PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*
In my review of SUPERARGO VS. DIABOLICUS, I mentioned that European costumed characters tended to alternate between selfless simon-pure crusaders and ruthless criminals. The best known of the latter is seen in the well-lauded DANGER DIABOLIK, but when I came across dubbed versions of the two films adapted from the Italian comics series, I decided to give them a look.
DIABOLIK the comic series debuted in 1962, focusing upon a costumed super-burglar, and KRIMINAL the comic series appeared two years later. Not only was Kriminal more arresting visually-- he robbed people while wearing a skeleton costume-- he also tended to kill off his victims just to shut them up, though I've read that a lot of his victims were other criminals. Both serials were oriented toward showing super-crooks who were totally self-interested and whose only virtue that when not in costume they were good-looking guys who attracted lots of pretty women, sort of the "shadow-side" to the cinematic James Bond.
Though the director of the 1966 KRIMINAL was the celebrated Umberto Lenzi, I saw very little of Lenzi's directorial creativity here, any more than one sees in the majority of Eurospy films. KRIMINAL starts off a bit like 1965's FACE OF FU MANCHU, in which the starring fiend is about to be executed. Kriminal (Glenn Saxson) survives his imminent execution because one of the policemen helps him escape so that he'll reveal the location of the stolen crown jewels of England. Kriminal does return the crown jewels, with a little missing. But after that, the film descends into a lot of aimless running around after a shipment of diamonds. When one of Kriminal's potential victims tries to set him up for a fall, the handsome villain coldly murders her in a steam room. Later he tries to blow up the Brit inspector (Andrea Bosic) who's chased him the longest, and he seduces women and lets them be killed. All this chaos might have had some appeal if KRIMINAL wasn't such a slow, talky film. Even some short scenes with Eurobabe Helga Line (playing twins) don't make Lenzi's film very interesting.
THE MARK OF KRIMINAL, directed by Fernando Cerchio, still has some talky sequences, but the plot's more linear. While performing a burglary (in which an old woman dies upon seeing the skeleton-clad intruder), Kriminal (again Saxson) learns of a hidden treasure of valuable art that he may be able to trace if he can piece together a divided map left behind by an art-thief. This time Kriminal has a more formidable pair of adversaries also searching for the treasure, Mara (Helga Line in a different role) and her male partner Robson. Kriminal and Mara have sex a couple of times, but she's quite willing to kill him, and Kriminal responds accordingly. The treasure-trail leads all three to an Arab tomb. Kriminal uses his costume to scare off the two crooks' bearers and forces them to help him recover the prize, after which he tries to blow them up. However, in contrast to the first film, there's at least the appearance of justice winning out. He flees from the resolute inspector and his aides but crashes his car. The inspector seems satisfied that the villain is dead at last, and for a change there are no "Fu Manchu" moments to promise a return.
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