Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Great Film overall

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Not that this movie was about a spy but actually about a thief, the format is very much like the James Bond movies that had gained popularity in the '60s when this movie was made. Diabolique (John Phillip Law) is a high profile thief who mock at the government's ineptness to catch him. He has a partner Eva (Marisa Mell) who helps him with his capers. He has a lavish lifestyle, but also few enemies which is trying to kill him. All of them are closing in on him, but it's Diabolique's ingenuity that will get him his way.The movie is very well crafted. The cinematography of Mario Bava will match any James Bond movies, but the location isn't as outrageous as the Bond movies, and has a more domestic European feel to it. The lavish style, and the mood is almost identical between this movie and the 007 series, but focus is bit weaker in this movie because the Diabolique character doesn't have as much purpose to what he does compared to 007. Similarity might not be coincidental if you consider that Albert Broccoli the producer of the James Bond series, Mario Bava, and Deno Delonetiis are all Italians. The beautiful brilliance that're common to Italian movies are abundantly obvious in this one as well. I liked this movie out of all of Mario Bava's movies because it's not as macabre as his other horror movies. Everything is quite beautiful in this movie which makes it worth watching including the two stars John Phillip Law, and Marisa Mell. If you've never seen Marisa Mell, it's worth watching the movie just to see her.

DIABOLIK is a magical film from one of the most magical storytellers of all time.Bava directs this with his usual colors and glory camp about what it could be the most iconic anti-hero of the XX, Diabolik (John Phillip Law), is a hunky, sensual, smart and cool thief who, with his beautiful blonde go go girlfriend Eva(Marisa Mell) go to steal the bourgeoisie, laugh of the cops and go to they're secret cave to have sex in a lake of dollars. Evil Valmont goes to the police and tries to trap Diabolik trapping the poor Eva and now Diabolik must use his bizarre, psychedelic powers to rescue her and, at the same time, giving a lesson to the government. We can't denied it: We love bad cool guys fooling the right hand cops. How can you denied the pleasure to see this movie? ... And it is, indeed, a pleasure. Groovy soundtrack by Ennio Morricone.

Deliriously psychedelic pop-art crime-spoof mini-masterpiece! Although many people mention the Bond films, Mario Bava borrowed quite a large number of ideas from the brilliant US 'Batman' TV-series of 1964-65, such as Diabolik's underground cave-lair with its secret opening, the use of comic book artwork, and especially the scene at the 'Live on TV Police Press Conference' where the authorities are announcing their new "Anti-Crime" plan designed to catch Diabolik. Diabolik is there, of course, disguised as a news photographer. But his camera actually sprays "Exhilarating Gas", and so to protect himself, Diabolik swallows an "Anti-Exhilarating Gas Pill". Everybody in attendance begins laughing uncontrollably in front of the TV cameras including the Police Commissioner and the Minister of Finance, making total fools of themselves on live TV while Diabolik slips away undetected! This scene is straight out of the Batman TV show, of course.The sets and costumes - like 'Batman' - are wonderfully mind-blowing examples of mid-to-late sixties fashion and pop art; all vibrantly bold colors, weird geometric shapes, huge sunglasses, and transparent plastic furniture. When he started shooting his films in color, Bava always used deep, richly colored lighting with bold, angular shadows. By the early 70's, it seems he (and every area of the arts from fashion to film to music) eschewed this 'plastic' look for a more natural, 'earthy' style. 'Diabolik' (released 1968) is perhaps one of the last of Bava's films to use this Pop Art look. His later films that I have seen are much less colorful.This also may be one of the reasons it did rather poorly at the time; it was more 1965 than 1968, and popular tastes changed very, very quickly in those days. What was cool last week was suddenly considered passe this week, and by 1968 when 'Diabolik' was released, its kitschy style was simply too 'last week'. 1968 saw many films which were "heavy" and addressed social and political issues. 'Diabolik' would've seemed silly and childish in the face of 1968's realities such as MLK and RFK assassinations, Vietnam, and the May '68 revolts in Paris.Time has treated it well, however, and Diabolik is a pure delight. Morricone's score is one of his best - it's tragic the tapes were lost - I could listen to it over and over. Marisa Mell (as Diabolik's girl, Eva) also disappeared, dying early in 1991. She is lusciously foxy in that 60's go-go girl way with the long legs and boots and the various outfits she wears, especially the black one with silver rivets all over it! Diabolik and Eva's underground lair is certainly THE ultimate swingin' pad with a revolving bed, transparent his-n-her shower stalls and about 30 Jags parked around the giant living room.

If there's a failing of most filmmakers when it comes to bringing a comic book to the big screen, it's a fundamental misunderstanding of the term "comic book." It goes all the way back to the origin of the comic book in this country, when "comics" were primarily humorous. These "funny strips," which appeared originally in newspapers, were eventually cobbled up into collections and sold as "comic books." Hence, the label. Like an albatross, that label was draped around the neck of one of the darkest characters to ever grace the pages of a comic book- BATMAN- when television producer William Dozier brought The Dark Knight to the small screen in the 1960s. Campy and as in-the-closet funny as the law would allow, it became a huge success. When Mario Bava decided to bring the fumetti DIABOLIK to the screen, he took his cue from the BATMAN TV series. The sometimes psychedelic 60s silliness (characters passing around "whacky tobaccy") was a perfect blend for the telestupidness of the series. One can't help but groan, remembering Batman's anti-shark repellent, when Diabolik, prior to unleashing laughing gas on an unsuspecting audience, takes his anti-laughing gas pills. Terry Thomas's prissy performance, the whirling images come-a-whirling straight out of the TV series, and John Law's exaggerated posturing all help make DANGER: DIABOLIK forgettable. Nor does the plodding snail's pace help.