Wednesday, September 22, 2010

LA FRUSTA E IL CORPO - Carlo Rustichelli - "Grab That Whip" (1963)

Well, here ya go! WTF?! I'll just come right out and say it, in my humble opinion, "La Frusta e il Corpo" is not the best Mario Bava film ever made, or is it even that great of a flick, period, and I'm sure that's not a popular opinion, but it's just too much, too much, I tell you, Too High-Brow, Too Dramatic, and Too Much Whips, at least in this version, anyway!

The great Christopher Lee is freakin' Kurt! Christopher Lee's voice is dubbed in for some Godforsaken reason, even though the film was originally shot in English, so it's got some Scooby-Doo going on right from the get go! That doesn't help!

Daliah Lavi is Kurt's kousin and lover, Nevenka Menliff! Among other accomplishments, Daliah was 'The Detainer' in the Peter Sellers romp "Casino Royale," and after she quit acting, she had a successful singing career with a couple of hits in Germany in the 70's!

Kurt has a whip, and he knows how to use it!

Kurt whips the crap out of Nevenka!

Then they make love! And maybe this is part of it, personally, I think Kurt and Nevenka have a fucked up relationship!

Is it any wonder that this film was also released in the U.S. as "What?" All they forgot was the T and the F! Even the music by master composer and Bava regular Carlo Rustichelli, this time out, working as Jim Murphy, is stale and overburdening, and there's not a bar or a club to be found anywhere!

Kurt's back again.....

.......and he's such an ass, nobody's happy about it!

Gorgeous Bavalicious Cinematography is the saving grace, of course!

Kurt gets killed by a kurtain!!

Nevenka mourns and ......

....is haunted by Kurt's ghost!!!

No matter what Mario Bava does, one thing you always get is, you know it's going to look good!!

AAAAaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

Although Kurt ain't lookin' that swell towards the end!

But don't worry, just like those Flying Saucers, he's always still around somewhere!

Me, I'd rather watch Devo's "Whip It" video 20 times in a row than watch this film's other alternate title, "The Whip And The Body" again, but I'm sure the rest of you will like it just fine!! "Whip It Good!!"

3 comments:

Christopher said...

JUST..ONE..MORE.....WHIPPING!
I like this one alright..like most Bava's,visuals really take over the picture at half way...Like waiting for the acid to kick in..

Prof. Grewbeard said...

"WHAAAAT?!?"...

great-looking movie, for sure.

Paul said...

Are we not men ... we are Devo

I've not written, said or thought that for a very long time

I am a fan of Christopher Lee though. What about The Wicker Man ... even better than Devo

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