by Victoria Potenza, Staff Writer

Christopher Lee was a major part of my childhood because of two of two distinct performances; Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and Sarumon in The Lord of the Rings adaptations. While I knew he was famed for playing Dracula and other characters in Hammer horror films, I was not exposed to those roles until much later in my life. Because of this Christopher Lee was always the terrifying older dark lord character with his iconic bellowing voice. Watching some of his earlier roles I realized that Christopher Lee has always carried himself in the regal, sometimes terrifying manor, I knew from his later roles. Lee demanded respect and attention when he came on the screen and that includes his role in the 1963 Mario Bava film The Whip and the Body. Not only does he play a dark and terrifying figure, but he also gets to be a gothic romantic lead, something that was completely new to me in his filmography. 

The Whip and the Body is an Italian-produced gothic horror film. Christopher Lee plays Kurt Menliff, a sadistic nobleman who returns to his home in order to claim his title. His family has feared his return, all except for Nevenka (Daliah Lavi) his former lover who recently married his younger brother Christian. Shortly after his return, he is found murdered, while his family thinks this is a blessing and that they are finally released from the clutches of Kurt’s evil will, the nightmare is just beginning. Nevenka is haunted by images of Kurt’s ghost and she believes he has come back to get revenge on his family and take her into his world of darkness. Soon the entire household is on a hunt to find out if Kurt is truly haunting the household, or if someone else is doing his bidding. 

If Lee is going to be the romantic lead in anything, it makes sense that he is a dark gothic figure. His relationship with Nevenka is complicated but it is clear that the two share a special bond, they are tied together by their shared sadomasochistic tendencies. The two are intertwined and the lines between love and hate blur as they engage in a kink no one else in the family would understand. Kurt brings out the darkness in Nevenka and it is impossible for her to resist him. While she frequently tells the family that she always hated Kurt it is also clear that he gives her something she is missing in her marriage, a partner who understands her attraction to the darkness. I mean, she is a woman stuck in a castle with very limited options, so of course the one man that shares her kink is impossible to resist, even if he might be a murderer. 

One of the strangest aspects of the film is that Christopher Lee’s iconic deep voice is not present in the film. Like many Italian productions of the time, Lee and his other co-stars were eventually dubbed by another actor. This happened with other legends of the time like Barbara Steele, who frequently worked on Italian productions. While it is strange not hearing his booming voice, his presence is still enough to bring his sinister and sexual character to life. The actor later said he did regret not coming back to do the english dub for his voice as he felt this was one of the best European films he did. However, if he had come back it honestly may have been too much for me to handle. Lee is perfectly suited to this role and even the lack of his iconic voice still makes this a fascinating performance. 

Even though Lee’s character dies within the first part of the film, he is ever present in the shadows and the darkness of the castle. He haunts all the family members he believes wronged him while making stops to have phantom trysts with his former lover.What seems like a straightforward ghost story has a larger mystery at its center and tries to dive into the psychology of its troubled leads. As far as a gothic romance, this tale does stick out compared to others released at the time. While much of the films are very sexually repressed it is fascinating to see that they do dive into the phsychsexual aspects of this story. We see the pleasure that Nevenka derives from the whippings Kurt gives her, her cries of pain quickly change to cries of passion. While it seems clear that Kurt was evil and even potentially a murderer, it is also clear that because of this he is not as inhibited as the other characters of the film. This means that Nevenka is able to share the dark side of herself that the others in the family would frown upon. When she finds out her husband is in love with another woman it makes it even harder for her to resist her ghostly suitor. 

However, like many women of the time, Nevenka is punished for her sexual appetites and for her problematic relationship with a cruel and sadistic man. But the openness of their relations does stand out and make this one of the more interesting gothic romances I have seen on screen. These types of stories can be a little boring and repetitive, especially if watching people wander around a castle for 80+ minutes isn’t your thing. But with its dynamic leads (both Lee and Daliah Lavi give astounding performances), Bava’s iconic use of color, and it’s sexually uninhibited story, this is a memorable and iconic entry in the gothic genre. It also gave me a new appreciation for Lee and his ability to utilize his dark presence in a variety of ways.