5 Dolls for an August Moon

1970
Dir. Mario Bava

Three couples are invited to spend the weekend at the secluded private island retreat of their friend, wealthy industrialist George Stark (Teodoro Corrà). One of the men, a research scientist, has perfected a secret formula for an industrial resin and the others are all keen to acquire the rights for it as it promises to be lucrative. Tempers flare as they vie to obtain the formula. Meanwhile their wives kick back and entertain themselves. The group soon realises that someone is prepared to kill to get the secret formula, and they find themselves trapped on the island with a murderer in their midst!

Gosh – that’s a lot to take in. Truth be told though, as soon as you begin to watch 5 Dolls for an August Moon, it becomes apparent that none of the above plot summary really matters – all that stuff about a secret formula is just a rouse to get these volatile characters in one secluded location so they can all be bumped off, one by one nonetheless, in what amounts to a highly stylised and uber-kitsch variation on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. And, therefore, Mario Bava’s earlier body-count flick Bay of Blood/Twitch of the Death Nerve.

After a marvellously kitsch opening, featuring amongst other things a funky lounge-jazz soundtrack, a faux human sacrifice, actors draped over various pieces of stylish furniture like fashionable throws, Bava slams on the brakes and the film all but grinds to a halt. As the couples mingle and re-pair off for extra-marital flings, Bava’s camera stalks their every move; peering at them from behind corners, zooming in on their misty eyes and skulking up behind them on the beach – all courtesy of Antonio Rinaldi’s masterful cinematography - rendering events strangely creepy even though they have no reason to be.

When the houseboy turns up with a knife in his side, the group take it in their stride. Even when they realise their boat is gone, the phones are dead and they are stranded on the island with a killer in their midst, they still seem fairly at ease with it all and continue their sexy affairs. They have a well stocked drinks cabinet and a groovy record collection to keep them swinging through the night, you see. When more people start turning up dead, their bodies are delicately wrapped in plastic and they are unceremoniously hung up in a giant meat freezer amongst slabs of meat – not a very subtle touch, but a grimly humorous one. The cast of most movies like this are essentially fodder anyway – they are only there to be murderlised. At least in this film, Bava pokes a little fun at this.


Unlike many of his other films though, with 5 Dolls, Bava chooses to depict only the aftermath of each murder and not the act of murder itself. The script becomes impossibly dense and convoluted and it becomes difficult to tell one character apart from another – except for Marie, who is played by giallo stalwart, Edwige Fenech. All of the affairs between the characters further complicate proceedings.

What 5 Dolls lacks in plot and narrative drive, it certainly makes up for in the visual department. Well what did you expect? This is no ordinary murder mystery film. This is a stylishly orchestrated, elegantly lensed and deliriously kitsch Mario Bava murder mystery film. The director composes his shots like an artist and seats, stands and perfectly poses his actors within the frame of each shot like sitters in a life drawing class, resplendent and chic. The film is hinged on atmosphere, style and particular moments that have been meticulously crafted and executed and are scattered throughout the film as little reminders of why Mario Bava was such an imaginative director. One such moment occurs when two men fighting at the top of a staircase knock over a table full of impossibly ornate crystal balls. As the balls bounce down stairs the camera floats after them as they tumble and roll and flow into a sunken bath with the body of a dead woman in it, swirls of blood coiling around her; a breathlessly melodramatic suicide message in red lipstick on a huge mirror behind her…

Towards the end of the film, when the captain of the yacht returns to the island to pick up the guests, he and his stewards are unable to find a single trace of them. Strangely, they don’t appear to notice the four survivors passed out on the living room floor. Initially it seems as though something supernatural as been casually and belatedly thrown into the mix a la Lisa and the Devil and somehow the characters have become so wrapped up in their own lust and greed, they have passed from one narrative sphere into another and, in the process, become invisible to the captain and his men. This is not the case however, and it is only a matter of moments until a weak narrative explanation is presented, defying all rational explanation and existing in its own absurd logic.

Boasting a groove-tastic score courtesy of Piero Umiliani, more zooms than a Jess Franco movie and a plethora of beautiful actors hanging up inside a meat freezer – 5 Dolls for an August Moon won’t be to everyone’s taste – hell, even Bava considered it his worst film. What it never is though, is boring. Whilst it is not in the same league as Black Sunday or Kill Baby Kill, or even Blood and Black Lace or The Girl Who Knew Too Much, it is still a curious and quirky underappreciated Bava film, and one that admirers of his work should seek out.