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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Jan 23, 2019 23:33:50 GMT
This is a really strange film(s). I had seen the original--wasn't a favorite but --the altered version with Elke Sommer doing a possession freak out added on. I was really skeptical it was her for much of it. She really did give it her all if it was her for all the shots.
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Post by Anonymous Andy on Jan 26, 2019 16:38:57 GMT
I've only watched the original/Lisa version, but I remember it being absolutely stunningly gorgeous but completely nonsensical. Basically, Bava in a nutshell. Telly Savalas is always a plus, too.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Jan 26, 2019 22:55:18 GMT
I listened to an audio commentary with the producer Alfredo Leone and Sommer (although they were not watching it in the same room and Sommer hardly said anything).
Interesting trivia.
Bava had the idea because his father was a sculptor and he wanted to tell this story as it was based on a legend or something.
The antique store in the movie was real.
Bava was very humble and intimidated by actors. He hated to ask them to do anything and got his producer to do it usually. He also was very much against swearing and nudity and tried to talk Sommer out of her nude scene. His sister was a Mother Superior.
The fresco that appears in the film that resembles Savalas was not made for the film--it was a real one--which was why they wanted Savalas since he resembled it so much (although that may be the producer telling some BS, probably).
The original ending to Lisa and the Devil was changed because the producer could get access to a 747 (he said it was the first time a movie had shot in one) and so they altered the story. If they had not, they may have been badly injured or killed because the Spanish town they were filming in was hit by mudslides and the roof collapsed on their studio location.
After the film was done, Fellini and Antonioni came by to watch it.
The producer showed it to Sam Arkoff and he offered to buy it saying that the producer wouldn't find anyone else to take it.
He was right.
Telly Savalas and the lollipop.
So in the story, he was supposed to be eating gum drops but he didn't like the idea so he suggested a lollipop. Bava liked the idea so they went with it.
After Lisa and the Devil was shown, Arkoff met Savalas and said the lollipop looked ridiculous.
As a challenge, Savalas wanted to prove that a lollipop would look good on screen, which is why he has one in Kojak (but not in the pilot).
Since the film couldn't sell, the producer decided it needed to be redone with new scenes. Bava was against it at first but eventually relented.He refused to be involved in any of the nudity and profanity scenes.
Elke Sommer did have a problem with some of the swearing etc but she decided the character would act like that if possessed so she was ultimately ok with it. She said she never watches any of her movies because if she saw something she could have done better she would not be able to sleep.
A stunt woman was used for some of the more extreme stuff.
The House of Exorcism, unlike Lisa and the Devil, did make money.
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