georgeuriah Review of Challenge the Devil

Challenge the Devil (1963)

A Horrendous Mess rather than a horror film..

[3/10 · 16 December 2010]

This film must be one of the most difficult C.Lee's movies to find and I was (un)lucky to see it in an after midnight screening in an open-air cinema under the title "La Sfida Al Diavolo".It follows the story of a group of teenagers who like wild parties and wind up stranded in a castle in which C.Lee appears as the castle keeper dressed in medieval style. Meanwhile, a subplot involves a suitcase and a spy ring and guess what, Lee appears again dressed in suit! I can't remember much, (it's been 10 years or so), but the overall impression was that this movie was destined for wider audiences (for example, there's a scene in a nightclub where singer Isabella Ianetti sings "t'hanno visto domenica sera"!!) and somehow the scenes in the castle were added afterwards. The plot is incomprehensible and totally absurd, Lee has very little screen time and from time to time the viewer has to suffer a ludicrous voice-over! The few people in the theater were laughing all the time, since no one could take seriously this movie. I myself, thought it was a horrendous mess, however, I certainly would like to see it once more, for collector's sake.