Le Corps et le Fouet

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.

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.

This unrelentingly-creepy tale of obsession and perversion plays like a more-horrific version of _Wuthering Heights_: cobwebbed crypts, dark castles with secret passages, rotting bodies, muddy footprints, pale faces scowling through windows, love-hate relationships that continue beyond the grave, sea cliffs, turbulent ocean, sunsets, and a very haunting music score. The sets are rich and the direction is moody, with lots of brilliantly-composed photography and a convincingly-cruel performance by Christopher Lee. This one does require some patience, but it's one of Bava's greatest masterpieces and deserves to be saved from obscurity.

After the announcement of the servant Losat (Alan Collins), the nobleman Kurt Menliff (Christopher Lee) returns to the castle of his family at the seaside to congratulate his brother Christian Menliff (Tony Kendall) for his marriage with his former lover Nevenka (Daliah Lavi). Kurt feels the hatred and the fear of his father Count Menliff (Dean Ardow) and the servant Giorgia (Harriet White), who blames him for seducing and killing her daughter, and indifference from his cousin Katia (Isli Oberon). On the next afternoon, the sadistic Kurt meets Nevenka riding a horse alone on the beach and whips the masochistic woman and makes love with her. Late night, Nevenka is missing and everybody is seeking her while Kurt is stabbed in the neck with the same dagger that Giorgia's daughter was murdered. On the next days, the members of the family suspects of each other while Nevenka is haunted by the ghost of Kurt.

"The Whip and the Body" is a stylish and one of the best features of Mario Bava that uses a magnificent cinematography, lighting and shadows and a classy soundtrack. The acting is great and the only problem is that the Ámerican DVD is awfully dubbed in English, without the synchrony of the movements of the lips with the speech. However, I have just watched this movie again in a Brazilian DVD spoken in Italian. The truth about the supernatural story is not difficult to be guessed what is happening by an attentive viewer. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Chicote e o Corpo" ("The Whip and the Body")

Note: On 01 October 2014 I saw this movie again.

"The Whip and the Body" is an amazingly kinky film--and it surprised me a bit in this regard. It has scenes of sado-masochism, as a female character in the film likes to be beaten before having sex. Because of this you MIGHT wanna think twice before showing this to your kids or grandma.

This is a Gothic horror film with a nice ambiance and excellent music--though the same tune is overused a bit through the course of the film. The fun begins when the long-disgraced older son (Christopher Lee) arrives after a long absence. Exactly what he'd done isn't spelled out all that clearly, but you know it resulted in the death of a servant and that he's been disinherited. Soon, Lee is off having fun, beating a member of the family and making love to her...and she likes it! Now you THINK Lee has returned to get some sort of revenge on his family, so I was surprised he took out time for this kinky tryst. And, surprise, surprise, before he can start his plans of revenge, he's stabbed to death! But, through the course of the film, it seems as if he's returned from the dead, and very bad things start to happen...along with some more kinky whippings.

The payoff for this tale is pretty good and it's a good film with a nice print. But, it's also a bit uncomfortable watching the kinky stuff, so I certainly can't recommend it without some reservations.

By the way, the DVD for this Italian film is dubbed, not subtitled. And, oddly, although you can tell that Lee was speaking English, it's NOT his voice--it, along with the rest, have been dubbed. As for me, I always prefer subtitled.