Danger: Diabolik () is a 1968 action and crime film directed and co-written by Mario Bava, based on the Italian comic series Diabolik by Angela and Luciana Giussani. The film is about a criminal named Diabolik (John Phillip Law), who plans large-scale heists for his girlfriend Eva Kant (Marisa Mell). Diabolik is pursued by Inspector Ginko (Michel Piccoli), who blackmails the gangster Ralph Valmont (Adolfo Celi) into catching Diabolik for him.
An adaptation of the comics was originally envisioned by producer Tonino Cervi, who set up an international co-production deal in 1965 and hired Seth Holt to direct the film with a cast that included Jean Sorel, Elsa Martinelli and Gilbert Roland. Appalled with Holt's footage, distributor Dino De Laurentiis assumed control of the film's production, electing to restart the project from scratch with a new screenplay and Bava as director. De Laurentiis produced the film in tandem with another comic book adaptation, Barbarella, with the two projects receiving financial support from Paramount Pictures and sharing several cast and crew members. Catherine Deneuve was initially cast as Eva, but her incompatibility with Law and disagreements with Bava led to the part being recast with Mell. Working under more financial and creative pressure than he was familiar with, Bava delivered Danger: Diabolik considerably below its assigned budget by utilizing many of the inexpensive visual effects techniques that he had used in his earlier films. It would prove to be the only film that he would direct for a major Hollywood studio.
Upon its theatrical release, Danger: Diabolik performed below De Laurentiis' expectations at the box office, and received negative reviews from The New York Times and Variety. With the re-evaluation of Bava's filmography, retrospective reception of the film has been more positive, with its visuals, the performances of Law and Mell, and the score by Ennio Morricone receiving praise. In studies of the film, critics and historians have focused on Bava's use of mise-en-scène to replicate the imagery and stylization of comic books, and the film's reflection of the socio-political upheavals of the 1960s in its characterization and narratology. Having garnered a cult following, Danger: Diabolik was chosen by Empire magazine as one of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time" in 2008. The first in a trilogy of new Diabolik films directed by the Manetti Bros. was released in 2021.
Plot In an unidentified European country, Police oversees the transportation of $10 million from a bank. To prevent the master thief Diabolik from stealing the money, he creates a diversion whereby a truck from the bank transports wastepaper, while a team of himself and disguised officers take the money in a Rolls-Royce. The plan is still foiled by Diabolik, who escapes with the money and his lover Eva Kant to their underground hideout, where they have sex on top of their loot.
Diabolik and Eva attend a press conference held by the Minister of the Interior, who reinstates the death penalty to dissuade criminals such as themselves; they disrupt the conference by releasing exhilarating gas into the crowd. Unable to locate Diabolik, Ginko and his fellow officers are granted emergency privileges that allow them to crack down on the activities of gangster Ralph Valmont, who they hope will aid in capturing him. Realizing their plan after a teen discotheque he operates is raided due to it being a front for his drug trafficking operations, Valmont makes a deal with Ginko.
While watching a news report, Diabolik decides to steal the famous Aksand emerald necklace from the Château de Saint-Just for Eva's birthday. After learning of Eva's features from a prostitute who spotted her scouting the castle, Valmont builds and circulates an identikit image of her. Diabolik scales the castle's sheer walls as the police lie in wait, and steals the necklace. Driving on his getaway, he and Eva fool the police by pulling a mirrored film across the road and using dummy decoys of himself; Eva is injured while setting up the film.
While visiting her private doctor, Eva is recognized from the identikit image and abducted. To rescue her, Diabolik boards Valmont's airplane with the stolen $10 million and the necklace to trade for Eva. He is ejected from the plane, but manages to grab Valmont just before a bomb he had planted earlier explodes. Diabolik rescues Eva as Ginko and the police close in on them. Eva makes her escape, while Diabolik loads a gun magazine with the emeralds and fires them at Valmont, killing him. He then seemingly commits suicide by taking a mysterious capsule. As the police hold a press conference about Diabolik's death, he is about to be autopsied when he returns to life, having faked his death using a technique created by Tibetan lamas which requires an antidote to be administered within twelve hours; posing as a nurse, Eva administers the antidote and sneaks him past the police and the press.
Later, a disguised Diabolik visits the morgue where Valmont's body has been cremated, collects the emeralds from his ashes and escapes, gifting them to Eva. Upon Ginko's realization that Diabolik is still alive, a million-dollar reward is offered for his capture; in retaliation, he blows up the tax offices. Despite pleas from the disgraced Minister of the Interior—now the Minister of Finance—the citizens refuse to pay their taxes, forcing the country into debt. Twenty tons of gold, which will be used to buy currency, are melted into a single block and sealed in a steel container to make it difficult to steal; the block is loaded onto a train commandeered by Ginko. Diabolik and Eva divert the train by leaving a burning truck on the tracks and re-route it to a bridge where a bomb is placed. It explodes when the train arrives, and the gold falls into the water below. As Ginko swims ashore, Diabolik and Eva collect the gold and return to their hideout.
The steel casket containing the gold is traced by the police, allowing them to track Diabolik's hideout. They close in on Diabolik, who is melting the gold in its container in order to drain it out, wearing a protective suit. Diabolik unsuccessfully attempts to flood his base and stop the police, leaving the gold container unattended. The container overheats, and when he returns to it, it explodes and covers him in molten gold, which solidifies and traps him. Believing Diabolik to have been killed, the police seal off the cavern, intending to recover the gold later. When Ginko arrives to arrest Eva, he allows her a private moment to pay her respects to Diabolik, who winks at her, having been protected in his suit.
Cast
John Phillip Law as Diabolik Marisa Mell as Eva Kant Michel Piccoli as Adolfo Celi as Ralph Valmont Claudio Gora as police chief Mario Donen as Sergeant Danek Terry-Thomas as Minister of the Interior, then Minister of Finance Renzo Palmer as Mr. Hammond, Second Minister of the Interior Caterina Boratto as Lady Clark Lucia Modugno as prostitute Annie Gorassini as Rose, Valmont's moll Carlo Croccolo as truck driver Lidia Biondi as policewoman Andrea Bosic as bank manager Federico Boido as Joe, Valmont's henchman Tiberio Mitri as Valmont's henchman Isarco Ravaioli as Valmont's henchman Giorgio Sciolette as Dr. Ferrara, forensic surgeon
Uncredited: Ennio Antonelli as syndicate member Giulio Donnini as Dr. Vernier Giuseppe Fazio as Tony, identikit operator Giorgio Gennari as Rudy, gas station informant Guidarino Guidi as Frank, syndicate member Wolfgang Hillinger as Valmont's henchman Edward Febo Kelleng as Sir Harold Clark Francesco Mulè as crematorium official Chuck Painter as newscaster Walter Williams as gold ingot supervisor
Production Development Tonino Cervi and Seth Holt
Angela and Luciana Giussani's Diabolik, widely considered to be the first example of the fumetti neri subgenre of Italian comics, was first published in November 1962. Producer Tonino Cervi, head of the production company Italy Film, was the first person to propose a film adaptation of Diabolik. Cervi was ambiguous when describing his production, stating once that "I think that with a few retouches Diabolik could turn into an extraordinary character for the silver screen." In another interview, he acknowledged that "nowadays a good film based on Flash Gordon would be a sensational success [...] but it would cost as much as Cleopatra. I have to settle for something more modest, so I'm doing Diabolik." Cervi's intention was to use the profits earned from Diabolik to recoup the costs of producing Red Desert and The Moment of Truth, as well as to finance an anthology film directed by Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman and Akira Kurosawa.
Italy Film acquired the adaptation rights from Astorina, the Giussanis' publishing house, for 20 million lire and proposed a distribution deal with Dino De Laurentiis. This deal would involve 100 million lire in advance, in exchange for the distribution rights for the film in perpetuity. De Laurentiis advanced 70 million lire, and put together a co-production deal between Italy, France (Les Films Marceau-Cocinor) and Spain (A.S. Film Produccion and Impala); the film's budget would ultimately be set at 501 million lire. The first drafts of the script were written by comic book writers Pier Carpi and Corrado Farina, who also worked in television advertising. These drafts were later revised by screenwriters Giampiero Bona and Fabrizio Onofri, who were told to tone down the violence. Onofri and Bona's screenplay also added an emphasis on comedy that was present in Andre Hunebelle's film Fantômas, another film about a master thief that was popular at the time. Diabolik's arch-nemesis from the comics, , was not included in the script as negative depictions of the police in media were a sensitive subject in Italy at the time. The film was helmed by British director Seth Holt, and the cast was led by Jean Sorel as Diabolik, Elsa Martinelli as Eva Kant and George Raft as Richness, an Auric Goldfinger-esque antagonist. Cervi's original choices for Diabolik and Eva had been Alain Delon (whose salary was too high) and Virna Lisi (who was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts), while James Mason, Peter Ustinov, Orson Welles and Gert Fröbe were considered for Richness. Other members of the cast included Marilù Tolo, Venantino Venantini and Jimmy Karoubi.
Principal photography began on 20 September 1965 in Málaga, Spain, but was halted when Raft was replaced with Gilbert Roland. Cervi and Holt's schedule required 29 days of interiors to be shot at De Laurentiis' sound stages at "Dinocittà", 17 days on location in Spain, two weeks on location in the United States, and an additional week in Spain. Filming halted again on 13 November; having viewed Holt's dailies, De Laurentiis temporarily aborted the film's production, stating that the footage "was of a level so low, both from an artistic and commercial point of view, as to make us clearly understand that to continue on that path meant heading toward disaster". In a 1969 interview, Holt said the film "didn't get stopped, it ran out of money. [...] It was mismanaged and so the film came to an end and everybody went home. Everybody is suing everybody. I got paid actually because I knew the Italian scene."
Dino De Laurentiis and Mario Bava