The Whip and the Body
| The Whip and the Body | |
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Italian film poster for The Whip and the Body
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| Directed by | Mario Bava |
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| Music by | Carlo Rustichelli |
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| Edited by | Renato Cinquini |
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| Distributed by | Titanus (Italy) |
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91 minutes |
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| Box office | ₤72 million |
The Whip and the Body (Italian: La frusta e il corpo) is a 1963 Italian-French gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava. The film is about Kurt Menliff (Christopher Lee) who is ostracized by his father for his relationship with a servant girl. He later returns, but falls madly in love with his brother's wife Nevenka (Daliah Lavi). Menliff is later found murdered, but the locals believe his ghost has returned to haunt the castle for revenge.
Italian censors removed the film from cinemas due to its sadomasochistic themes. The international cut features some significant changes, and runs for 77 minutes. It was released theatrically as What and Night is the Phantom in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively.
An isolated castle on the Eastern European coast. Kurt (Christopher Lee), the older son of Count Menliff (Gustavo De Nardo), was in marriage preparations with Nevenka (Daliah Lavi). However, Kurt had an affair with Tania, the daughter of Menliffs' servant Giorgia (Harriet Medin), and Tania committed suicide because of Kurt's prospective marriage. Count Menliff rejected Kurt and he left the castle. Meanwhile, Nevenka married Cristiano (Tony Kendall), Kurt's younger brother.
One day, Kurt arrives at the castle, superficially to celebrate Cristiano and Nevenka but in fact he is to reclaim his title and fortune, which supposedly also includes Nevenka. During an evening on the beach and following a session of flogging and sex, masochistic Nevenka understands that she is still in love with Kurt. Frustrated, she does not return to the castle and is eventually found unconscious by the butler Losat (Luciano Pigozzi). On the same night, Kurt is killed under curious circumstances, with the same dagger Tania had committed suicide with. Now, Kurt is dead but a series of events hints that his ghost has started to haunt the castle for revenge.
The film credits the writers as Ernesto Gastaldi as Julian Berry, Ugo Guerra as Robert Hugo, Luciano Martino as Martin Hardy.Ernesto Gastaldi has stated that he had written the script himself with Ugo Guerra possibly contributing to some of the story early one while Luciano Martino had no contribution to the script. Gastaldi was shown an Italian print of The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) by the producers who requested a similar film to be made. Gastaldi is credited as an assistant director in the films credits, but has stated he was never even on the set of the film.Mario Bava was brought in to direct the film through Ugo Guerra's suggestion as he could both direct the film and photograph the film. Bava took care of the cinematography for the film while his regular camera man Ubaldo Terzano is credited as the cinematographer.
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