Descriptions:
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Boris Karloff hosts and co-stars in this Italian-language “omnibus” film, featuring three short horror stories. The movie was substantially revised and dubbed into English for a version entitled “Black Sabbath” released in 1964.
Plot (themoviedb):
Three short tales of horror. In “The Telephone,” a woman is tormented by mysterious phone calls. In “The Wurdalak,” a family is preyed upon by vampiric monsters. In “The Drop of Water,” a deceased medium seeks justice from the beyond.
Review (IMDb):
“…delightful…. The first story… features a sublime lesbian undertone and quite a few shocking moments. The second tale is…. A must see… for admirers of Gothic horror…. The final tale… is one of the most frightening things I ever beheld…. [this is] how omnibuses should be done.” – Coventry
www.imdb.com/title/tt0057603/reviews
This was Karloff’s second foray into Italian cinema after 1954’s “Il mostro dell’isola”/”The Island Monster,” so by this time he was familiar with the European method of shooting without sound so the international cast could speak different languages during filming. Director Mario Bava made his color debut here and he saturated the proceedings with rich, vivid hues which aren’t realistic, but which envelop the viewer in atmosphere.
The film’s opening credits proudly claim that the screenplay was “freely adapted from three stories by Cechov – Tolstoi – Maupassant,” without elaborating. The implication is that the three segments of the movie were based on one story each by the celebrated authors Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy and Guy de Maupassant (to use the spellings familiar to Americans). And it makes sense that a budget-minded production would seek out inspiration from such famous writers whose works were in the public domain and required no payment. However, it looks like the authors’ names were chosen more for their prestige value than for their relevance, as only one of the movie’s segments resembles anything by any of the authors closely enough to warrant acknowledgment, and even that’s misleading. It wasn’t LEO Tolstoy, author of “War and Peace,” but the much lesser-known novelist ALEXEI Tolstoy who wrote the original story on which the segment entitled “The Wurdulak” was based. Tolstoy’ story “Семья вурдалака” (“The Family of the Vourdalak”) was first published in Russian in 1884 and it may be read here:
az.lib.ru/t/tolstoj_a_k/text_0180.shtml
or in English translation here (10,000 words):
americanliterature.com/author/alexei-tolstoy/short-story/the-family-of-the-vourdalak/
Over the years, fans have strained themselves to note resemblances between the Maupassant stories “Le Horla” (“The Horla”) and “La Peur” (“Fear”) and the film’s segments “The Telephone,” and “The Wurdulak” (again), respectively. As for Chekhov, his “Чёрный монах” (“The Black Monk”) has been suggested as influencing segment 3, “The Drop of Water.” But these resemblances are superficial at best, and hardly merit any kind of screen credit. On the other hand, “The Drop of Water” strongly resembles the 1960 short story “Dalle tre alle tre e mezzo” (“From three to half-past three”) by P. Kettridge, though it’s not clear if the filmmakers actually obtained to rights to that story.
The following year, the film was released in an English-dubbed version entitled “Black Sabbath,” with different introductions by Karloff, the story order rearranged, alternate takes used and some of the more adult material deleted.
The English-language subtitles accompanying this video were ones I found online. Other than a bit formatting and adjusting the timing to make them better match this particular copy of the movie, I have left them unchanged. I do not speak Italian myself, so cannot attest to the accuracy of the translation, but the words fit with the onscreen action nicely, so I assume that it’s a high-quality job. Oddly enough, I was unable to find any Italian subtitles.
Enjoy, and please check out the Boris Karloff playlist: