morrison-dylan-fan Being a fan of auteur film maker Mario Bava,I was absolutely thrilled to get the DVD from a very kind fellow IMDber of Mario Bava's adventure in the Comic-Book genre,and decided to save it for a special event. Doing some major film viewings as ICM held a best of 1968 movie poll,it felt like the perfect time to find out how diabolic things could get.The plot:Aware of the government staging a fake transfer of $10 million in order to distract them,master criminal Diabolik and his partner Eva Kant turn the tables on the law,and steal the real money. As the government approve a return of the death penalty to bring crime down,Diabolik makes the government a laughing stock,by setting off laughing gas at the conference. Deciding they want the same thing,the police and the underworld team up,as Diabolik sets off on a diamond robbery filled with danger.View on the film:Setting the film off like a rocket,the score by Ennio Morricone sends the rocket into space with a Surf Punk score that was ten years ahead of its time, with Morricone's rumbling drums and waves of guitar riffs flying along the superhero caper. Expressing in the commentary how proud he still was of the movie, John Phillip Law gives an energetic performance as Diabolik,with Law giving Danger a devil may care attitude,to outwitting the law at every turn.Shimmering when stepping in her first Comic-Book panel, Marisa Mell gives an enchanting performance as Eva Kant,who along with looking gorgeous in disguises,is also given a quick-wit by Mell,making Kant the perfect partner in crime for Diabolik. Putting his own paint brush on the astonishingly beautiful matte painting,co- writer/cinematographer/directing auteur Mario Bava puts his distinctive bright colour designs into vivid Comic-Book pulp Pop- Art, with limited sets being seamlessly blended to lush matte painting covering the pages of Diabolik's adventure in exploding red,greens blues and yellow. Masterfully using the matte paintings to create Comic-Book panel framing, Bava draws an exciting,adventure atmosphere with high- stylised whip-pans and circling camera moves unmasking the danger of Danger Diabolik.

Eric Stevenson Did they really save the best for last in "Mystery Science Theater 3000"? Was this movie the least awful that was ever featured in the series? Well, it certainly got close. It was pretty weird to see such a well mediocre movie featured on the show and I am still happy to see this either way. This movie features a secret agent or vigilante named Diabolik fighting a villain named Valmont. Valmont is a pretty nice villain. While the story doesn't make much sense, you have to admit that it does have pretty impressive action scenes and it fits the style of the James Bond movies at the times. Unlike so many bad imitators, this does manage to have a distinctive style of its own.The sets are probably what make the film. They even have a pretty interesting plot about stealing gold and some interesting scenes where gold is frozen. I actually do like the ending. It gives off a really nice mysterious vibe and doesn't take the easy way out. Still, it does come off as too silly sometimes. It's a great way to end the series and probably the closest I'd come to recommending a film on its own that was featured on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". **1/2

moonspinner55 Candy-colored French-Italian co-production, cops-and-robbers stuff perfectly satisfying for some--though with a tiring amount of set-ups framing its very thin story. Master thief Diabolik steals 10 million dollars from an armored car, making himself enemy number one of gang leader Valmont, who puts himself in-cahoots with the police to bring Diabolik to justice. Terrific art direction and set designs, plus a jazzy-cool music score by Ennio Morricone, nearly make the film worth catching for non-genre fans; otherwise, director Mario Bava's tricks with the camera are in service of so little, and star John Phillip Law can't even find a three-dimensional character to create within the material. Bava also served as producer and had a hand in the screenplay, based on the Italian comic "Diabolik", which bears more than a passing resemblance to the French crime series "Fantômas". ** from ****

poe426 If there's a failing of most filmmakers when it comes to bringing a comic book to the big screen, it's a fundamental misunderstanding of the term "comic book." It goes all the way back to the origin of the comic book in this country, when "comics" were primarily humorous. These "funny strips," which appeared originally in newspapers, were eventually cobbled up into collections and sold as "comic books." Hence, the label. Like an albatross, that label was draped around the neck of one of the darkest characters to ever grace the pages of a comic book- BATMAN- when television producer William Dozier brought The Dark Knight to the small screen in the 1960s. Campy and as in-the-closet funny as the law would allow, it became a huge success. When Mario Bava decided to bring the fumetti DIABOLIK to the screen, he took his cue from the BATMAN TV series. The sometimes psychedelic 60s silliness (characters passing around "whacky tobaccy") was a perfect blend for the telestupidness of the series. One can't help but groan, remembering Batman's anti-shark repellent, when Diabolik, prior to unleashing laughing gas on an unsuspecting audience, takes his anti-laughing gas pills. Terry Thomas's prissy performance, the whirling images come-a-whirling straight out of the TV series, and John Law's exaggerated posturing all help make DANGER: DIABOLIK forgettable. Nor does the plodding snail's pace help.