Tags:
Film: Lisa and the Devil (Lisa e il diavolo)
Year: 1973
Director: Mario Bava
Writers: Mario Bava and Alfredo Leone
Starring: Telly Savalas, Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina
Review:
This is a film that I learned about through podcasts. I wasn’t familiar with the works of Mario Bava until starting to work through the Fangoria Top 300 horror films issue as well as the Horror Show Guide Encyclopedia. These were good starting points until hearing more about deeper cuts from different shows that I listen to. Also, following experts and seeing their recommendations as well. This was a film that had been on my list to see for a couple years. This doubled as a Traverse through the Threes for Italian Horror Month as well.
Synopsis: a tourist spends the night in a derelict Spanish villa and is sucked into a vortex of deception, debauchery and evil.
This begins in an old Spanish village. There is a tour bus letting off its passengers. Among them is Lisa (Elke Sommer). Their guide talks about a fresco on the wall of a building, depicting the devil carrying the body of someone. Lisa hears a tune and follows it to a store. Inside of it she gets spooked when seeing Leandro (Telly Savalas). He looks eerily similar to the fresco. The shopkeeper is making a life-like dummy for him. She inquiries about buying the music box, but it turns out to belong to Leandro.
Lisa goes to leave but can’t find her way back. She asks for help. Everyone ignores her. That is until she meets Carlo (Esparaco Santoni). He thinks she looks like Elena and goes to hug her. She pushes him away and he falls, hitting his head. She flees without seeing if he is okay. Lisa still cannot find the square. She does run into Leandro who laughs and directs her to where she should go. She still cannot find where it is.
When all seems lost, she finds a car driven by George (Gabriele Tinti). He is the chauffeur for Sophia (Sylva Koscina) and her husband, Francis (Eduardo Fajardo). What we’ll learn later is that they’re no longer in love and she is having an affair with George. They offer her a ride. That is until their car breaks down. Luckily, it is in front of a villa. Lisa is freaked out though when Leandro comes out.
This place belongs to the Contessa (Alida Valli). She lives with her son, Max (Alessio Orano). Leandro is their housekeeper. Max falls in love with Lisa at first sight. He wants her to stay there that night. George works on the car so Frank and Sophia can continue on. They’re shown hospitality while they wait. It is complicated that the Contessa doesn’t want Lisa to stay. These people also know who Elena was. Max seemed to have been in love with her, but something happened. It then becomes a surreal, dreamlike experience for our characters as they try to survive the night. There is a history here that could be coming full circle.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this movie doesn’t waste any time getting weird. I appreciate that. It took until about the time they got to the villa before I settled into what this film was trying to do. We have a good set up here. There is Lisa, who is not from this area, gets lost and then goes on a journey to survive the night. The recurring characters and having the little things that happen to build the atmosphere were a good touch. There was one thing early on that annoyed me as being too heavy with making sure we noticed it, but I’ll digress there.
Now that I’ve set that up, I want to start with filmmaking since that is the strongest part of this. Setting this in a small village like this in Spain was good. Watching it with modern eyes is interesting because I’ve been to this country. Lisa doesn’t have a cell phone so getting lost like she did is something that could happen. I’ve also gone on adventures like she did where you just go with the flow. It is a scary thing with the situations you can end up in, so that was good to build. This old villa is also great. Mario Bava and the cinematographer were great here to capture it. It adds character. They also do well in bringing that surreal, dreamlike atmosphere. We don’t know what Lisa is experiencing is real. I’ll also include here that the effects we got were good. They’re practical, which is a product of when this was made. It adds charm. The soundtrack was also good to capture the vibe this movie was going for.
Let me then shift over to the story. It is simple in nature, but it works. We have Lisa who is lost and then ends up at this villa for the night. She looks eerily similar to Elena. Through interactions we learn that the Contessa doesn’t want her staying there. It might be for her own good. Max seems to be in love with Elena and sees a new chance with Lisa. Carlo is mixed into this plot as well. He appears at this villa as well. All the while, we have Leandro who appears to be the housekeeper, but there is more to that. It is a whirlwind until things settle in and see how everything is connected. I rather enjoyed this as things came together. There is an interesting commentary here on the rich, how they do different things and seemingly how they get away with it. There could be punishments that go beyond our plane of existence.
What makes this work are the acting performances. Savalas is great here as this eccentric Leandro. I do wish they didn’t lean so hard with him being the ‘devil’ from the opening shot of him. It would work better seeing this character grow as the night does. With how it is though, his performance is great. Sommer is as well as this woman who doesn’t seem to have control over her life. Seeing her as she navigates and tries to survive was good. Koscina, Fajardo and Tinti are an interesting group of characters. They don’t add a lot to the overall story. It does add depth and a parallel to the history here. Orano is interesting from where we start with him to where things end up. Santoni works in his role. I did like seeing Valli here. I’d say that the acting isn’t necessarily great, but it works for what was needed.
In conclusion then, I rather enjoyed this film once I settled into it. There is something terrifying about getting lost, trying to find someone to help you and then going along with things. It can lead you to being in unexpected circumstances. The acting here is good. Sommer is solid as our lead, but Savalas steals the show. The rest help push them to where they end up. This is well-made from the cinematography to capture where this set and the framing as well as the effects and soundtrack. It captures the atmosphere they needed. This is one that I’m excited to revisit to see what I missed for sure. Would recommend it if you like this era of cinema from Italy.
My Rating: 8 out of 10