By Chris Hyde

August 5, 2003

Guido Crepax died last week in Milan, leaving the world with one less sequential art pioneer. But since it's comic book year at the movies, this sad passing affords us an opportunity to look at a recent DVD release whereby Crepax's work came alive onscreen.

A true master of the adult comic book medium, Crepax made his initial mark on the field during the 1960s with a run of innovative and sexy comic strips. First trained as an architect, during his college years at the University of Milan the young Italian supported himself by illustrating covers for books and LP's. In 1958 he began drawing for a medical journal, and by 1965 had become a contributor to the underground comics magazine Linus. From his strip work evolved Valentina, a creative and ribald adventure that would bring Crepax much greater fame and still stands today as one of his most lasting creations. As the years passed, the artist would go on to do a rash of excellent graphic works, many of which exist in a semi-pornographic fantasy space where sadomasochism lurks. This tendency can also be seen in the selection of literary works that the artist would adapt to the comic milieu: "Histoire d' O" by Pauline Reage, Arsan's "Emmanuelle," Sacher-Masoch's "Venus in Furs" and de Sade's "Justine."

But in addition to this interest in prurient material, Guido Crepax brought a sharp political eye and immense artistic skill to his fantastically drawn work. He had a powerful attraction to the world of film, and in particular was heavily influenced by the famed 1920s film star Louise Brooks. Many of Crepax's lead female characters bear a great resemblance to this actress, and that is certainly the case with the protagonist in his tale Baba Yaga. In the filmed adaptation of this story, which was just released on DVD by Blue Underground this summer, French actress Isabelle de Funes sports the classic Lulu coiffure just as her graphic counterpart does in the original drawn version.

Here Funes plays the aforementioned character Valentina, a fashion photographer in the stylishly swinging world of early seventies Italy. One night on the street, she meets a strange older woman named Baba Yaga (played by Carroll Baker, who also appeared in a number of Umberto Lenzi giallos), who unsettles her with her forward approach and mysterious manner. This seeming sorceress even takes a garter from the youthful photographer, which she later utilizes in a bid to gain control over the beautiful girl. Valentina is both intrigued and scared by this encounter, and while she cannot fathom the motives of this mature matron, she finds it near impossible to resist her charms. The next day, this odd woman comes to Valentina's apartment and insists that the young camerawoman come to visit her at her own domicile, in the meantime leaving her influential touch on Valentina's photographic equipment.

The photographer then finds herself drawn to Baba Yaga's historic house, where she ostensibly goes to shoot some pictures. Here the weirdness begins to pile up, as the creepy and atmospheric apartment seems to be decorated with all sorts of dangerous artifacts - not the least of which is a frighteningly realistic doll all gussied up in leather s + m gear. Baba Yaga eventually cajoles Valentina into taking this doll home for "protection," with the unsuspecting and entranced young woman unaware of the insidious power that lies behind this simple act. For once the old witch succeeds in placing this porcelain Trojan horse directly into her mod lifestyle, Valentina begins to have bizarre nighttime dreams that challenge her sense of reality. Additionally, there also follow some moments where this peculiar doll seems to actually come to life, and to upset Valentina even more, her camera that bears the touch of Baba Yaga starts to malfunction in a most disturbing manner.

The plot continues its machinations from this point, but as further explication might ruin some of its pleasures we'll stop the synopsizing here. Suffice it to say that overall this is a stylish and offbeat movie that has a lot going for it to keep your interest. Unfortunately, though, it's ultimately somewhat less than it might have been due to a couple of extraneous factors that are alluded to by director Corrado Farina in the interview included on the disk. For one, there are some artistic touches that involve the use of actual comic panels included by the director in the final version of the film, an interesting touch that truly delineates its association to the field of comic art. But the producers weren't at all fond of this approach, and Farina complains that this part of his vision was more or less bastardized in the final cut. Secondly, while the cast utilized for the movie is pretty capable for the most part, Farina mentions some trouble that they had getting actresses to play the two lead rolesthe upshot of which is that neither Isabelle de Funes nor Carroll Baker were the first choices for their particular roles. While de Funes turned out to be fine in her part as Valentina, there's little doubt that Baker is somewhat miscast here. She's an able enough actress to make a good show of it, and her work is in no way glaringly bad but there's something awkward about her Baba Yaga that might have been eliminated had Farina managed to get the actress that he wished to play the lead.

Still, even with the limitations that the film's helmsman talks about in the bonus materials, this movie is well worth the revival. And as usual, Blue Underground has not let its fans down when it comes to the DVD presentation that has hit the shelves. The transfer makes the film likely look as dazzling as it ever has, bringing out the full range of mod '70s colors. Additionally, the original theatrical trailer is included, as is a selection of deleted and censored scenes and a poster and still gallery. There's also the previously mentioned 22-minute interview with Corrado Farina, and a DVD-ROM supplement allows the viewer to compare the film to the comic book it was adapted from. The last extra included on the disk is a nice 12-minute documentary on the work of Guido Crepax, a very timely bit of work that gives some added insight into the life of the recently deceased giant of comic art.

Yet again, Blue Underground has here blown the dust off of a neglected bit of the world's horror past and brought back to light a film that deserves a long look. While not without its flaws, Baba Yaga is an entertaining and strange hour and a half bit of period piece Eurohorror that is especially of interest today given its relationship to the just passed Italian sequential artist that penned the work from which it was adapted. The movie in its final form is completely faithful to Guido Crepax's original source material, though it perhaps might have been even more so if the film's producers hadn't scotched some of the director's vision for the project. In any case, however, this film remains both a fitting tribute to a fallen comic book great as well as a pleasurable amusement in its own right. As such, this fine release can now properly take its place as a memento mori left as tribute to an Italian master who has now sadly left this mortal coil.