Baron Blood (1972)
Mexican Lobby Card
Mario Bava tried a more commercial film with Baron Blood with mixed results. Gorgeous to look at, the story is gothically creepy but the script, in spots, could have used another rewrite, including dialog. The more intrusive, this-is-horror, score by Lex Baxter, replacing Stelvio Cipriani’s more varied mix for the U.S. market, actually works well to spiff up the atmosphere, terror, and torture. American International Pictures (AIP) redubbed for an American audience and clipped six minutes from the movie. Vincent Price was originally approached to play the lead, but his bad experience with Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (“the most dreadful movie I’ve ever been in”) made him decline. Ray Milland was then asked but he declined too, leaving the door open for Joseph Cotten. When Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (sequel to Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine) bombed the box office, AIP’s relationship with Bava bombed too. Since AIP forced Bava to make it, well, there’s a lesson in there somewhere.
