Glasses on Kant

During the production of the Mario Bava directed movie "Danger: Diabolik!" in 1967, Marisa Mell had some free time between takes which she used well given the amount of behind the scene pictures of her as Lady Eva Kant and co-star John Phillip Law as Diabolik. Set photographer was then already very famous photographer Emilio Lari who in later years would become even more famous as set photographer on movies like The Godfather trilogy or Raging Bull or Once Upon a Time in America. In this set of pictures Marisa Mell shows the latest fashion in sun glasses in her outfit from a scene of the movie where she is in disguise as a prostitute! 

Lucifera (Fumetti per Adulti)

In the past I have written on this blog about a known fact that Marisa Mell was used as a model for the Chilian erotic spy comic Satanka. So one day while researching the life and work of Marisa Mell for possible entries for this blog I saw this picture of Marisa Mell in a Catholic nuns habit while smoking a cigarette. The picture is a publicity photo from her 1964 only British movie "French Dressing". I archieved the picture for later reference and possible usage on the blog! Months passed. Untill last summer I was reading the dark Italian erotic fumetti "Lucifera" and saw these next two pictures in the comic book.

In this story the devilish Lucifera is trying to steal as a Catholic nun the Holy Grail as a token of her loyality to her master and lover in hell the Devil. And nothing ever goes as planned with Lucifera so troubles arise on the horizon and Lucifera has to master them in her own special way to achieve her goals, meaning a lot of seduction and sex! But that is another story!

While reading this story it hit me! Before my eyes appeared the Marisa Mell picture in her Catholic nuns habit. And the resemblance of both pictures and the drawn Lucifera was remarkable. The features of Lucifera like the shape of her eye brows, eye lashes and lips of her mouth were very Marisa Mell-like! So the question popped up in my head: Could it be that Marisa Mell had been the template for the dark Italian fumetti heroine "Lucifera"? Although it might seem far fetched in reality it was not in my opinion. Why? 

 During the height of the dark Italian fumetti in the 60's and 70's like Lucifera, Jacula, Maghella, Biancaneve, Sukia, Jolanda and their male counterparts the publishers were always trying to make their comic book heroes appealing by giving them often faces of well known people at that moment in time. The classic examples are French actor Alain Delon as the private detective "Playcolt" or again French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo as again private detective "Goldrake". 

So if the Italian comic book artists took well known populair actors as a role model for their heroes, why shouldn't they have taken the face of Marisa Mell as a template for the face of she-devil Lucifera?

Lucifera was published from 1971 to 1980 by Italian comic publishing house "Ediperiodici" running for 170 issues. A French edition of the comic ran from 1972 to 1980 for 99 issues and was pubished by Elvifrance. Some very famous Italian comic book artists worked on the comic like Edoardo Morricone, Tito Marchioro and the best known of them all, Leone Frollo, who created the heroine and gave her, her distinguised looks like her almond shaped eyes, thick eye lashes, the curved eye brows and above all the thick flowing hair split in the middle above her eyes by a triangular pony. In fact, you can regard the she-devil Lucifera as the male version of the other dark fumetti hero "Diabolik". He also has the same almond shaped eyes, thick eye lashes and the curved eye brows.

Marisa Mell came to Rome, Italy in the year 1965 and was a major star in the movies and the yellow press in 1971, the year that Lucifera was created, just after the much publisized romance with film producer and club owner Pier Luigi Torri and his notorius club "Number One", hangout for everybody rich and famous, stars and starlets in 60's Rome. So Leone Frollo was quite familiar with the face and body of Marisa Mell and probably found in her the perfect model for his next creation: Lucifera. And he was not wrong about that. Lucifera became an instand hit among erotic fumetti lovers untill this day and age. Complete collections of Lucifera comic books in prestine condition fetch top money at the moment around 5000 euros. And thanks to the modern means of communications like Ipad and tablets Lucifera or Marisa Mell will live on for generations to come, even in color.

DIABOLIK-La Serie! - Trailer

 

A few weeks ago I was pleased to announce that a new Diabolik television series was in the making and that a trailer was being made for the television markets around the world to invest in and/or buy the series! And here it is! AMAZING! 

Do you want to know more about the behind the scene production of this exciting new series? All the info and some stunning production pictures can be found Diabolik-Behind the scene!

At the moment nothing is known about the actors that are going to play the different parts of Diabolik, Lady Eva Kant or Inspector Ginko!

Can't wait to see the complete series!

"Are they going to replace me?" (Danger: Diabolik!)

Every year like the monster of Loch Ness an announcement is made that the Italian cult comic "Diabolik" is going to hit the big or small screen. Each time sadly enough that attempt ends in the gutter never to be heard of ever again! This time it is the Italian production company Sky Cinema that is trying to bring the dark hero to the small screen. There is a series of 13 episodes planned, each with a running time of 50 minutes without commercials so in the end it will be, depending on the television station, a 60 minutes or more show. The main cast of protagonists will be Diabolik, Lady Eva Kant, Inspector Ginko and (my auntie) Countess Altea di Vallenberg. Nothing is known about the actors playing the parts but some names are being mentioned as Diabolik like Gabriel Garko, Allesio Boni, Luca Argentero, Raul Bova, Allesandro Gassman or Danieli Liotti. All these men are very hot actors in Italy for the moment and have a huge female (and gay male) following. A trailer is in production to be shown at the major world television fairs to attract money from movie and television producers and to sell the concept to major television stations around the world in the different television markets. Production should start in the spring of 2013 with a first broadcast around autumn of the same year or spring of the year after when production stumbles on trouble! Scripts are being surpervised by Mario Gomboli, leading man of Astoria publishing house, the owners of the Diabolik trademark. So the question remains who will they select as the new Lady Eva Kant after Marisa Mell?

"Deep Deep Down" by Italian Surf Academy

If have said several times in the past and I say it again: it always amazes me when a movie made more than 40 years ago still touches people in their hearts! And "Danger: Diabolik!" is one of such movies! Although still not very well known by the general public the fashionable incrowd and cult movie addicts know the movie, its director and stars very well. And the music by Maestro Ennio Morricone is the icing on the cake! So this entry is again a rendition of the cult classic Ennio Morricone theme song from said movie called "Deep Deep Down". This time it is the group "Italian Surf Academy" with Marco Cappelli, electric guitar, Luca Lo Bianco, bass guitar, Francesco Cusa , drums and Gaia Mattiuzzi, vocals that is inspired. Sadly the female singer is not always voice steady but is nevertheless applauded for trying to cover this song!

"Eva" by Justin Coffee.

Although Marisa Mell never had the status of Marilyn Monroe after her death, she is still around in the conciousness of fans around the world until this day. And that is amazing to me after almost 20 years since her passing. Other more famous actors and actresses than her are almost completely forgotten like Rock Hudson, Rex Harrison, Lana Turner..., you name them if you can remember them! So it is always nice to see some kind of rendition of Marisa Mell in any art form. Justin Coffee has made this beauftiful pop-art version of Marisa Mell called "Eva" in her role as "Eva Kant" from the movie "Danger: Diabolik!" Justin is a free-lance artist living in Pennsylvania (US) who loves to draw in a cartoonish style. He has a very beautiful blog called "Cream and Sugar" where you can see his amazing art work and the best is that you can purchase the pieces that you like.

http://creamandsugartheartofjustincoffee.blogspot.com/

The basis for the art work of Marisa Mell as "Eva" was taken from a publicity picture for the movie "Una Sull'Altra" shot a year later after "Danger: Diabolik!". The photographer was Angelo Frotoni.

Haphazard Stuff: "Danger:Diabolik!"

For more great reviews of Superhero movies and excellent James Bond movie analyses with an in-depth view, please, visit his great website: http://haphazardstuff.com/

"Cinema Italiano" by Howard Hughes

Uncovering a treasure trove of Italian films from "The Leopard" to "Puma Man" Italian filmmakers have created some of the most magical and moving, violent and controversial films in world cinema. During its twentieth-century heyday, Italy's film industry was second only to Hollywood as a popular film factory, exporting cinematic dreams worldwide. With international finance and multinational stars, Italian filmmakers tackled myriad genres with equal gusto and in inimitable style. Cinema Italiano is the first book to discuss comprehensively both Italian 'popular' and 'arthouse' cinema of this golden age. Appraising over 400 movies, Cinema Italiano unearths the best of Italian cinema. Dario Argento's 'gialli' thrillers and Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns are explored alongside the best films of Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Michelangelo Antonioni. Chapters discuss the rise and fall of genres such as mythological epics, gothic horrors, science-fiction, spy films, WWII movies, costume adventures, zombie films, swashbucklers, political cinema, spaghetti westerns and 'poliziotteschi' crime films. The book also traces the directorial careers and key films of such luminaries as Mario Bava, Sergio Corbucci, Francesco Rosi, Lucio Fulci, Duccio Tessari, Enzo G. Castellari, Bernardo Bertolucci and Gillo Pontecorvo. An essential guide for DVD and video collectors and aficionados alike, it is illustrated throughout with rare stills and international posters from this revered era in world cinema. Films include: La dolce vita, Hercules Conquers Atlantis, The Leopard, The Horrible Secret of Dr Hichcock, Contempt, The Gospel According to St Matthew, Castle of Blood, Fists in the Pocket, Django, Battle of Algiers, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Blowup, Diabolik, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Conformist, They Call Me Trinity, Violent City, The Marseilles Connection, Illustrious Corpses, Suspiria, The Big Silence, The Mask of Satan, Maciste in Hell, Blood and Black Lace, Hercules Against the Moon Men, The Last Man on Earth, The Wild, Wild Planet, Special Mission Lady Chaplin, Django Kill!, Fellini Satyricon, Deep Red, Sons of Thunder, Tentacles, The Inglorious Bastards, Zombie Flesh Eaters, Puma Man, 1990: Bronx Warriors, 8½, Once Upon a Time in the West, L'Avventura, Black Sabbath, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, Amarcord, Two Women, Planet of the Vampires, Death in Venice, Starcrash, Salvatore Giuliano, Hercules Unchained, Kill, Baby...Kill!

Diabolik-Time does not stand still!

Diabolikal Year Ender!

For the 1967 Mario Bava directed movie "Danger: Diabolik!" with John Phillip Law as Diabolik and Marisa Mell as Lady Eva Kant the promotional department of the production company took a lot of photographs of its stars. Many of these photo's were only taken for publication in newspapers, movie and fashion magazines and had little or nothing to do with the content of the movie. This is one of those pictures that shows Marisa Mell dressed as Eva Kant in a very high fashion outfit of that time! The picture comes from the archives of "United Press International", a press agency situated originally in Chicago (USA), now in New York City. Fashion in the 60's was daring and fun. This is a prime example of that attitude from that time. The photo has hardly been seen in more than 40 years!

///

The Marisa Mell Blog now closes its 3rd calender year of blogging and will return in January 2011. I wish everybody of the many thousands who have kept coming back this past year again and again to read up on the life and work of Marisa Mell a "Merry X-mas" and a "Happy New Year".

Death of a Legend-Dino De Laurentiis dies at age 91!

Dino De Laurentiis, an Academy Award-winning film impresario and producer who helped revolutionize the way movies are bankrolled and sold, has died. He was 91. The Academy Award-winning producer's daughter said her father was surrounded by family when he died Wednesday night at his home in Beverly Hills. The statement from Raffaella De Laurentiis did not give a cause of death. De Laurentiis was a legend of Italian New Wave filmmaking. His works also included "Bitter Rice," "La Strada", "Barbarella" and of course the cult movie "Danger: Diabolik!" with among others Marisa Mell as Lady Eva Kant, the partner in crime with the dark hero Diabolik.

He was tiny, but tough, a veritable Napoleon on the set and utterly tireless. "Such a little lion," was how his second wife, producer Martha De Laurentiis, put it when he turned 80. Like any larger-than-life movie figure, De Laurentiis went through boom times and busts. But he always bounced back and his passion for movies never dimmed. His career spanned hundreds of films, including several Oscar winners and he worked with some of the biggest stars and best directors in the business. His credits include box office and/or critical successes such as "U-571", "War and Peace," "Ragtime," "Three Days of the Condor" and "Blue Velvet." A pivotal figure in postwar Italian cinema, De Laurentiis moved to the United States in the 1970s, becoming a citizen in 1986. But this son of a Neapolitan pasta maker never lost his thick Italian accent and tried to spend a month in Capri and Rome each year. The Academy Award-winning "Serpico" in 1973 with Al Pacino was De Laurentiis' Hollywood debut. But by then, he already had two Italian-made Oscar-winners, Federico Fellini's "La Strada" and "Nights of Cabiria" to his credit. One of the first producers to understand the box-office potential of foreign audiences, he helped invent international co-productions, raising money by pre-selling distribution rights outside North America. Throughout his career, he alternated lavish, big-budget productions with less commercial films by directors such as Robert Altman, Ingmar Bergman and David Lynch, and he's often package the blockbusters with art films to secure distribution for the smaller films. He got off to a strong start in the United States with "Serpico", then followed it up with another success, "Three days of the Condor," (Robert Redford). But he was also battered by flops, including the infamous "Dune", in 1984 and "King Kong" sequel. Personal tragedy also took its toll. In 1981, his son Federico was killed in a plane crash. "My father still to this day can't speak of him...He told me that every morning he wakes up and thinks of him," De Laurentiis' daughter Veronica said nearly 30 years after Federico's death.

"Esci Diabolik!" by Fabrizio Canciani and Stefano Covri

The Italian comic "Diabolik" and his "Mario Bava" directed movie counterpart "Danger:Diabolik!" hold, after more than 40 years, still a firm grip on the cultural scene all over the world. This blog has often reported about the influence of this black hero and his partner in crime "Lady Eva Kant", played by Marisa Mell in the before mentioned movie, on the arts.
This time Italian singers/songwriters Fabrizio Canciani and Stefano Covri tackled this subject in their song "Esci Diabolik" from their album "Delitti e Canzoni"-Il Giallo In Musica. The song is the second title on the album. The musicians used the familiar "Wa Wa Wa" title from the original movie soundtrack by Ennio Morricone to open their song. After the intro the song becomes a very likeable jazzy inspired song with a lot of musical reference and style to another Italian jazzy singer "Paolo Conti". The video is a collage of the giallo a fumetti Diabolik and the movie that it spawned. Enjoy!

"Danger: Diabolik!" - Rare cinema screening - Rio Cinema - London (UK) - September 11th 2010

On September 11th 2010, Cigarette Burns Cinema presents a special screening of the cult classic psychedelic movie "Danger: Diabolik!" directed by Mario Bava with John Phillip Law as Diabolik and Marisa Mell as Lady Eva Kant at the Rio Cinema in London (UK) at 11.15 P.M. Entrance: 7 British Pounds. There will be an intro and dj set after the screening. The cinema is situated at 107 Kingsland High Street London E8 (Corner John Campell Road). More information: http://www.riocinema.ndirect.co.uk/index.htm.

Original Diabolik Bookmarks For Free! (2nd Anniversary-175th entry)

On July 27th, the Marisa Mell Blog will celebrate it's second anniversary. Whaw, time does fly quickly. While thinking about this anniversary, I thought that it would be nice to do something nifty for the many loyal readers of this blog from all over the world that kept coming back day after day, week after week, month after month to folllow the life and work of Marisa Mell. What is Marisa Mell probably best known for as an Eurocult actress??? Exactly, for playing the role of Lady Eva Kant in the movie "Danger: Diabolik!", directed by cult director Mario Bava, with John Phillip Law as "Diabolik". So, in regard to that movie and the role that made her famous all over the world untill today I am giving away two original diabolikal bookmarks for free. You can see a drawn version of the bookmarks on the publicity poster above to promote them made by the Diabolik publishing house Astorina in Milano, Italy. The bookmarks are normally exclusively made for the Italian market and are not available to the rest of the world. Untill now. Unfortunately I am not able to give each and every reader of the blog a set. Nevertheless, you can get a couple of these bookmarks as a winner by simply writing a comment under this entry about whatever you like to tell me! The lucky winner will be drawn from all the comment entries and gets his prize by registered mail at home this summer. Diabolik would say "Maledetto"! Good luck!

BTW do not worry when your entry does not show in the comment section under this entry because they need to be approaved by me so that spammers and other hoaxers do not get the chance to submerge the comment section with their useless crap! Thanks for understanding!

The end of "Diabolik: The Movie" or...

Mario Gomboli, managing director of Diabolik's house of publication "Astorina", has announced during the month of april 2010 at the Diaboliteknico, that at the moment there is an agreement between Astorina, Mediaset and Canal Plus to bring the anti-hero to the little screen as a 6 part mini-series during the 2011 or 2012 television season. During the past years there have been several attempts to bring the dark fumetti Diabolik to the big or little screen as live action but untill now nothing much has happened. The latest news last year was that actress and model Carolina Crescentini had signed a contract to play Lady Eva Kant, partner of Diabolik in a movie version of the comic book. A possible director for the movie was french director Luc Besson but according to Mario Gomboli the director was let go of the production because of creative differences between the producers, the publishing house and the director on how to bring the anti-hero and his mate to the silver screen. It is known that Astorina is very protective of its property and its incarnations in the media. If the proposed media outlet is not in accordance with the publishing house rules and testament of the creators of Diabolik the sister Giussani than the deal is a no go, even if it involves a lot of money to be earned by the moral successors of the dark hero. At the moment nothing is known if the production of a movie is still the case or not or what the status is of Carolina Crescentini in playing the former Marisa Mell role.

Spot Pepper Steak Magazine N°21 avec Danger : Diabolik

You can download this magazine free at their site:

www.peppersteak.fr

Hecho en Europa, Cine de géneros Europeo, 1960-1979

Once every few years you get a book in your hands that makes you so happy that you own it but best of all that you are going to have a very good time reading it! "Hecho en Europa", cine de géneros Europeo from 1960-1970 is such a great book. Often books are written by authors who know to some degree what they are writing about but the contributing authors of this book sure know their stuff in and out regarding everything Eurocult cinema from decades past. The list of authors reads as a real "who's who" from the latin Eurocult world: Jesús Parrado, Javier G. Romero, Nino Ortea, Antonio José Navarro, Pablo Fernández, Ramón Freixas & Joan Bassa, Tomás Fernández Valentíni, Alfredo Lara López, Ángel García Romero and last but not least the always reliable Carlos Aguilar, who by the way, wrote together with his wife Anita Haas an amazing autobiography and filmography about John Phillip Law called "Diabolik Angel". This book was finished a few weeks before the untimely death of John Phillip Law. Both authors had the full cooperation of this versatile Eurocult actor and access to his private photo library.

If you are following the Eurocult sites and blogs from the different genres the names of the authors are very familiar to you so it does not come as a surprise that they tackle in this book material as experts in their fields like Eurowestern, Cine Bélico, Cine Fantástico, Cine de Aventuras, Eurothriller, Cine et Erotismo, Cine et Literatura, Cine et Cómic, Cine et Musica.

Both books can be bought by writing a mail to this adress:

quatermass@hotmail.com

They will gladly give you all the information regarding price, shipment and payment. Highly recommended.

Marisa Mell by Judith Eisler

The movie "Danger: Diabolik!" directed by Mario Bava with John Phillip Law as Diabolik and Marisa Mell as Lady Eva Kant has made quite an impression through the years on many creative people working in the movie business, even to this day! But it does not stop there! The movie also often had a lasting impact on other artists working in other areas of the arts like the visual arts! One of these visual art artists making a link between the movie and her work is Judith Eisler. Judith Eisler was born in 1962 in New York where she is still living and working. Eisler has a very uncommon way to create her paintings: she uses (cult) movies for her sources, pressing the pause button on the VCR, shooting the image with her digital camera, and then painting from the resultant photograph on the canvas. Eisler says of her paintings: "Each canvas is, in many ways, a fight between abstraction and representation." Her works typically have glossy surfaces and feature blurred often anonymous imagery. She has been compared to the German artist Gerhard Richter due to their similar working method. For her work, Judith Eisler received a BFA from Cornell University in 1984. In 2005, Judith Eisler painted this oil on canvas painting of one of the final scenes in the movie, where Marisa Mell as Eva Kant is mourning the lose of her partner Diabolik, hence the black fur and veil while tears are running from her cheek! Many fans of the movie regard this scene as one of the best and most beautiful shot scenes of the movie! So it is no wonder that the artist was attracted to this frame when deciding to make a painting of Marisa Mell! The painting is called "Marisa Mell 2"! It has the measurements of 48 by 60 inches (1.20 m x 1.54 m)! Special for this painting, knowing how the artist works, are the stretch marks on the painting resulting from the stretch marks on the VCR tape when the tape is worn out due the many viewings or the wear and tear of the VCR transmission heads. Nothing is known of the original asking price or where the picture is now!

A cat with an attitude!

During the production of the movie "Danger: Diabolik!", directed by Mario Bava and starring John Phillip Law as "Diabolik" and Marisa Mell as "Lady Eva Kant", the production crew did not only film in the studio's owned by producer "Dino de Laurentiis" called "Dinocitta" in Rome but also outside in two other places in the Italian country. The first place was Turin, a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, mostly famous for the Shroud of Turin, a linnen cloth with the face of Jesus. The other place is Anzio, a city and comune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about 57 km south of Rome. The city is well known for its seaside harbor setting, fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene. During the production of the movie, Marisa Mell and John Phillip Law were a real life couple and were living together (as can be seen on a photo in the the excellent Tim Lucas book about the life and work of Mario Bava called "All the Colors of the Dark"). While filming on the beach of Anzio, best known in the movie for the famous Diabolik castle-scaling scene, both actors found a little stray black kitten. Marisa Mell being an animal lover could not leave the kitten to its fate. So she adopted the little one. Giving it a name was not difficult either: Diabolik. The character Diabolik in the Italian fumetti is often refered to as the black cat in 60's, the early years of the comic, in later years he is called the panther. The cat stayed with the couple during the entire production of the movie from april untill may of 1967. At the end of the production, both actors seperated and went their own way. Because Marisa Mell was more a dog then a cat lover, having owned several dogs during her life, the black cat found probably a new home with one of the productions members. Nevertheless, Diabolik the cat became movie history thanks to the behind the scene pictures of the staff photographer.

Fill her up and drive her in!!!

In 1967, the Drive-In cinema's were still very populair in the USA with often movies specially made for that market like Carnival of Souls! Other movies like the Wicker Man from England and Danger: Diabolik! from Italy had a limited run in general cinema's and ended their career several months later in Drive In's. This clip shows the trailers for the three before mentioned movies together with the Intermission reel luring the audience in buying the snacks like popcorn, cola's, hot dogs at the snack bar of the Drive In.