DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Mario Bava
Starring John Philip Law, Michel Piccoli, Marisa Mell, Adolpho Celi
Release date Out now

Arch criminal Diabolik outwits the Italian police force at every turn, with a babe in one hand and a gadget in the other…

If there was ever a film that defines style-over-substance, Danger: Diabolik is it – but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing! This is a comic book movie in the best sense: relying little on dialogue, but largely on colourful, dramatic spectacle. As the title character John Philip Law is a blank canvas upon whom the viewer can project his or her own fantasies. He’s an anti-hero who gets away with it through sheer chutzpah.

In Danger: Diabolik the look is everything – a very 1960s idea. Forget about trying to make sense of the story or the characters – there aren’t any. There are a series of set pieces and a group of ciphers. Instead, marvel at the huge underground lair that Diabolik inhabits; wow at the escapes he and his main squeeze Eva (Mell) get up to; drop your jaw at the appearance of Terry-Thomas. Yep, that Terry-Thomas, incredibly out-of-place but somehow fitting in anyway!

This movie out-camps the 1960s Adam West Batman TV series (which may have partly inspired it) and goes to places that Barbarella would not dare. Bava unleashed upon the screen a form of hallucinatory anarchy, one that anticipates the climax of Fight Club in the sequence in which Diabolik dynamites the country’s financial institutions. It’s flash and fanciful, but the movie does slightly outstay its welcome, sagging somewhat in the middle.

This now fully restored movie (finally looking like it must have on initial release) draws on comic books created by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani, known as fumetto (“smoke”). These (and the film) are explored in the disc’s main extra, an intelligent piece by Swamp Thing artist Stephen R Bissette, reinforced by archive footage of Bava and composer Ennio Morricone.

The accompanying commentary is full of great factual information from Video Watchdog editor Tim Lucas and star John Philip Law, with Lucas effectively steering the conversation in an always informative direction. More oddball extras include a Beastie Boys video for Body Movin’, which uses the style (and some clips) of Danger: Diabolik, complete with a commentary from Diabolik fan Adam Yauch. Trailers complete the package. Brian J Robb

VERDICT: 7/10
A classic piece of 1960s Eurofilm psychedelia, Danger: Diabolik is by no means an essential film, but it’s an awful lot of fun.