Lisa e il diavolo (1973)

	Also Known As: Lisa et le diable
	Year of first release: 1973
	Director: Mario Bava
	Actors: Elke Sommer, Alida Valli, Sylvia Koscina, Alessio Orano, Telly Savalas, Gabirele Tinti
	Country: I, E, D
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 30.10.2016, arte.tv 7plus, French version
Synopsis: Lisa Reiner (Sommer) is a tourist in an ancient city. When she gets lost, she finds an old mansion in which to shelter. Soon she is sucked into a vortex of deception, debauchery and evil presided over by the family members, the Countess mother (Valli) and her son Max (Orano) and by the mysterious housekeeper Leandro (Savalas).
Review: As I read that arte.tv was broadcasting one Giallo by Mario Bava, I could not resist. This one was very good. I liked the ambivalent role of Telly Savalas who seems to be the devil then just a servant. And then Max falling immediately in love with Lisa, and the mother who is obviously reluctant in letting anybody staying in her mansion. The atmosphere is the main characters of the movie, with the strange mansion, the plants inside the house, the wax mannequins everywhere, the statues spread over the house and the garden, the chapel, and the darkness.  Lisa's role might be quite exaggerated in her nervousness but this is finally normal in a Giallo and part of the game. The problem being not to be authentic but to increase the suspense. And as Master Alfred said, Mario Bava succeeded in building figures of bad guys that make the movie better than if the good actors would be the good guys.  As in many Italian movies of the 60s and 70s, there is no real original version, as actors are talking in several languages, so that any version seems a bit strange for the voice and sound tracks.
Rating: 6 /10