La strega in amore

When my pal at the DVD store told me that he had ordered Damiano Damiani's THE WITCH, I admitted that I had never heard of it before - although, on looking up the film under its original Italian title, I had the notion that it may have been shown on late-night TV without my realizing what sort of film it was! In any case, having now watched it for myself, THE WITCH has proved to be one of the most pleasant film-viewing surprises I've had since the beginning of the year! Ostensibly a horror film, it doesn't easily fit into the genre since Damiani approaches it, for the most part, as if it were a Kafkaesque art-house flick (with an undeniable erotic charge, which was as unexpected in this kind of film as it was effective)! This isn't in itself a bad thing, since THE WITCH has a very elegant look to it - in direct contrast to the endless spate of undistinguished low-budget productions being churned out by the Italian film industry during this time - extending to the production design (its excellent use of locations is a major asset) and the inspired use of shadowy lighting (coming as it did at the tail-end of black-and-white horror-film production) which is comparable to the work of Mario Bava. As a matter of fact, it reminded me quite a bit of the latter's KILL, BABY...KILL!, made the same year (albeit shot in color) and also largely set in a decrepit mansion; besides, Rosanna Schiaffino's hypnotic beauty and wonderful performance can stand proudly alongside Barbara Steele's iconic showcase in BLACK Sunday (1960) and especially that of Daliah Lavi in THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963) - both of which, incidentally, were also directed by Bava! The rest of the cast features Richard Johnson (fresh from another subtle horror piece, Robert Wise' THE HAUNTING [1963]) as the bewildered love-struck hero, Sarah Ferrati (here in only her second film and which also proved to be the last!) as the creepy-looking old "lady" who sets the complex plot in motion - and who has an unexplained predilection towards torturing cats (loving animals as much as I do, I found these scenes somewhat disturbing!), Gian Maria Volonte' (excellent as Schiaffino's distraught former lover who still resides in the doomed mansion) and Ivan Rassimov (who is set to take over Johnson's double duties at the house, until the latter resolves to put an end to the whole charade in the fiery climax). Apart from the latter scene (and, of course, the sexy bits), perhaps the film's best moment is when Schiaffino goes - convincingly - into convulsions (years prior to THE EXORCIST [1973]) and discloses her "true" identity to a horrified Richard Johnson.

From the few comments I've managed to find about the film, most have described it as being slow and pretentious. While I wasn't bothered by the film's deliberate pace (and I usually am in this type of film!), I must say that I am prone to appreciate intelligence in a horror film even more than in virtually any other genre - since it's the one that has suffered most at the hands of untalented film-makers and exploitative producers who go for the easy buck and are content to follow the current trend without "putting their mind to it", as it were. The DVD I watched, unfortunately, was a full-frame affair, fuzzy-looking (possibly sourced from a 16mm print) and poorly dubbed (which, coupled with the rather muffled audio, made the dialogue hard to understand at times!). I do hope that a more deserving edition of this gem eventually surfaces but, if not, I'll be on the look-out for it in the event that it turns up (again) on late-night Italian TV...

Damiano Damiani was just one of many Italian film-makers who made their mark on Italian "cult" cinema during the 60s and 70s and while he isn't among the more celebrated of the bunch, from what I've seen of his work - ARTURO'S ISLAND (1962), THE WITCH, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (1967), HOW TO KILL A JUDGE (1974) and THE INQUIRY (1987) - he more than holds his own; this reminds me that I have Damiani's IL GIORNO DELLA CIVETTA (1968) and THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN (1975) lying in my ever-increasing "Unwatched Films on VHS" pile...not to mention 2 starring lovely Schiaffino and 9 with Volonte' (surely one of Italy's most versatile and important actors)!!

This is a pleasantly dated picture, the story of a womanizing linguist who is hired to sort through an old widow's sexual biography (written by her late husband) and gets tangled up with his employer's mysterious beautiful daughter and her lover. Very Italian, slightly Gothic, slightly mod, and erotic enough (for its time), this is a slow but pretty movie, which is also pretty satisfying, all things considered.

This is an absolute masterpiece of extravagant, sensuous Continental 60s art cinema, and provides an "incendiary" Gothic femme fatale to rival the Hayworths and Gardners of film noir. Nominally a horror film (which only becomes completely apparent during the last reel), it actually fits nicely into that 60s subgenre of manipulative mind games and metaphysical character duality, not unlike Losey's "The Servant" (though it's closer in execution to his elegiac "Eva"). Although it's constantly threatening to unravel under the stress of its own pretensions (as was the fate of many international art films of the time), Damiani is firmly in control as he continues to up the ante with a bacchanalia of outrageously stylish devices, visual metaphors and tactile atmospherics. Schiaffino is one of those classic beauties who seemed to fall out of Italian poplar trees at the time, Johnson is suitably arrogant in his machismo, and the exotic flute-and-bongo score is a retro dream driving the erotic game-playing. Many will find its excesses over-the-top or campy, and it's startlingly misogynist at times, but for those tuned in to the excesses of the 60s, this is a mindbending treat right up to the astonishing but fitting conclusion. (As a footnote, it's now plain that Bertolucci's "Last Tango" was not the first to play the make-love-without-touching game.) If you enjoyed this one, try to find the obscure "Death on the Four Poster", which plays with similar themes on a much more transparent, but enjoyable, level.

What is wrong with this film? Something is very wrong from the beginning, which even Richard Johnson feels from the start, and yet he stays on when he shouldn't in a kind of subconscious urge to go to the bottom of the undefinable anomaly, which he does.

He is allured by an old lady to take on the task of catalogizing the books and manuscripts of an enormous old library in the grand old palace where the lady lives, but it appears that she has a daughter who is as attractive and sensual as the old lady is not. Of course he stays on by the attraction and mystery of this daughter, but after some time it appears that he has a rival, who also is engaged in a passionate relationship with her. There the problems begin getting constantly thicker to the very end.

There is nothing wrong with the actors or the story or the very interesting and skilful cinematography, but this is a case involving suopernatural elements, so there is some magic involved, but that is what is lacking. There is no magic at all here. Rosanna Schiaffino as the daughter is not convincing but rather callous no matter how beautiful she is, Sarah Ferrati as the grand old lady is repellent in her hard inhumanity, Gian Maria Volonte is perfect enough for his passionate part like Richard Johnson, but this is great cinematography entirely without magic, which is the most important thing, especially in a story like this. Instead of being fascinated and involved in the mystery, you are disgusted and learn to hate the old lady just like Richard Johnson does, so this is not a very recommendable film, unless you like directors like Bertolucci, which has the same callous and inhuman way of screening humans in erotic involvements focussing on sex and forgetting all about love.

Not perfect but at times startling and even disturbing, this is a fine 1966 b/w film from the versatile director, Damiano Damiani, who made the very different, A Bullet For The General, the same year and later several crime films, including, How To Kill a Judge. Apparently Bunuel at one point considered making this, based upon the book by Carlos Fuentes, and he would no doubt have made it a little more sinister and a little less hysterical. Anyhow, here we have the lovely Rosanna Schiaffino, who would appear in the colourful and equally strange, Check to the Queen a couple of years later. Here she is the love/sex interest, although like her worrying elderly mistress, also takes a turn at the frighteningly weird when she becomes stressed. You will have never seen anything quite like this, despite the seeming familiar theme of possession, and should definitely check it out.