Danger: Diabolik
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Danger: Diabolik (also known simply as Diabolik) is a 1968 feature film from Italian filmmaker Mario Bava based on the Italian comic character Diabolik.
Plot
It is the story of a skilled thief (played by John Phillip Law) living out of a ritzy hideout who steals incredible riches from the Italian government — including $10 million in cash, a highly prized set of emeralds, and an enormous gold ingot. Eva Kant was played by Marisa Mell, while Ginko was Michel Piccoli. A Dino De Laurentiis production (producer of Barbarella, which also featured Law), it had a notable musical score by Ennio Morricone.
While fairly faithful to the original, having Diabolik and Eva drive their black and white Jaguars, etc, the movie portrayed Eva more like a scantily-clad damsel in distress than is shown in the original stories. A documentary included with the DVD release praises Mario Bava for creating the most faithful comic book adaptation of the 20th century.
In popular culture
In August 1999, the movie was featured in the final episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (although another out-of-sequence episode, Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders, was technically shown later). Scenes were used in the music video for the Beastie Boys’ 1998 single “Body Movin'.” The movie also influenced Roman Coppola’s film CQ. The debut album from avant-garde metal band Fantômas is heavily influenced by Diabolik. In addition to the liner notes being comprised of frames from the Diabolik comic books, some songs also contain samples from the film.