''A Black Ribbon for Deborah'' ( it, Un fiocco nero per Deborah) is a 1974 Italian

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

Marcello Andrei Marcello Andrei (born 1922) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. Born in Rome, Andrei started his career in the early 1950s as assistant director, then he made his directorial debut in 1956 with ''Borung'', a documentary film set in Ind ...

Cast

Bradford Dillman Bradford Dillman (April 14, 1930 – January 16, 2018) was an American actor and author. Early life Bradford Dillman was born on April 14, 1930, in San Francisco, the son of Dean Dillman, a stockbroker, and Josephine (née Moore). Bradford's pa ...

as Michel Lagrange *

Marina Malfatti Marina Malfatti (25 April 1933 – 8 June 2016) was an Italian actress. Biography Born in Florence, Malfatti moved to Paris at the age of 17 where she attended the Cours d'Art Dramatique, the drama school founded by René Simon. Two years late ...

as Deborah Lagrange *

Gig Young Gig Young (born Byron Elsworth Barr; November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in ''Come Fill the Cup'' (1952) and '' Teacher's Pet'' ...

as Ofenbauer *

Delia Boccardo Delia Boccardo (born 29 January 1948) is an Italian film, television and stage actress. Life and career Born in Genoa, Boccardo spent her childhood and adolescence in Nervi, then studied at a Swiss college, at the Poggio Imperiale girls' scho ...

as Mira * Micaela Esdra as Elena * Lucretia Love as Wife of Ofenbauer

Production

Director

and his co-writers originally conceived the film with an original idea of a dying woman passing the child she is bearing to another person. Giuseppe Pulieri stated that the script he worked one was ruined by a producers attempt to exploit the film as part of the "demonic possession" cycle of films. Pulieri stated that "The script stayed ten years in the drawer, I even pestered

Raymond Stross Raymond Stross (22 May 1916 – 31 July 1988) was a British film producer. Early life and education Stross was born on 22 May 1916 in Leeds. He was educated at Abingdon School from 1929 until 1933 and was a member of the second XV rugby team ...

into making it, to no avail ... they altered the story, the in all the usual bullshit: the witches, the sorcerer, the special effects..." The film began shooting on May 13, 1974.

Release

''A Black Ribbon for Deborah'' was distributed theatrically in Italy by Alpherat on 26 September 1974. The film grossed a total of 118,676,000

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

domestically. Italian film historian Roberto Curti described the film as passing "almost unnoticed on its theatrical release". The film was first released on home video in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 1980s. It was released in the United Kingdom as ''The Torment''.

Reception

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

defines the film a "low-wattage horror piece".

Footnotes

References

External links

* 1974 films Italian horror films Films directed by Marcello Andrei 1974 horror films 1970s Italian films {{1970s-horror-film-stub