Blood and Black Lace

****/*****

The giallo. While perhaps purists might contend that this or that is the first giallo, but I will always consider Bava the director who gave birth to the genre that is equally detested and admired. I'm a big fan of the Italian giallo and its offspring (the slasher which essentially rips off a lot of Bava's work and others), but Bava's Girl Who Knew Too Much and Bay of Blood have a special place (as does Hatchet for the Honeymoon and Five Dolls for an August Moon) in my heart. I have to admit that while I enjoy and respect the style and color of Blood and Black Lace, it never was for me on the same level of sheer pleasure as Black Sabbath, Kill, Baby, Kill!, or Whip and the Body. That doesn't mean I don't grin with great delight when I see Bava working the plot with a master's skill. There's only so much, though, you can do with unlikable (and often colorless) characters. However, although I felt the characters were colorless (Cameron Mitchell is dull, sad to say), the cast has marvelous faces. I always smile when Luciano Pigozzi pops up in Italian genre films with the blessed Peter Lorre favoritism. Bava knew he could get some wonderful close ups even though his characters don't deserve the style and grace exhibited on screen. That said, the joy I relish in seeing that ole Bava magic work its spell over me despite the limitations of the characters populating Blood and Black Lace always has me realizing just why I revere him so.

Isabelle is murdered by a man in a white mask that only outlines slight facial features. A white, pallid mask, fedora hat, and trench coat is the killer's outfit. The film centers around a fashion studio and those that work inside it and the relationships within it. A diary Isabelle (a fashion model herself) wrote in is of particular interest to characters in the studio (we are introduced to the studio as a fashion show is underway and preparing). Somebody will even kill to get his/her hands on it as evident when a fellow model of Isabelle's is attacked in her boyfriend's apartment (Frank was conveniently nowhere to be found, even though he called her begging his girl to come to him due to his "illness"). An investigation into Isabelle's murder will unearth drug-use and lascivious activity by those "in the industry". We learn through conversation among employees that their fashion studio boss, Countess Cristina Como (Eva Bartok), had a recent death of her husband. She has thrown herself into her work, but we can see her restlessness and unease even as she orders everyone around like a drill sergeant. Investigators in their lives doesn't help matters. Neither does models winding up dead.

There are times where a murder scene is built just for style, even though it is rather routine. Female victim arrives home, a killer lurks inside, she tries to evade him, hides in places, attempts to escape, and eventually killed in some cruel fashion (in the case above, an "arm spike" slammed into her face). What makes the scene pop is the appropriately placed "Dancing" sign emanating a green neon glow that goes on and off in the apartment (it seems to be an antique shop with lots of old items). Purple is another color that is well used, a light that adds flavor when the green isn't available. This could be just another slasher chase scene in enclosed surroundings, but that color and camera movement makes it all buzz quite nicely.

The incriminating diary is a type of giallo staple. Characters have secrets. Skeletons in the closet that can be revealed if law enforcement or the wrong person is able to uncover them through insight from a specific source. Whether a diary or someone with loose lips perhaps, a murderer eventually emerges to gain possession or kill in order to maintain that secret (or secrets) that implicates. The giallo thriller, as evident in Bava's film here, holds another staple and that is brutality towards women. Whether strangled, stabbed in the face, or a face pressed into a hot furnace, Bava presents methods of cruel execution here than the giallo would perfect in years to come. Clever and imaginative tools of destruction and ways to construct murder sequences through well-executed savagery would be the norm in the giallo. The fashion world itself and women wearing the latest Italian fashions (and lush Euro locales) would also often gain exposure in the giallo.

 

 Often in a giallo, the "surprise" of who might appear to be the killer, only for those in the film cast with a suspicious eye to be exonerated through developments, and Blood and Black Lace is no different. There are certain male characters that are associated either with the fashion studio or the models who might have possible motives to kill Isabelle. They are arrested and held until investigated further but while these suspicious men are in custody, a woman is still murdered proving that someone besides them is the real killer. The screenplays of the giallo love to lead us by the hand one way and then steer us elsewhere.

 

Of course, this genre is notorious for going behind the curtain and looking beyond the veil to see the darkness that exists in people. What are people capable of when their loved ones are threatened? What unspeakable acts are people willing to commit in the name of love, greed, property, and avarice? Blood and Black Lace is a shining example of this. A ruse is pulled over the police. One of their suspects has some welcome assistance. Once released, this giallo follows two characters who admit to why the diary was important to them, why Isabelle had to die (and others as well), and tells us that a death was murder so a "secret marriage" could occur, with a final turn of the screw resulting in the almost sudden deterioration of a romance based on betrayal. The strait-razor makes its appearance here--another giallo staple--but is not of much use besides depicting a faux suicide as a result of murderous drowning. As expected by those who have seen their fair share of giallo thrillers, the whole reasoning behind all the violence is laid out and the audience gets a few answers. This film's place as a trailblazer is assured. I don't think the story is any great shakes, but its talent behind the camera and abilities to get the most out of his creative genius is on full display.