Danger: Diabolik

by Leon Hunt

Diabolik (1968) was adapted from a comic that has been a social phenomenon in Italy for over fifty years, featuring a masked master criminal--part Fant�mas, part James Bond--and his elegant companion Eva Kant. The film partially reinvents the character as a countercultural prankster, subverting public officials and the national economy, and places him in a luxurious and futuristic underground hideout and Eva in a series of unforgettable outfits. A commercial disappointment on its original release, Diabolik's reputation has grown along with that of its director, Mario Bava, the quintessential cult auteur, while the pop-art glamour of its costumes and sets have caught the imagination of such people as Roman Coppola and the Beastie Boys.



This study examines its status as a comic-book movie, including its relation both to the original fumetto and to its sister-film, Barbarella. It traces its production and initial reception in Italy, France, the U.S., and the UK, and its cult afterlife as both a pop-art classic and campy "bad film" featured in the final episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

Genres: Film

146 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 20, 2018

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are not many English books on the comic book character Diabolik. This is a study of the film "Danger: Diabolik," directed by the great Bava. It also goes into the comic book world of Diabolik, for which I have at least four titles in the English language series.

[Gavin Hogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 16 of 2020
Diabolik is an Italian comic book character that helped teach me Italian when I lived out there. I got a load of back issues and painstakingly read through them, developing my vocabulary. I became adept at talking about sleeping gas, masks, jewels, safes and robberies. Not that useful when trying to go about your daily life ordering bread at the bakery counter but it was diverting at least.
This book is about the cult, camp, classic film, directed by Mario Bava in the late 60's - similar in many ways to Barbarella. It gives background information about the comic and film before becoming more academic and theoretical in approach. I've still not watched the film - but will soon - and have never taken film studies so, y'know, I'm probably not the target audience for this book. Still I learnt a lot and it's whetted my appetite to see the movie.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars) Slim academic monograph on the cult movie Danger: Diabolik. To my mind, the author spent too much time on the comic books are not quite enough on the movie itself. Also, illustrations would have been nice. Given its dry academic prose, it's a pretty quick read.