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Aesthetically speaking, Mario Bava’s Danger: Diabolik may be the greatest film to spawn from comic book source material. Given the Italian filmmaker’s work as cinematographer, this is hardly surprising. Bava’s choice of lenses (lots of fisheye), sense of composition, and eye for color are unrivaled. With Danger: Diabolik, Bava adapts his technique at times to approximate the arrangement of panels within a comic book page, breaking up the frame into compartmentalized units by situating objects like rearview mirrors, wrought bedframes, and elaborate shelving in the foreground of the shot.

The plot here is almost secondary to its set pieces. Diabolik (John Phillip Law) and his partner, Eva Kant (Marisa Mell), steal from the rich to give to themselves. Not exactly adverse to violence, it’s no big deal for Diabolik to dispatch his foes, when necessary, usually with an unerringly lobbed dagger. Given some of his actions,...

Kino Lorber has announced two genre films coming to 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray this summer: Silent Scream on July 8 and Danger: Diabolik on July 22.

Silent Scream has been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative with HDR10.

The 1979 gothic horror film marks the only effort from director Denny Harris. Jim & Ken Wheat (Pitch Black) and Wallace C. Bennett (The Philadelphia Experiment) penned the script.

Rebecca Balding, Cameron Mitchell, Avery Schreiber, Barbara Steele, and Yvonne De Carlo star.

Special features:

Audio Commentary by Writers Jim and Ken Wheat with Actress Rebecca Balding Audio Commentary by Actress Barbara Steele, Moderated by Film Historian David Del Valle Scream of Success – 30 Years Later: Featurette The Original Script: Featurette The Wheat Brothers – A Look Back: Featurette Interview with Actress Rebecca Balding Audio Interview with Director Denny Harris Theatrical Trailer TV Spot Radio Spots 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio

Unable to get housing on campus,...

The 1960s were a great time for stylish heist movies, with many classics which are still loved by fans decades later. The heist genre initially sprung out of film noir, but it gradually developed its own identity, and it came to encompass romantic comedies, action thrillers and even spy movies. The 1960s marked a boom for the genre, after films like Rififi and The Killing brought about a new wave of enthusiasm in the 1950s.

Heist movies in the 1970s got much grittier and darker, in line with the trends of New Hollywood. By contrast, the 1960s delivered some more stylish and lighthearted capers, such as Ocean's 11 and How to Steal a Million. This era was defined by suave thieves pulling off intricately plotted heists, and there wasn't much of the violence and bloodshed that's usually associated with crime movies.

Related 20 Best Heist Movies Of All Time, Ranked

The...

Collector’s box on the horizon: Severin assembles hours of video extras and text illumination for another group of films featuring favorite actor Christopher Lee. The roundup of titles bookends his career as a screen vampire, with one of Lee’s earliest vampire roles and also his last turn as Count Dracula. Looming large on the academic side of Severin’s research are experts and biographers Kat Ellinger, Barry Forshaw, Troy Howarth, Kim Newman, Nathaniel Thompson and Jonathan Rigby, who also contributes a hundred-page book.

The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 2

Blu-ray

Uncle Was a Vampire, The Secret of the Red Orchid, Dark Places, Dracula and Son, Murder Story

Severin Films

1959-1989 / Color / 2:39 widescreen, 1:66 widescreen, 1:85 widescreen

Street Date July 26, 2022

Available from Severin Films / 134.95

Starring alphabetically: Marie Hélène Breillat, Catherine Breillat, Joan Collins, Robert Hardy, Adrian Hoven, Klaus Kinski, Sylva Koscina, Herbert Lom, Susanne Loret, Jean Marsh, Marisa Mell,...

UK correspondent Lee Broughton returns with coverage of a well-realised Spaghetti Western, Michele Lupo’s irony-laden semi-comedy Ben & Charlie. The film’s eponymous anti-heroes are played by fan favourites Giuliano Gemma and George Eastman and the duo receive great support from a number of familiar faces including Marisa Mell, Aldo Sambrell and Giacomo Rossi Stuart.

Ben & Charlie

Region-Free Blu-ray

Explosive Media GmbH

1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 113 min. / Amigo, Stay Away; Amico, stammi lontano almeno un palmo / Street Date, 28 October 2021 / Available from Explosive Media / £22.99

Starring: Giuliano Gemma, George Eastman, Vittorio Congia, Luciano Lorcas, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Remo Capitani, Nello Pazzafini, Marisa Mell, Aldo Sambrell, Roberto Camardiel.

Cinematography: Aristide Massaccesi

Production Designer: Dario Micheli

Film Editor: Antonietta Zita

Original Music: Gianni Ferrio

Written by Luigi Montefiori and Sergio Donati

Produced by Lucio Bompani

Directed by Michele Lupo

Charlie (George Eastman) patiently waits outside of a Mexican prison so that he can give his...

May 31st sees the release of The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 2 from Severin Films, bringing more cult classic Christopher Lee films to Blu-ray, including Uncle Was a Vampire and Dracula and Son! We have all the details below, along with a trailer, and a look at the box set artwork:

The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee Collection 2

To celebrate the centennial of the legendary actor, Eurocrypt Collection 2 presents five of the most unexpected, underrated and underseen films of the iconic actor’s European career. Immediately following Horror Of Dracula, Lee reprised the role in the quirky 1959 Italian comedy Uncle Was A Vampire. Lee speaks fluent German opposite Klaus Kinski for the crazed 1962 krimi Secret Of The Red Orchid. In the 1974 UK psycho-thriller Dark Places, Lee toplines a cast that includes Joan Collins, Herbert Lom and Jane Birkin. Lee’s final performance as The Count in the 1976 French comedy Dracula And Son...

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“Spies With Scruples”

By Raymond Benson

In comparing Masquerade (1965) with a recent review of Arabesque (1966) here at Cinema Retro, this time we have yet another mid-1960s “comedy-spy thriller,” a genre that was crowding the cinemas in those days because of the success of Double-o-You-Know-Who.

In contrast to Arabesque, this one is a British production, directed by the prolific and often brilliant Basil Dearden, and it utilizes London locations as well as spots in Spain. And yet, despite the thoroughly British DNA running through 95% of the movie, it stars American Cliff Robertson as the hero, David Fraser, a sort of CIA type who seems to approach all the danger around him with misplaced naivete and amused detachment.

The script marks the first appearance of the great William Goldman in a screen credit (co-writing with Michael Relph). It’s based on Vincent Canning’s novel,...

Double your Diabolik and double your pleasure! … this Australian import chases a domestic disc onto the market after only a few months, but of course comes with irresistible new extras to tempt collectors and completists. Mario Bava’s funny, dynamic action thriller was the first feature to really capture the graphic art ‘feeling’ of comic panels — we wish he’d directed a whole series of Diabolik adventures. The evaluation section notes the small differences between this disc and the U.S. release from last April.

Danger Diabolik

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint]

1968 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date October, 2020

Starring: John Phillip Law, Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli, Adolfo Celi, Terry-Thomas, Mario Donen.

Cinematography: Antonio Rinaldi

Film Editor: Romana Fortini

Art Director: Flavio Mogherini

Original Music: Ennio Morricone

Written by Adriano Baracco, Mario Bava, Brian Degas, Tudor Gates,

Dino Maiuri story by Angela & Luciana Giussani

Produced by Dino De Laurentiis

Directed by Mario Bava...

Oh Joy, Oh Rapture! Mario Bava’s comic book thriller makes the jump to Blu-ray in fine shape, with knockout visuals and eye-popping color. John Philip Law, Marisa Mell, Terry-Thomas and the late Michel Piccoli are all irreplaceable in this one-of-a-kind show. Bava’s film translates action comic fantasy into cinematic terms, pictorial appeal and dynamism intact. The disc comes with a pair of excellent commentaries, featuring Nathaniel Thompson, Troy Howarth, Tim Lucas and John Philip Law himself.

Danger: Diabolik

Blu-ray

Shout! Factory

1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date May 19, 2020 / Available from Shout! Factory

Starring: John Phillip Law, Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli,

Adolfo Celi, Terry-Thomas, Mario Donen.

Cinematography: Antonio Rinaldi

Film Editor: Romana Fortini

Art Director: Flavio Mogherini

Original Music: Ennio Morricone

Written by Adriano Baracco, Mario Bava, Brian Degas, Tudor Gates,

Dino Maiuri story by Angela & Luciana Giussani

Produced by Dino De Laurentiis

Directed by Mario Bava

We...

He’s fast on his feet, quick with a gun, and faster with the to-die-for beauties that only existed in the swinging ’60s. The superspy exploits of Oss 117 were too big for just one actor, so meet all three iterations of the man they called Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath . . . seriously.

Oss 117 Five Film Collection

Blu-ray

Oss 117 Is Unleashed; Oss 117: Panic in Bangkok; Oss 117: Mission For a Killer; Oss 117: Mission to Tokyo; Oss 117: Double Agent

Kl Studio Classics

1963-1968 / B&W and Color / 1:85 widescreen + 2:35 widescreen / 528 min. / Street Date September 26, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 59.95

Starring: Kerwin Matthews, Nadia Sanders, Irina Demick, Daniel Emilfork; Kerwin Matthews, Pier Angeli, Robert Hossein; Frederick Stafford, Mylène Demongeot, Perrette Pradier, Dominique Wilms, Raymond Pellegrin, Annie Anderson; Frederick Stafford, Marina Vlad, Jitsuko Yoshimura; John Gavin, Margaret Lee, Curd Jurgens, Luciana Paluzzi, Rosalba Neri, Robert Hossein, George Eastman.

Cinematography: Raymond Pierre Lemoigne...

Ken Russell spent most of his days regarding his first theatrical feature, French Dressing, as a disaster. Certainly it did his career prospects no good at the time. Then he caught it on late night TV in the nineties, and said to himself, "This is a masterpiece!"He might have been right, though the film's effect is so indefinable that its success or failure on its own terms, whatever they might be, is hard to be certain of. But it's sufficiently unlike anything else to qualify for some kind of place of honor in the sub-sub-genre of British seaside psychotronic cinema.The starting point was kind of charming and straightforward: a run-down coastal resort tries to vie with Cannes by launching a film fest and inviting the latest Gallic sex kitten sensation. The producer probably imagined something a bit like a Carry On film, whereas Russell hoped to take things into Jacques Tati territory.

Remembered primarily for several giallo titles (and some more exploitative sub-genre cannibal thrillers), illustrious director Umberto Lenzi also helmed several Euro-crime police thrillers (polizieschi). Raro Video brings his first foray into the crime world, 1973’s Gang War in Milan, to Blu-ray with a new, digitally restored transfer. While it’s about as straightforward as its title promises, it’s filled with amusing instances.

Antonio Sobato (father of soap star Antonio Sobato Jr.) is a produce vendor who moonlights as Milan’s most influential pimp, Toto Cangemi. A staunchly proud Sicilian, Toto doesn’t take too kindly to French gangster and drug lord Roger Daverty, aka La Capitaine (Philippe Leroy), who makes an aggressive offer to unite their crime fronts. If Toto’s girls also sell La Capitaine’s goods, they’ll be rolling in the dough. But nobody couches on Toto’s turf, and the rival powers are soon going head to head.

Sleazemeister Umberto Lenzi popularized the Italian cannibal film subgenre with The Man from the Deep River and made gore fans drool with Cannibal Ferox, but you won't get over-the-top violence and a truly seedy story when it comes to his 1972 giallo, Seven Blood-Stained Orchids. The director's early gialli were quite tame compared to his later movies. Lenzi lures us to Orchids with a killer opening, featuring the death of a naked prostitute and a stylish murder set piece, starring giallo babe Marina Malfatti. Frustratingly, Orchids starts to dwindle after that. Lenzi bookends his thriller with some of the mood and craftiness we've come to expect of the Italian-made movies, but a bloated middle drags to the finish. Newlyweds Mario (Antonio Sabato, father of soap opera star Antonio Sabato, Jr.) and Giulia (German actress Uschi Glas) find their honeymoon interrupted after a black-gloved psychopath attempts to murder the missus. The unlucky...

British director Ken Russell has died in his sleep at the age of 84. Married four times, Russell is survived by Elize Tribble, whom he married in 2001, and his six children. After starting his career in the mid-1950s with various shorts and television projects, he made his feature debut with 1964 comedy French Dressing, which starred James Booth, Roy Kinnear and Marisa Mell. Spending his career as a director, producer, writer and even an actor, Russell was best known for films like Altered States, Tommy (based on The Who rock opera) and Women in Love, which earned him his one and only Academy Award nomination (the same can be said for the Golden Globes). In 1974 Russell brought Mahler, a biopic about composer Gustav Mahler, to the Cannes Film Festival and was both nominated for the Palme d'Or and won the Technical Grand Prize. Though he had some success with awards and...

“Danger: Diabolik is an absolute pulp masterpiece.”

Danger: Diabolik

Directed by Mario Bava

Italy / France – 1968

This super-stylish live-action adaptation of the popular (and still ongoing) 1960 Italian comic book., created by Milan sisters Angela & Luciana Giussani, is easily the best of the spate of ’60s European comic-strip/superhero movies (e.g., Fantomas). Unfortunately, it suffered from bad timing, released among the campy but similar movies Batman and Barbarella. Yet despite being a box office flop, Danger: Diabolik eventually found a cult following, and is considered by many (including this reviewer) to be one of the best live-action comic book movies ever made – a hidden gem of the genre.

What makes this silly B movie caper film interesting is its lack of all traditional values of good and evil, giving us instead a more interestingly ambiguous mix. The “rob from the rich, but never give back” approach of the titular character, Diabolik...