1962, Italian comic book writers Angela and Luciana Giussani invented fumetti neri (“black comics”) with Diabolik, a wildly popular crime series starring an elusive master thief. Within just a few years, the comic was adapted into a psychedelic feature film – released internationally as Danger: Diabolik – directed by a true maestro of Italian genre cinema in Mario Bava (Blood and Black Lace) and starring John Phillip Law (Death Rides a Horse) in the title role.
Somewhere in Europe, Inspector Ginko (Michel Piccoli) is the police officer charged with overseeing the transportation of $10 million from a bank, determined to stop it from falling into the hands of the infamous thief known as Diabolik (Law) and his accomplice Eva Kant (Marisa Mell). But, despite his best efforts, Ginko fails – Diabolik nabs the cash before setting his sights on stealing a priceless emerald and twenty tons of gold, embarking on a crimewave that will see him make a mockery of both the police and the government officials they answer to.
Designed to capitalise on the success of CCC Film’s Dr Mabuse sequels, André Hunebelle’s Fantomas trilogy and Harry Alan Towers’ Fu Manchu series, Danger: Diabolik is Italy’s contribution to the popular cycle of supervillain movies that swept Europe in the 1960s and a key entry in Mario Bava’s filmography.
