Blood and Black Lace

Prior to directing Blood and Black Lace, Mario Bava had directed several films aimed at foreign markets, including Black Sunday, Erik the Conqueror, The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Black Sabbath.[14][15] These films were produced primarily through Lionello Santi's production company Galatea Film, which suspended their operations by 1964 because of financial hardship. This forced Bava to move from producer to producer for the rest of his career, which left him "not always happy with the results" according to Curti.[16] Bava began work on Blood and Black Lace under the working title of L'atelier della morte (transl. The Fashion House of Death)[2] for Emmepi Cinematografica, a small company founded on November 27, 1962, which had only produced four films, and had made a minor contribution to Black Sabbath; Blood and Black Lace was Emmepi's only film as a majority investor.[16] According to ministerial papers, Bava signed the contract to work on the film on March 16, 1963.[17]

The film had a smaller budget than Bava's previous horror films, estimated at 180 million Italian lire, of which 141.755 million was used in production; by contrast, Black Sabbath had a budget of 205 million lire.[18] Emmepi set up the film as a co-production with France and West Germany, with the respective investment quotas being 50% (Italy), 20% (France), and 30% (West Germany).[16] The French partner was Georges de Beauregard, who would work with productions varying from Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless and Le petit soldat (transl. The Little Soldier) to genre film co-productions like Goliath and the Rebel Slave and The Vampire of Düsseldorf. According to documents at Rome's Archive of State, De Beauregard's largest contribution to the film was the services of his press officer (and future film director) Bertrand Tavernier as an assistant director. Tavernier dismissed this, saying that, "These Italian credits are based on scams. French names were needed for the co-production. I have never been to Italy and haven't met anyone involved in these films."[16] Tavernier concluded his contributions to the film were that he "read a scenario of Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace and my name is in the credits".[16] The West German partner was Top Film, working under its Monachia Film subsidiary, which was based in Munich and financed only two other films.[16][17]

The synopsis of Blood and Black Lace at the Archive of State in Italy and the script at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia library are credited to Marcello Fondato and Giuseppe Barillà. Fondato had previously worked on several comedies before Blood and Black Lace, and on the script for Black Sabbath. Barillà was a co-editor of the literary magazine Elsinore. Curti suggests that Barillà's contributions to the script were minor.[16] The estimated budget attached to bureaucratic papers submitted to the Ministry at the beginning of production list Fondato and Bava as the authors of the story and credits the script to "Giuseppe Milizia", a name that does not appear in any other documents. In contrast, the opening titles of the film credit Fondato as the author of the story and screenplay, while Barillà and Bava's names are listed following "with the collaboration of".[16][18] Ministerial papers state that Bava was paid 3 million lire as co-scenarist and 7 million for directing, while Fondato and Barillà were paid roughly 1.5 million each for screenwriting.[17]

Lucas has suggested that the 1958 film Mannequin in Red may have influenced Blood and Black Lace because of its use of colour cinematography with diffused lighting filters similar to Bava's style, as well as the film's plot being set in a fashion salon where murders are taking place.[19] Curti contests this notion because Mannequin in Red was never released in Italy, deeming it unlikely that Bava or the screenwriters ever saw it.[20][21]

Blood and Black Lace utilised an international cast. It included Italians (Arianna Gorini, Massimo Righi, Franco Ressel, Luciano Pigozzi, Giuliano Raffaelli, Francesca Ungaro and Enzo Cerusico), Americans (Cameron Mitchell, Mary Arden, Dante DiPaolo and Harriet White Medin), Germans (Thomas Reiner, Lea Lander and Heidi Stroh), French actress Claude Dantes, and Hungarian-British actress Eva Bartok.[18] Lander, who was credited onscreen as "Lea Krugher" due to her being a distant cousin of actor Hardy Krüger,[22] moved to Italy to work on the film.[23] She spoke positively on working with Bava, but was particularly excited to be working with Bartok.[23] Bartok was known at the time for her work in Robert Siodmak's film The Crimson Pirate, and Lander recalled that Bartok kept her distance from the rest of the cast, had her own make-up room and had the cast and crew often having to wait for her on set.[24] The cast also included some character actors, many of which who had worked with Bava previously, such as Righi, who was in Black Sabbath, DiPaolo, who played a reporter in The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Ressel, who had played supporting parts in The Wonders of Aladdin, Erik the Conqueror and The Girl Who Knew Too Much, and Pigozzi, who was in The Whip and the Body.[18][25]

Reiner and Dantes were late additions to the cast, as they took over roles initially intended for Gustavo De Nardo and Yoko Tani, respectively.[26] Reiner, a classically trained actor whose experience was primarily in West German television and voice dubbing, was impressed by Bava's working methods, believing that the lack of obligation to record direct sound on-set allowed him to film shots in imaginative ways; Reiner spent his off-set time walking Centi, Bava's pet Basset Hound, which inspired him to buy one for himself and his wife upon his return to Germany.[27] Curti has described Dantes' replacement for Tani as "hasty", noting that despite being made-up to appear Asian in line with her scripted character, these efforts were obstructed by her strong jawline, wide cheekbones and androgynous appearance.[26] Mitchell recalled that Dantes told him that she suffered from an eating disorder and had undergone an experimental weight loss procedure in Paris a month prior to the start of filming, whereby "they'd put you to sleep for three weeks, massage you, give you pills or injections to relax you and it would help take the weight right off"; Lucas corroborates this by noting that Dantes appeared to be "at least forty pounds heavier" in The Hyena of London, which she had filmed prior to working on Blood and Black Lace.[23]

A regular actor for Bava, Mitchell had remained in touch with the director since their last project together, Erik the Conqueror.[28] Mitchell stated "There was a special chemistry between us, Bava was one of my favorite people on the planet."[28] Mitchell stated that Bava's mood on-set was genial despite hearing rumours that he had recently suffered a nervous breakdown, explaining "In this business, frankly, everybody breaks down. I think it was fairly serious with Mario, however."[28] Medin, a recurring Bava actress who played the role of Clarice the housekeeper, did not remember anything about the production, but confessed to Lucas that she thought the film was "absolutely horrible" and that "When you get to be my age [...] violence on the screen loses whatever entertainment value it may have had when you were younger and thought of yourself as immortal and indestructible."[25] Due to the film's status as an international co-production, the cast's revenue was not divided equally: while Mitchell (and possibly Bartok) were paid in cash at the beginning of each week of shooting, and the German actors were fully imbursed for their stay in Rome, many cast members, such as Arden, worked under the promise that they would be paid in full at the end of production, but never received their salaries.[29]

The crew consisted of many other of Bava's regular collaborators, including director of photography Ubaldo Terzano, film editor Mario Serandrei and costume designer Tina Loriedo Grani.[26]

The exteriors of the Christian Haute Couture were shot at the Villa Sciarra in Rome.

Lucas stated that filming began in November 1963, while Curti found the schedule began on September 26, 1963.[26][28] Arden recalled she finished her scenes around the time of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.[28] While Lucas said that filming ended in mid-January 1964, the documents found by Curti showed that principal photography finished on October 26, 1963.[26][28] The film was shot in Rome, with the exteriors of the fashion house filmed at Villa Sciarra, interiors shot at Palazzo Brancaccio, and other scenes shot at A.T.C. Studios.[26] Scenes such as the antique shop were shot at a storage facility for film props.[26]

Although the film was a European production, it was filmed with the majority of the cast speaking their lines in English to ensure international marketability.[28] Arden spoke about the script, saying that the "Italian guy who wrote the script had no great knowledge of American or English conversation, so the script was full of mistakes".[30] Arden was fluent in three languages and rewrote the dialogue as a favour for Bava during filming so it would make more sense.[30] For the film's violent scenes, Arden remembered performing most of her own stunts. These included scenes where she was to fall on to a mattress that would be placed under her at the last second.[28] The team often mistimed the move, leading to Arden being bruised on subsequent re-takes.[28] The film's stunt coordinator, Goffredo "Freddy" Unger, explained that Bava often had to deal with actors wanting to do their own stunts.[30] When actors requested to do fight scenes, he filmed them only briefly, before telling them he had all the footage they needed.[30] Mitchell recalled that Bava created the film's tracking shots by mounting the camera on a children's toy wagon, while crane shots were made by using a makeshift see-saw that counterbalanced the camera with crew members.[31][32] Curti has disputed the idea of a wagon being used on the film, as Lamberto Bava said on an Italian DVD audio commentary that the cameras used were Mitchells, which would have been too heavy to mount on such a device (as opposed to lighter Arriflexs).[33][34]

It took four hours for makeup artist Emilio Trani to apply burned features to Arden for the sequences where she portrayed a corpse; these took five days to shoot. To avoid having the makeup added and removed each day, Arden left it on her face for the latter days of shooting; she recalled that her made-up appearance terrified her mother, who was staying with her in Rome. An accident during the filming of these sequences left Arden with a permanent scar across her nose. In the scene where Greta discovers Peggy's body in the trunk of her car, Bava instructed Lander to wait until the trunk lid was completely open (as indicated by a click in the mechanism) before jumping and recoiling backwards, as the lid used a strong spring that caused it to fall rapidly into place if it was not secured. In her nervousness, Lander failed to open the trunk fully, resulting in the lid's sharp lock hitting Arden in the face, narrowly missing her eye. Arden became hysterical, prompting Bava to stop shooting immediately and calm her down by holding ice to her face while hugging her.[35]

Carlo Rustichelli composed the film's score, as he had for Bava's previous film, The Whip and the Body.[36] Rustichelli recalled his own reaction to the film saying, "There was no doubt, it was something new. I was somewhat shocked by it, partly by its erotic quality."[36] The film's main theme is titled "Atelier" and is reprised throughout the film in various forms. Lucas notes that as the number of characters' deaths grows throughout the film, the orchestration of the score scales down. At Bava's behest, Rustichelli reused several cues he had written and recorded for The Whip and the Body. Rustichelli also reused a cue from the film La bellezza di Ippolita (transl. The Beauty of Hippolyta), which can be heard during the fashion show sequence.[36]

Coinciding with the film's release, the score's publisher, C.A.M., released "Atelier" as a 45 RPM single, with an alternate version of the theme, "Defilé", as the B-side. In 2005, the year after Rustichelli's death, Digitmovies released the complete score on CD as a two-disc set along with the music from The Whip and the Body.[36] Spikerot Records later released the score, remastered from the original session tapes, as a limited edition LP (400 copies) in October 2020.[37]

Blood and Black Lace was released on VHS in several countries, including Italy, France, Germany, Japan, and Spain.[43] According to Lucas, all known VHS releases of the film were censored to varying degrees.[43] Early American home media releases include a VHS and Betamax from Media Home Entertainment and a LaserDisc from The Roan Group.[43] Iver Film and Nouveaux Pictures released it on VHS in the United Kingdom.[43] In 1997, the film was set to be released by Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures, a division of Miramax designed to introduce audiences to the works of low-budget filmmakers he admired.[44][45][46] Rolling Thunder was unable to release the film because of an inability to source usable 35 mm English language elements;[46] in a 1998 interview, Tarantino said that "people over [in Italy] just don't care. We tried to get the rights to Blood and Black Lace [...] and release it in Italian with English subtitles. We couldn't do that. It's not even about money; they don't care."[47] VCI Video released the film twice in the United States on DVD in 2000, and again in 2005 with more bonus features. Both releases feature English and Italian audio tracks with subtitles.[48]

Arrow Video released Blood and Black Lace on Blu-ray Disc on April 13 in the United Kingdom and April 21, 2015, in the United States.[49] Presented with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 in Italian and English, this release was extensively restored from the original camera negative in 2K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, and graded at Deluxe Restoration in London under the supervision of Tim Lucas.[50] The disc's special features include an audio commentary by Lucas, various original and archival video essays and interviews, the US version's title sequence (restored from a print owned by Joe Dante) and Yellow, a 2012 short film made by Ryan Haysom and Jon Britt as a tribute to the giallo genre.[51] VCI released a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on October 23, 2018, utilizing a different restoration of the film with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio using only the English audio track; the set includes two audio commentaries, one by film historian Kat Ellinger, the other by critics David Del Valle and C. Courtney Joyner, and the special features from VCI's earlier DVDs.[52]

Curti said that Blood and Black Lace was "barely reviewed in newspapers", and that the few critics who did, acknowledged its stylistic qualities.[38] Reviews in Europe in La Stampa noted the film was "finely photographed" and that it "dispenses thrills and emotions more by way of the director's excellent technique than with the shaky gimmicks of a clumsy script". Corriere d'Informazione found the film to be "technically remarkable, but as a spectacle it is asthmatic".[38][39] Ugo Casirhagi of L'Unità felt Bava was "a fellow who has lots of fun playing with macabre elements ornaments, intermittent lighting, and changing colors" and "putting the characters to death (and with even more relish when they are elegant and sophisticated ladies) in the most hideous ways. We can not deny that, as a butcher, he has a pulse."[53][54] An anonymous reviewer in Cahiers du Cinéma dismissed the film as a "riot of hideous lighting and effects as heavy as the Ritz: all of it in a jumble of objects as Ophuls, Sternberg or even Albicocco never dared to offer".[54] Peter John Dyer, credited as "P.J.D.", in the Monthly Film Bulletin declared it as Bava's "most expensive-looking and decorative horror film to date" concluding that "if this is a very good (i.e. characteristic) example of Bava's work, it is a less good example of the murder thriller genre, being derivative, for the most part poorly acted and written, and risible in its several descents into bathos".[55]

Outside Europe, A. H. Weiler of The New York Times found the film was a "super-gory whodunit" where characters "are dispatched in varying horrendous styles, leaving nary a lissome lovely around to model those fancy gowns. It's a waste ... but considering the obvious, ponderous plot and their acting, they deserve their bloody fate or the semi-blackout which greeted them."[56] "Whit." of Variety summarized the film as an "okay mystery with a few chills here and there", while noting the visuals are "backgrounded by expensive sets which add a certain quality not always distinguishable in films of this sort". He declared the art direction "is tops" with colour photography to take advantage of it.[57] The review commented on Bava's direction as setting "a grim mood never relinquished" adding the "score by [Rustichelli] maintains this atmosphere".[57]

From retrospective reviews, the BBC, AllMovie and Slant Magazine critics praised the film for its visual inventiveness, while noting its violence.[59][60] Almar Haflidason, reviewing the film for the BBC, said that, "Through a prowling camera style and shadow-strewn baroque sets that are illuminated only by single brilliant colours, [Bava] creates a claustrophobic paranoia that seeps into the fabric of the movie and the viewer."[59] Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine praised the visuals and plot, noting that the film "floods the eye with stimulation, overwhelming our senses so much that the subtle and ingenious plot rushes by in a blur". He added, "The killings in Blood and Black Lace are still disturbing, yet have the vitality of pop art."[60] Patrick Legar of AllMovie praised Bava's "visual eye and use of color, which give the film a highly unique style and look. The brilliant use of primary hues serve as visual foreshadowing throughout the picture and make repeated viewings a fascinating necessity." He noted, "the striking brutality" of the murders. "The killings are highly disturbing in their savagery -- strangling, gouging, drowning, and a torturous scalding among them".[61] In the book The Definitive Guide to Horror Movies, James Marriott described the film as "fascinating and flamboyantly stylish" and found the scenes of eroticized violence disturbing.[62]

Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide gives the film one and a half out of four stars, criticizing its "wooden script and performances" but complimenting Bava's direction, calling it "imaginative".[63] Years after its release, several publications have included the film on "Best of" lists relating to horror, thriller and slasher themes by Paste Magazine, Esquire, and Slant Magazine.[58][64][65][66] In 2004, one of its sequences was voted number 85 on The 100 Scariest Movie Moments by the Bravo TV network.[67]

• Bowen, Chuck (July 24, 2016). "Blu-ray Review: Blood and Black Lace". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
• Croce, Fernando (February 3, 2015). "Arrow Video Announces Second Wave of North American Releases". Dread Central. Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
• Curti, Roberto (2019). Devil's Advocates: Blood and Black Lace. Auteur Publishing. ISBN 978-1-911325-93-2.
• Erickson, Glenn (July 2, 2016). "Blood and Black Lace". Trailers from Hell. Archived from the original on September 28, 2020. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
• Hafidason, Almar (September 12, 2001). "Blood and Black Lace (1964)". BBC. Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
• Legare, Patrick. "Blood and Black Lace (1964)". AllMovie. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
• Lucas, Tim (2013). Mario Bava - All the Colors of the Dark. Video Watchdog. ISBN 978-0-9633756-1-2.
• Maltin, Leonard; Green, Spencer; Edelman, Rob (January 2010). Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide. Plume. ISBN 978-0-452-29577-3.
• Marriott, James; Newman, Kim (2018) [1st pub. 2006]. The Definitive Guide to Horror Movies. London: Carlton Books. ISBN 9781787391390.
• Dyer, Peter John (February 1966). "Sei Donne Per L'assassino (Blood and Black Lace), Italy/France/W. Germany, 1964". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 33, no. 385. British Film Institute.
• Staten, Vince (February 15, 1997). "Tarantino Goes for the 'Good' in Bad Flicks". The Courier-Journal.
• Timpone, Anthony (September 1998). "To the Dawn and Beyond". Fangoria. No. 176.
• Weiler, A. H. (November 11, 1965). "Blood and Black Lace'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 23, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
• Wilmington, Michael (June 21, 1996). "Teen-gang thriller 'Sisters' silly but fun". Chicago Tribune.
• Whit. (1983). Variety's Film Reviews 1964-1967. Vol. 11. R. R. Bowker. There are no page numbers in this book. This entry is found under the header "June 23, 1965". ISBN 0-8352-2790-1.