Mario Bava's The Whip and the Body, from 1963, is so much more accomplished than the average exploitation flick from this period that it threatens to be art. The film's narrative is a Poe pastiche (mostly Usher and The Premature Burial) which opens with prodigal son, Kurt (Christopher Lee) returning to the family castle on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Kurt is so despised by the castle's inhabitants that we wonder why he bothered to return, but the plot really kicks into gear when it is revealed that Kurt had a previous relationship with his brother's fiancee, Nevenka (Daliah Lavi). Their relationship is revealed and rekindled on the beach as Kurt brandishes and unleashes his whip. Nevenka says she despises Kurt, but after more than a few hearty lashes, she becomes aroused and yields to him; a sub to his dom. Even after Kurt is mysteriously murdered, Nevenka follows his ghostly bidding and accomplishes Kurt's revenge. Bava lets this S/M relationship unspool to its illogical conclusion with eros and thanatos irreparably linked. Doom awaits us all.
The Whip and the Body was made for peanuts as a co-Italian and French production designed to have its dialogue post-synced so it could be released in at least those two markets. So, the dialogue is an afterthought for this flick, which, fortunately, is largely silent for most of its 87 minutes. The best sequences of the film contain no dialogue per se: the funeral ceremony (above) or Nevenka pacing through the labyrinthine castle unable to sleep because she hears the snap of Kurt's whip. Bava and cinematographer Ubaldo Terzano give the film an appropriately dark palette: blue, green, black and purple with occasional spots of light. The film exudes a whiff (or is that a whip) of the exotic perfume of transgressive beauty. Lavi writhes amusingly and Lee is perfect for a stone cold ghost in a film that would probably be PG-13 today. Out of the ten or so Bava pictures I've seen, The Whip and the Body along with Black Sunday ranks at the top. I kind of wish that Bava got the chance to direct an A production like The Leopard, but that was not his fate.
