The Devil's Man
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''The Devil's Man'' () is a 1967 Italian
science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...
directed by
Paolo Bianchini Paolo Bianchini (born 1931) is an Italian director and screenwriter. Life and career Born in Rome, Bianchini began his career in 1953 working as assistant director of a number of notable directors, including Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, ...
.


Plot

Journalist Mike Harway decides to help his friend Christine Becker in her search for her father, professor Baker. Her father, a leading brain specialist, is in Rome for a conference but has mysteriously disappeared. After some time, their investigation brings them to Africa. While in Africa, as they are traversing a desert, they are captured by nomads and brought to the abandoned fort at El Faiu. Within the fort is a hidden laboratory designed by the twisted mind of Devilman. Devilman dreams of swapping his natural brain with an artificial one that he believes will make him perfect. Mike, Christine and Professor Baker make a desperate attempt to escape from the fortress before the transfer occurs. They are rescued by an army of
Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...
.


Cast

*
Guy Madison Guy Madison (born Robert Ozell Moseley; January 19, 1922 – February 6, 1996) was an American film, television, and radio actor. He is best known for having played Wild Bill Hickok in the Western television series ''The Adventures of Wild Bill ...
as Mike Harway *
Luisa Baratto Luisa (Italian and Spanish), Luísa ( Portuguese), or Louise (French) is a feminine given name; it is the feminine form of the given name Louis (Luis), the French form of the Frankish Chlodowig (German Ludwig), from the Germanic elements ''hlo ...
as Christine Becker * Alan Collins as Kew *
Diana Lorys Diana Lorys (born Ana María Cazorla Vega; 20 October 1940) is a Spanish actress. She appeared in more than fifty films since 1960. Filmography References External links * 1940 births Living people Spanish film actresses Actresse ...
as Yasmin *
Giovanni Cianfriglia Giovanni Cianfriglia (5 April 1935 – 30 October 2024), also known as Ken Wood, was an Italian film actor and stuntman. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1958 to 2000. Life and career Born in Anzio, Cianfriglia debuted as the body doub ...
as The Professor


Production

''The Devil's Man'' was the first of three films director
Paolo Bianchini Paolo Bianchini (born 1931) is an Italian director and screenwriter. Life and career Born in Rome, Bianchini began his career in 1953 working as assistant director of a number of notable directors, including Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, ...
directed for producer Gabriele Crisanti. Crisanti stated that the film was designed to recover costs and recycle scenes from his other production '' I predoni del Sahara'' (1965) directed by
Guido Malatesta Guido Malatesta (1919 – 14 June 1970), born in Gallarate, Italy, was a film director and screenwriter. He began working as a professional journalist. After he moved to Rome, he was drawn to cinema, as creator of treatments, then scriptwriter ...
. Bianchini was allowed a lot of freedom while making the film, stating that Crisanti had already sold the title of the film and as long as he used footage he had of the riders from the previous film.


Style

Film historian Roberto Curti noted that the film is often misleadingly described as a
spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a film genre, genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many Jame ...
. Curti described it as mixture of "adventure, mystery and science fiction" that was closer to 1930s and 1940s American film serials.


Reception

In a contemporary review, the ''
Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' declared the film as a "routine formula of the power-crazed scientist whose manic schemes are thwarted by an inevitable final holocaust" while noting that the film had "some splendid desert locations and some "austere chrome and glass SF sets." Paolo Bianchini spoke negatively about the production and the film, stating that "
Guy Madison Guy Madison (born Robert Ozell Moseley; January 19, 1922 – February 6, 1996) was an American film, television, and radio actor. He is best known for having played Wild Bill Hickok in the Western television series ''The Adventures of Wild Bill ...
was the only one who took the whole thing seriously. It was such crap!" In Phil Hardy's book ''Science Fiction'', ''The Devil's Man'' was referred to as a "routine mad scientist offering. The plot is so traditional that it wouldn't have been out of place in a thirties serial" The review praised the sets of the film, specifically Devilman's secret laboratory noting that "as is so often the case in Italian science fiction films of the sixties, are delightfully futuristic."
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
gave the movie one out of five stars.The Devil's Man review. TV Guide. retrieved 6/16/20 https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-devils-man/review/112893/


See also

*
List of Italian films of 1967 A list of films produced in Italy in 1967 (see 1967 in film): References Footnotes Sources * * * * * * External linksItalian films of 1967at the Internet Movie Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Films Of 1967 Lists of 1967 films ...


References


Footnotes


Sources

* *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Devils Man, The Italian science fiction adventure films 1960s science fiction adventure films Films directed by Paolo Bianchini Films set in Rome 1960s Italian films