Brighty of the Böhmerwald
Baron Blood (1972)
directed by Mario Bava
rating: 1 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
Ugh. Baron Blood is a Mario Bava movie in name but not in spirit. The plot is thin as gruel, too timid to be Euro-sleaze but about as creative. A big-haired protagonist with sideburns returns to Austria to "get back to his roots," finds a comely architecture student and a haunted castle, and inexplicably summons an ancestor from the catacombs. Will either youth escape the mad sadist's clutches? Will the woman ever stop screaming? Yes and no, and Bava, previously so adept with primary colors on soundstages, seems able only to follow the action listlessly around a poorly lit series of rooms.
When Joseph Cotten appears, done up in so much face paint that his apple red cheeks set off the shadows beneath his eyes, the answer seems obvious. This is the witch who cast the curse on the long-buried baron, back from the dead to torment him until the end of time! That's the cravat that I'll concede: that the witch's curse begins only when the man who killed her is resurrected. A well-thought-through revenge, even if the witch, burned at the stake centuries ago, can only enjoy it via a medium. If Cotten saw the drag routine through, I might feel bad for the career he no doubt thought was over. No quarter for indifference, Joe!
directed by Mario Bava
rating: 1 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
Ugh. Baron Blood is a Mario Bava movie in name but not in spirit. The plot is thin as gruel, too timid to be Euro-sleaze but about as creative. A big-haired protagonist with sideburns returns to Austria to "get back to his roots," finds a comely architecture student and a haunted castle, and inexplicably summons an ancestor from the catacombs. Will either youth escape the mad sadist's clutches? Will the woman ever stop screaming? Yes and no, and Bava, previously so adept with primary colors on soundstages, seems able only to follow the action listlessly around a poorly lit series of rooms.
When Joseph Cotten appears, done up in so much face paint that his apple red cheeks set off the shadows beneath his eyes, the answer seems obvious. This is the witch who cast the curse on the long-buried baron, back from the dead to torment him until the end of time! That's the cravat that I'll concede: that the witch's curse begins only when the man who killed her is resurrected. A well-thought-through revenge, even if the witch, burned at the stake centuries ago, can only enjoy it via a medium. If Cotten saw the drag routine through, I might feel bad for the career he no doubt thought was over. No quarter for indifference, Joe!
posted by NPK at 12:01 AM
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