I’m fascinated by the fact that the first three features in Severin’s THE EUROCRYPT OF CHRISTOPHER LEE, VOL 3 are projects involving the French writer-director Edmond T. Gréville: BEAT GIRL, THE HANDS OF ORLAC, and THE VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG (US: HORROR CASTLE). It’s the third one that strikes the chord of fascination because Gréville is credited only as one of three writers on the project… which was directed by Antonio Margheriti. But there is more to it than just that: VIRGIN also features the participation of Christopher Lee and Lucile Saint-Simon, both featured in THE HANDS OF ORLAC, which suggests to me that Gréville - a devotée of Grand Guignol theater - must have been posited as director of this project at some point and was the one who attracted Lee and Saint-Simon to join the cast.
Margheriti’s films tend to be international co-productions so it would make sense that this one was made with a little money from France, especially given the presence of Saint-Simon (not to mention male lead Georges Rivière) in the cast. But the end product is identified as Italian only. Still, there is room for reasonable doubt that producer Marco Vicario - who owned the source story material - aimed higher than Margheriti when he was looking to assemble a package for production. Unfortunately, at the time this film was made, French production was not supportive of the horror genre and it’s unlikely that such a film could not have been made solely with French funding - which brings us back to Italy.
This is theoretical: Margheriti had never directed a horror film before, so it’s possible that Vicario had originally booked him as the film’s special effects chief. If Vicario was unable to secure majority or equal French co-funding, he would have had to let Gréville go and find an Italian director to step in as soon as possible. (Ah! But did Gréville manage to direct any of VIRGIN before he was replaced?)
If you look at VIRGIN, it’s obvious that the film was shot on the same sets just vacated by Mario Bava’s THE WHIP AND THE BODY, so it may have been rushed into production to take cheap advantage of them while they were still standing. Margheriti had no horror track record, but he did have a track record as someone who had worked with major stars (Claude Rains, Tab Hunter) and made films that were screened all over the world, even in America. The film worked out - it’s one of my favorite Margheritis - but with these other two Grévilles brought to my attention in continuity, I can’t help but see it now as a project of mixed blood. The Gréville element makes too much sense. (Also, Bertrand Blier is credited as assistant director. I can imagine him assisting Grèville, but not Margheriti.)
On another related topic: Having seen VIRGIN again, and for the first time in such quality, I think I can see an explanation for the enmity that several of my Bava book interviewees told me about that existed between Bava and Margheriti. Here, Margheriti not only uses Bava’s leftover sets but appropriates many of his personal signature touches - his defining touches of Italian Gothic horror. Ironically, one of the original touches that Margheriti and his production team brings to VIRGIN - its emphases of red and black and its atmospheric placement of heavy red pleated curtains - Bava would in turn emphasize in his imminent BLOOD AND BLACK LACE. (Incidentally, VIRGIN’s credited set decorator Riccardo Domenici, who Margheriti was not using for the first time, had also been Bava’s production designer on BLACK SABBATH and THE WHIP AND THE BODY, two of his most ravishing productions - on a far higher plane than earlier Margheriti productions like HERCULES, PRISONER OF EVIL - which starred Bava’s last Hercules, Reg Park.) Of course, Margheriti also subsequently cast Bava’s BLACK SUNDAY discovery Barbara Steele in DANZA MACABRA/CASTLE OF BLOOD, adopted his valued supporting player Luciano Pigozzi (“Alan Collins”), and took over the direction of his fully-developed CRY NIGHTMARE/NAKED, YOU DIE project in the wake of DANGER: DIABOLIK. If we look at Margheriti’s later THE UNNATURALS and Bava’s own dream project LISA AND THE DEVIL, there are similarities that defy (or at least challenge) explanation.
Of course, Margheriti was making a living like anyone else, and he had every right to hire whom he wanted to hire and shoot whatever project was offered to him. However, enmities tend to involve emotional triggers beyond their most obvious causes, just as they can be easily aggravated by those (on the receiving end, or in the peanut gallery) who don’t take them seriously and scoff at them until resentments begin to become more deliberately and pointedly returned.
(C) 2026 Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.
