obvious matte projections, exciting gadgets and under cranked cameras. It is everything one might want from a James Bond film but what one never actually gets. The editing is furious. The camera work should be held up in film school as the only how-to guide you will ever need. Bava’s ability to achieve depth sets this film apart from all of his contemporaries. His use of foreground and background objects to divide the screen is a revelation. You will think I am being absurd when I compare Bava’s camera work to Welles’ “Citizen Kane” but I double dare you to check it out for yourself.
Diabolik and Eva are played by John Phillip Law and Marisa Mell. These two look like they are in love and act like they are in love. It lends an enormous credibility to the film. One of the weaknesses of Sixties films are male protagonists incapable of forming mature relationships.
Diabolik robs ten million dollars from under the noses of the police. The police can’t catch him so they crack down on the local Mafia until they agree to catch him for them. Diabolik makes pretty short work of the criminal classes. The Government offers a Million Dollar reward so Diabolik blows up all the Taxation offices. Diabolik is – pretty much – the terrorist portrayed as hero.
It is perhaps best to leave moral considerations at the door when viewing “Danger: Diabolik.”
Or I could not.
It would be fairly easy to write “Danger: Diabolik” off as a piece of camp Sixties kitsch. Whilst it may share a flamboyant visual style with films of the era, it never pauses to show a tongue within it’s cheek. This is a fantasy film in the purist sense and it is a wild and exciting ride.
The hero, Diabolik, is a murderous thief who robs from the rich and keeps for himself and his girlfriend Eva. If there is one thing amazing about Diabolik is that he finds any time in his busy schedule of shagging Eva to commit these spectacular robberies. Diabolik wears kinky leather costumes, lives in a palatial underground lair and drives an endless parade of black Jaguar sports cars. When he writes one off, the next one just appears. Who says crime doesn’t pay?
Director Mario Bava is most associated with his bleak gothic horror films. Here, his famous skill with visual design explodes into colour. His use of the frame is spectacular and the score by Ennio Morricone is among his best.
There’s plenty of obvious matte projections, exciting gadgets and under cranked cameras. It is everything one might want from a James Bond film but what one never actually gets. The editing is furious. The camera work should be held up in film school as the only how-to guide you will ever need. Bava’s ability to achieve depth sets this film apart from all of his contemporaries. His use of foreground and background objects to divide the screen is a revelation. You will think I am being absurd when I compare Bava’s camera work to Welles’ “Citizen Kane” but I double dare you to check it out for yourself.
Diabolik and Eva are played by John Phillip Law and Marisa Mell. These two look like they are in love and act like they are in love. It lends an enormous credibility to the film. One of the weaknesses of Sixties films are male protagonists incapable of forming mature relationships.
Diabolik robs ten million dollars from under the noses of the police. The police can’t catch him so they crack down on the local Mafia until they agree to catch him for them. Diabolik makes pretty short work of the criminal classes. The Government offers a Million Dollar reward so Diabolik blows up all the Taxation offices. Diabolik is – pretty much – the terrorist portrayed as hero.
It is perhaps best to leave moral considerations at the door when viewing “Danger: Diabolik.”
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