L'Espion qui venait du surgelé

Mario Bava searches for the vein of gold at the very bottom of plebeian humour. Immersed in the era of blockbusters, we forget that earlier sequels were usually no bigger, costlier or more bombastic than the initial hit. This was true particularly in the area of trash productions, which was dominated by the American International Pictures studio, where the rule was that sequels were supposed to be quickly churned-out appendixes to box-office hits with the aim of squeezing the last drop from the brand. This is clearly illustrated by the second Dr. Goldfoot movie, which was slapped together by Mario Bava in Italian studios. What remains from the first instalment is the Bondian villain played by Vincent Price and his artificial beauties. Otherwise, everything is obviously cheaper, more futile and more insipid. Even Price is visibly annoyed and we would search in vain for the self-indulgent verve with which Price played the same role a year earlier. In can be seen in the film that Bava shot a lot of material that was subsequently tamed by the editors. The film’s handful of flashes of inventiveness, especially the balloon sequence (which seems like a direct inspiration for the creators of Dinner for Adele), are unfortunately overshadowed by the crude Italian humour, most disturbingly personified by a pair of domestic comedians mugging for the camera. (27/12/2022)