Le Corps et le Fouet

As I slowly get to watch more Mario Bava movies my enthusiasm for his extraordinary body of work grows and grows. I was already hooked after watching 'Black Sunday' for the first time, but after subsequently seeing 'Kill, Baby...Kill!', 'Planet Of The Vampires', 'Black Sabbath', 'Diabolik' and 'Lisa And The Devil' (and others) I was convinced that he's THE most underrated director of the Fantastic. Now I've watched 'The Whip And The Body' three times and listened to Tim Lucas' informative DVD commentary I'm almost ready to bow down and worship Bava like a god! This is such a fascinating movie... Visually it's stunning, as to be expected, Bava being a top cinematographer before turning to directing. The subject matter is still provocative, but forty years ago it must have been scandalous! In fact the movie was heavily censored and when eventually released in America given the lousy title 'What'. Christopher Lee counts this among his favourite roles and it is essential viewing for his fans. He plays Kurt Menliff, an evil sadistic nobleman returning to his family home after hearing his younger brother has wed. Lee's family has disowned him after a scandal concerning a servant girl he seduced who subsequently suicided. His father the Count despises him, the dead girl's mother, who still works for the Count, curses him, and his brother's new bride Nevenka (Daliah Lavi) fears him. Kurt and Nevenka have a past, not only that, a complicated sadomasochistic relationship. The whipping scenes between the two actors were a bit too much for the censors to handle back in the day, and while they aren't all that explicit, they are still unsettling even today. Lee and the stunning Lavi (best know to most people for her later appearance in the star-studded Bond spoof 'Casino Royale') make a truly unforgettable couple. Many people regard 'The Whip And The Body' as Bava's single best movie. I wouldn't go that far myself, but it's definitely one of his very best films, and is sure to impress anyone who has enjoyed his other pictures. Ghost story, murder mystery, psychosexual character study, whatever you want to call it, it's a highly original movie that will stay with you for a long time. Newcomers to Bava are still best to start with 'Black Sunday' in my opinion, but this movie comes with my highest recommendation.

Set in 19th Century, an aristocrat called Kurt : Christopher Lee goes back to his seafront castle house many years later he left it . There he finds again his nobleman father : Gustavo de Nardo , his younger brother Christian : Tony Kendall newly married to Kurt's cousin, and previous sweetheart, Nevenka : Dalilah Lavi. Then the Count decides his son Christian to inherit the luxurious mansion . Along the way, a spectrum appearing here and there haunting the inhabitants of the castle and wanting to exact a relentless vendetta. Evil Horror!. The most deliciously romantic terror movie ever made! . Horror beyond the bounds of Hell!. What body lay in the coffin? What is her terrifying secret?. What secret haunted the castle dungeon? What thing walked in the night?

Terrifying and mysterious horror movie with thrills, chills , haunting castles, ghost appearances and intensely chromatic photography. Nice and thrilling Italian Gothic with a cost about 66.000 dollars, packing an interesting and twisted script with surprising finale by prolific Ernesto Gastaldi, Ugo Guerra and Luciano Martino . Main and support cast are frankly well. Christopher Lee as the sadistic and ruthless nobleman with fetish obsession and sinister purports , Dalilah Lavi as the masochistic wife, she really remembers to the great scream queen Barabara Steele . Alongside Tony Kendall as the spineless brother , Evelyn Stewart who uses often pseudonym Ida Galli, Gustavo de Nardi as the deranged father , Jacques Herlin as a priest, Harriet White as an old maid and Luciano Pigozzi or Allan Collins, considered to be the Italian Peter Lorre.

Special mention for the brilliant cinematography in gaudy colour from Ubaldo Tezano and Mario Bava himself. Shot on location in coast of Tor Caldera and Elios studios . Charming musical score with attractive leitmotiv, adding a concert for piano, Concert for Windsor, composed by Carlo Rustichelli, under pseudonym Jim Murphy. This La Frusta e Il Corpo or The Whip and the Body has other titles as What in US, and Night is the phantom in England where was heavily cut its lashing scenes. This poetic motion picture was competently directed by Mario Bava, giving a romantic, frightening and dramatic work . He was an excellent cameraman , FX expert and filmmaker who made lots of films in all kinds genres with penchant for horror and Giallo such as : Mask of Demon, Black Sabbath, The girl who knew too much, Blood and Black Lace, Lisa and the Devil, A hatchet fot the honeymoon, Bay of Blood, Schock . Although he also directed other genres as Spaghetti Western : Roy Colt and Winchester Jack, Ringo of Nebraska. Thrillers : Diabolik, Five dolls for an August Moon . Monster movie : Calchiki. Sci-fi : Terror in space. Adventures : Knives of the avenger, Fury of Vikings. Peplum : Battle of Marathon, Hercules and the haunted world, among others. Rating 7/10. Better than average. Worthwhile watching.

Sadistic scoundrel Kurt (Christopher lee), black sheep of the family, returns home to find that absence hasn't exactly made the heart grow fonder: his father (Gustavo De Nardo), brother Christian (Tony Kendall), ex-lover Nevenka (Daliah Lavi) and housemaid Giorgia (Harriet Medin) still find him utterly loathsome. Unsurprisingly, Kurt winds up being murdered, but even death cannot stop his cruelty...

In keeping with its Sadean theme, The Whip and the Body is both a pleasure to behold and a pain to endure: aesthetically, the film cannot be rivalled, with excellent costume and set design, and exquisite direction from Mario Bava, whose camera glides gracefully through pools of coloured light and ominous swathes of shadow to great effect; the story, however, is less impressive, a trite exercise in Gothic cliché, replete with a creepy cliff-top castle continually battered by strong winds and thunderstorms, a raft of morbid characters, all of whom harbour dark secrets, loads of tiresome symbolism, and some ridiculous psychological claptrap.

The sado-masochistic nature of the central relationship between Kurt and Navenka (which is surprisingly way ahead of its time) prevents the film from attaining coma-inducing levels, but with extremely long periods where nothing much of interest happens, the film is far from the perfect perverted and poetic love story that its ardent supporters claim it to be.

8 out of 10 for the lovely imagery, but 4/10 for the story—so that's an average rating of 6/10.

Kurt Menliff (Cristopher Lee) returns home to his ancestral castle which he was forced to leave after he whipped a village girl nearly to death. He finds that his fiance (Daliah Lavi) has married his brother, as well as having become the mistress of his father. (Don't panic, there's worse to come). He follows her to the beach and whips her savagely. She loves it and they end the session making love. The next day Kurt is found dead and Daliah soon begins experiencing nightly flagellations at the hands of his ghost. Christopher Lee has stated that this is one of his best films. It is certainly one of the most brilliantly bizarre horror films ever made. Directed by cult icon Mario Bava, Italy's finest cinematographer (if not one of their finest directors), it rises as far above an S & M fantasy as can be imagined. It was censored in every country in the world for its sexual violence and what remained was almost incoherent for most audiences and re-released under various titles: WHAT! in the US; NIGHT IS THE PHANTOM in the UK, etc. Until video (with somewhat faded color) it was impossible to see in its original form. Even now it remains a profoundly misunderstood film and should be seen in a theater in its complete form instead of on video.

J.F.

A Gothic tale of depravity and horror with some exquisite scenery to enjoy along with perfectly selected music.

Kurt Menliff (Cristopher Lee) has been banished from home, and when he returns, fear sets in everywhere. As it should, given that his fiancé (Daliah Lavi) married his brother (Tony Kendall) and is sleeping with his father (Gustavo De Nardo). He has some unusual sexual tastes and preferences, which Nevenka (Lavi) shares.

A classic ghost story in a spooky setting with some very good performances. An expected ending did not diminish the enjoyment of the film one bit.