*** (out of ****)
Mario Bava's "Blood and Black Lace" (1964) is a scintillating giallo tale of greed, deception, secrets, blackmail, drugs, and murder told against the world of high fashion.
Giallo, the Italian word for yellow, derived its name because of the color of cheap paperback novels revolving around mystery stories with supernatural elements. In cinema giallo - a subgenre of horror - has come to be associated in the U.S. with stories combining extreme violence and sexploitation - "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" (1971) as an example. That would explain the posh backdrop of a haute couture salon in "Blood and Black Lace" and why it is the perfect setting to use as an excuse to watch beautiful young women being killed one by one.
"Blood and Black Lace" isn't a movie I found particularly titillating however but can see the ways in which the movie needlessly reminds us of sex. The female victims for one reason or another always end up having their bras and / or panties exposed during or after their gruesome death. It creates an almost perverse dichotomy between beauty and brutality.
And that may be one of the only themes to be found in this movie which is routinely considered by film historians to be one of the most influential giallo movies and one of filmmaker Bava's most definitive works.
Bava's movie nonetheless is one I believe that doesn't concern itself with plot and themes. "Blood and Black Lace" is a movie focused on atmosphere, visually arresting cinematography, and color schemes casting everything in a hue. In spite of the grizzly nature of the movie, it is the aesthetic maestro Bava is most interested in. It is a classic example of style over substance.
Christian (the lovely Hungarian actress Eva Bartok. Her life would make quite the screenplay!), a recent widow - her husband died in a car accident - is the owner of the salon bearing her name. She has a close relationship with Massimo (Cameron Mitchell) who is either a co-owner of the salon or something of a manager. Events quickly take a deadly turn when one of the fashion models, Isabella (Francesca Ungaro) is found dead. While going through Isabella's belonging, a fellow model, Nicole (Arianna Gorini) discovers Isabella kept a diary. This causes a wide-spread panic among those working at the salon.
Soon the diary switches possession as the movie attempts to make the audience suspicious of each character. First there is Nicole who has been sneaking around with Franco (Dante DiPaolo), a cocaine addict who was Isabella's boyfriend. Then there is Peggy (Mary Arden) a friend Isabella once loaned money to so Peggy could get an abortion. This detail has found its way into Isabella's diary. Another prime suspect is Marco (Massimo Righi) he is in love with Peggy and works at the salon. He always exhibits nervous behavior and is constantly taking pills. One of these people may have been responsible for Isabella's murder. It will be up to Inspector Sylvester (Thomas Reiner) to find out.
One problem I have with this high body count movie - the original title translated into English was "6 Women for the Murderer" - is we never get to know the characters. The movie wastes no time immediately setting up the plot with the first murder happening within the first five minutes of the movie - and that includes the opening credits. Again, Bava has little concern for pesky things like character development. These women are merely pawns in the plot. I believe Bava acknowledges as much in his use of mannequins, which appear throughout the movie and appear in the color red.
And yet the first death scene is a sequence of visual splendor - beauty and brutality - shot in an extreme long shot as Isabella approaches the camera, appearing to us as if coming out of a foggy mist, as the screen is dominated by a blueish hue. The sequence also foreshadows a reoccurring motif among the death scenes, physically obstacles obstructing the camera's view and the character's path.
Perhaps the most effective of the death sequences is one that takes place at an antique shop. The lights are off and once again there are lots of objects around the store hindering our view. In this sequence the camera switches POV from the killer's to a more neutral one. When it is from the killer's POV, the camera takes on a leering quality, only allowing us to see the bare essentials in the frame. Whereas when the camera is in a neutral POV the foreground is always in frame, suggesting the possibility danger will come out of the darkness at any given moment. Within a sequence like this we see Bava's craftsmanship in being able to create suspense.
While "Blood and Black Lace" does revolve around murder, I didn't find it to be excessive and gory in its details. The most gruesome death scene involves a woman having her face pressed against a hot furnace. Another memorable scene has one of the models - already drowned by this point - laying in the bathtub with water filled to the top. The killer slits her wrist with a blade as the water now changes to the color of her blood.
By the time "Blood and Black Lace" ends we of course learn crime doesn't pay and the love of money is the root of all evil. The movie's ending, recalling its beginning image of a swinging sign of the salon, has been open to interpretation. What does the final image of a swinging red telephone represent? When I was in college we learned of a period of Italian cinema in the 1930s and 40s known as "white telephone" movies. The label was applied because of the status symbol associated with characters owning a white telephone. Could the red phone be making an opposite social commentary? In Peter Bondanella's book, Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present he discusses how "postwar Italian cinema has managed to invade Hollywood's most typical moneymaking product: the genre film". Initially Bondanella focuses on the western but does go on to address the Italian contribution to horror films. Is the red phone and "Blood and Black Lace" signifying a shift in Italian cinema and a potential impact not just on the horror (or giallo) genre but American cinema?
I first fell under the delirious spell of giallo cinema after I submerged myself into the world of Italian filmmaker Dario Argento. That exploration began 15 years ago, around the same time as the start of this blog. I reviewed one of Argento's later films, "The Stendhal Syndrome" (1996) with great trepidation. Argento's reputation proceeded him and quite frankly intimated me. His notoriety for making ultra gory movies wasn't something I relished delving into. Quickly however I grew into a fan and from there I became curious to discover other notable filmmakers in this genre. Eventually I caught up with the name Mario Bava.
Despite an annual tradition of dedicating the month of October to horror movie reviews, the horror genre is not my favorite. As a child I avoided scary movies altogether. Because of this I knew this year's theme on the blog, the "year of me" - a year long celebration of my favorite artists and filmmakers, in honor of my 40th birthday and the 15th anniversary of this blog - would present challenges and more than likely the theme would have to be paused. I really don't have a list of favorite horror directors and over the course of 15 years, whatever horror movies I have enjoyed, I already reviewed. I have almost completely gone through the entire cannon of films Argento directed for example. But there was one bright spot I could take advantage of during the "year of me" and review one of the movies from the Italian maestro, Bava.
Over the years I have displayed my affection for Bava's work by reviewing a few of his movies - "Black Sabbath" (1963), "Shock" (1977) - his final movie, and "Kill, Baby, Kill" (1966). His importance to the genre is recognized by some film historians who credit him with having directed the first giallo movie, "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" (1963), earning him the title, the "Master of Italian horror".
If you are intrigued to learn more about Bava and his work, "Blood and Black Lace" may be the best place to start thanks to its influence on the genre and its importance in Bava's cannon of films. The movie has the characteristic visual style you will find in his later movies. I am reluctant to call this Bava's best movie because of a personal involvement I found lacking as well as any big scares. I am however fully capable of seeing the technical craft which went into this movie and appreciate it on that basis alone.
"Blood and Black Lace" is an atmospheric, visually arresting giallo movie worth watching this Halloween.
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