Baba Yaga (1973)

Director:

Corrado Farina

Writers:

Guido Crepax (comics)
Corrado Farina (writer)

Release Date:

20 September 1973 (Italy)

Genre:

Mystery

Plot:

A photographer finds herself falling under the spell of a witch.

Plot Keywords:

Witch | Photographer | Doll | Lesbianism | Stockings

Cast

Carroll Baker	...	Baba Yaga
George Eastman	...	Arno Treves
Isabelle De Funès	...	Valentina Rosselli
Ely Galleani	...	Annette
Daniela Balzaretti
Mario M. Giorgetti
Sergio Masieri
Angela Covello	...	Toni
Cesarina Amendola
Mario Paolo Giordani
Carla Mancini
Giorgio Pellizone
Lorenzo Piani
Natalie E. Spleptzow
Rodolfo Zola

Also Known As:

Baby Yaga, Devil Witch (USA)
Black Magic
Kiss Me Kill Me (USA) (video title)
The Devil Witch

Runtime:

91 min | UK:81 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 (2007) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Milan, Lombardia, Italy

Company:

14 Luglio Cinematografica

Trivia:

Anne Heywood was originally cast as Baba Yaga but withdrew before filming and was successfully fined by the studio.

Movie Connections:

Features Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920)

'Baba Yaga' is a fascinating mess which will appeal to fans of arty Eurotrash like Franco's 'Vampyros Lesbos' and 'Eugenie De Sade' and Bava's 'Lisa And The Devil'.

'Baba Yaga' is a fascinating mess. Corrado Farina seems like an intelligent guy but even he admits that he failed in his attempt to adapt the erotic comics of Guido Crepax to the movie screen. Farina's initial choices for the lead roles of Valentina and Baba Yaga fell through and so he had to reluctantly make do with Isabelle De Funes and Carroll Baker. On top of that his movie was recut behind his back by a producer with second thoughts and he had to fight to salvage it. Despite all this behind the scenes drama it is a movie which will appeal to fans of arty Eurotrash like Franco's 'Vampyros Lesbos' and 'Eugenie De Sade' and Bava's 'Lisa And The Devil'. The plot of the film is minimal and frankly not its strong point. Valentina (De Funes) is a successful photographer who comes under the spell of a mysterious witch Baba Yaga (Carroll). That's about it folks. The movie attempts to create a dreamlike atmosphere, mixing up fantasy and reality. It isn't entirely successful but some sequences are quite impressive. In fact it's probably best enjoyed if you ignore the minimal story and just concentrate on the imagery and the music. Farina complained that Carroll Baker wasn't the right physical type to play Baba Yaga, who in the original comic strip was androgynous and not conventionally beautiful. That may be so but I certainly enjoy looking at Ms. Baker, an actress who made several left of center movie choices in the '60s and '70s including 'Orgasmo', 'The Sweet Body Of Deborah', 'Bad' and 'Bloodbath'. The DVD by the way includes a brief outtake of a full frontal scene from her for those that are interested. 'Baba Yaga' is one of those movies that you either love or hate. I'm in the former camp.