Mario Bava was born one day after the beginning of WWI in San Remo Italy in 1914. His father was Eugenio Bava and it was at the side of his father that Bava would learn the tricks of his trade in the world of set design and cinematography. Eugenio was a master film technician during the period of Italian silent cinema and a creator of film special effects. Mario would work for several years as his father’s assistant and apprentice. Like his highly creative father Mario was an artist who painted and sculpted and developed a fine sense of design that made him one of the great arrangers of the “mise en scene”, or what can be explained as the total scene one views in a film, as it is shot and framed by the camera. This includes the arrangement and placement of not only the actors but of all parts of the set as well as choices for color and position of props. It means in one sense that nothing you see on the screen is accidental in the same way nothing placed on a stage for a play is accidental or random. There is no denying that at his peak Bava’s stage sets were revolutionary in regards to lighting and shading, and yet at the same time they seem to pay homage to a bygone era of not only Italian cinema but of old Hollywood as well.

His transition from set design to cinematographer was gradual and almost accidental. Bava gained not only artistic recognition behind the scenes but was seen as a man who could work fast and on a small budget as a director after he finished a small number projects that were abandoned half way through (or less)by their original temperamental directors. He received no directing credit for these films. One was I Vampiri (I Vampire). Bava was working as cameraman and optical effects designer when Riccardo Freda left the project over time disputes. Bava finished half of the 12-day shoot in only two days. A professional conflict seemed too developed between Freda and producers and Bava, who producers were beginning to favor. Freda abandoned another project after only two days of directing. Bava finished the film to the delight of producer Lionello Santi, who gave Bava the opportunity, at age 46, to direct his first film with near complete freedom. Drawing on his fascination with Russian literature he chose a short story by Nikolai Gogol entitled “Vij” to film and which Bava changed significantly into La Maschera del Demonio (translated in Britain as The Mask of Satan or as it was released in the States, Black Sunday).

Bava’s true strength rested not on his beautiful B/W work (which harkened back to the finest horror films of Universal studios) but in his unbelievably lush and atmospheric Technicolor films. His first color film in 1961 was the sword and sandal epic Hercules in the Haunted World . While as far as the story went it was a slightly above average Hercules epic it was the hallucinogenic and fantastic cinematography and camera work that made the film one of the best of the genre ever made (and believe it or not I was lucky enough to see this film on a fine print in a small theater in Seattle and it was lovely). He would go on to film some of the greatest color gothic horror movies to ever come out of Italy (or anywhere else for that matter) over the next few years, including I Tre Volti Della Paura (Black Sabbath) and Terrore Nello Spazio (Planet of the Vampires). Also during this period he made Blood and Black Lace and The Whip and the Body. These and a few others from this period show Bava in control of his craft and as his work became increasingly more violent and erotic conflicts developed with American International Pictures. There seemed to an issue as well with the consistently downbeat tone of his films and their endings, usually which meant the deaths of all heroes, and they were becoming viewed by commercially concerned AIP as unmarketable matinee fare. During this period he did one more b/w film that I have never seen, unfortunately, called the Girl Who Knew Too Much ( La Ragazza Che Sapeva Troppo-1963)I have seen scenes from it and it is sometimes argued as being the first gaillo film. The scenes I have seen look great and I am looking to find this film and will report back when I finally get the chance to see it.

Bava did one more film for AIP I have never had much interest in seeing even though it starred one of my favorite B-actors, Vincent Price, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs. His next 1966 movie, Kill, Baby… Kill! is a stylish, nice looking film with dreamy sequences and the reappearance of a haunting looking little girl bouncing a ball that drives people to suicide. Though a low budget film it has become rather influential in its theme and technique, and directors as varied as Fellini, Scorsese and David Lynch have admitted to using the film for inspiration. Money ran out for the film and towards the end and Bava, actors and crew finished the film without pay.

In 1966 Bava’s father and mentor died and the distress over the loss combined with personal and professional problems Bava took a two year break from filmmaking. He returned to the process in 1968 with one of his last great stylistic films based on a European comic book called Danger Diabolik. It is an action type movie about a jewel thief and adventurer who has a bunch of James Bond like gadgets to get him out of trouble and Marisa Mell running around in some tight white hot pants to help get him into trouble. Like the other films here it has been many years since I saw this really nice looking work and it is hard to give a good comment on it from memory alone. It is one of the last movies where he used his trademark lighting and slick sets before he shifted gears and went into a series of psycho-thriller movies such as A Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1969), Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970), Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971) (which is credited with starting the “body count” style movies of the 70,s onward,) Lisa and the Devil (1973) with sexy Elke Summer. The films all focused on sex and violence in the 70’s Euro style but they also distanced Bava from his old techniques and images. Twitch of the Death Nerve is basically a splatter film and considered groundbreaking, but it is also less lovely a work than what Bava had been consistently churning out prior to 1966.

Bava was finding it harder to work in the mid-70’s and many of his movies were just were not receiving the attention and respect his earlier films did. They were panned as failures and compared to his more brilliant early work. He was becoming disillusioned and now spent time helping his son Lamberto’s career develop and even did set designs for Dario Argento’s Inferno (1980). In 1977 he did the very odd Beyond the Door II (a sequel of sorts of the Exorcist rip-off Beyond the Door with Juliet Mills and directed by truly awful Italian director Ovidio G. Assonitis) which wound up being Bava’s last complete film. The movie is also released as Shock.

I will say that Beyond the Door II was not so great a movie in my opinion and even a little unsettling even for my taste in a couple scenes, for example where a little boy develops incestuously oedipal feelings towards his mother and in one scene where they are playfully wrestling he begins to, well, gyrate on her. Kind of out there really. When I first saw it years and years ago I had no clue who Bava was then really and figured it was the work of yet another disorganized Italian director. Some great films have come out of Italy in all genres, but some of the most atrocious have as well.

Bava died of a heart attack in 1980 and while some of his latter films showed his lack of passion and vision his earlier work did it is worth noting Bava did not direct his first film until he was 46 years old, and so he is some twenty years older and disillusioned and still trying to make horror movies. Even most of his 70’s work has an entertaining quality other similar films of the time lack and his films from 1960 to 1966 are simply some of the best and most beautiful the genre has ever turned out. They are lavish and beautiful and Black Sunday has been called by some critics the most beautiful horror movie every made. That may be a bit too much (or it may be correct as I just watched the British version and was again pulled into the scenes) but there is no doubt that his classic work of the 60′ is atmospheric, stylish and lush and loaded with beautiful, mysterious European women. He is a truly great director and artistic visionary. I love his work and even the films I pan have a quailty to them that given the right mood I can appreciate. There will be more psots on Bava as I review some of his indivual films. Expect posts soon on Black Sunday, Danger Diabolik and The Planet of the Vampires.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at 10:46 am and is filed under British and Eurohorror, Movie Makers, Actors, Artists, Musicians and Personas . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.