[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/danger-diabolik_7940.jpg]]

Not so-[[GentlemanThief gentlemanly thief]] Diabolik (John Phillip Law, of ''Film/{{Barbarella}}'' and ''Film/SpaceMutiny'' fame) terrorizes the European countryside, killing, maiming and stealing to satisfy the mercurial whims of his girlfriend Eva, all whilst dodging [[PoliceAreUseless semi-competent Police Inspector]] Ginko. For Eva's birthday, Diabolik determines to steal an exquisite emerald necklace from some rich old toddy. Unfortunately for him, it's a cunning trap set up by Inspector Ginko. Doubly unfortunate, the European criminal element has united under mob boss Ralph Valmont (Creator/AdolfoCeli) in order to capture Diabolik. Will Diabolik escape the two-pronged trap, or will Ginko finally get his man? Will Valmont play the hero? Will Eva survive her experience in the Infrared Room? And what of Diabolik's plans to swim through the center of the sun?

This 1968 movie, which was produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by Creator/MarioBava (yeah, [[{{Giallo}} THAT Mario Bava]]), is [[ComicBook/{{Diabolik}} based upon an Italian comic book character]]. The movie also served as the inspiration behind Music/BeastieBoys' music video for "Body Movin".

It was featured as the [[GrandFinale series finale]] for the original version of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''. See ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S10E13Diabolik here]] '' for that episode.

----
!!This film provides examples of:
* ActorAllusion: Adolfo Celi plays his character like he did Largo in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Though still clearly a VillainProtagonist in the film, Diabolik is much less sinister than his comic book counterpart; a ruthless [[TheSociopath sociopath]] who has no qualms about letting innocent people get hurt in the crossfire and frequently resorting to murdering anyone who gets in his way.
* AdaptationalUgliness: A mild example, but still: In the original ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' comics, Ginko is a suave, conventionally attractive, relatively young man; in this film he's portrayed by the older, balder, and more rugged Michel Piccoli.
* AndIMustScream: If you take it at face value[[note]]a scripted, but unfilmed, ending had the lights suddenly go out, and when they come back on Diabolik is gone.[[/note]] the ending, where Diabolik [[spoiler:ends up completely encased in gold, and apparently still alive.]]
* AshesToCrashes: Poor Ralph Valmont.
* TheBadGuyWins: Zig-zagged. Inspector Ginko is victorious in the end, but he's a HeroAntagonist so it's actually a good thing. Meanwhile, VillainProtagonist Diabolik is thwarted, but he does survive and, since Ginko's men didn't bother trying to retrieve his "body" from its golden cocoon, it's implied he will soon escape.
* BatmanGambit: Both Diabolik and Ginko attempt these. Only Diabolik's succeeds.
* BoardToDeath: Valmont executes any criminals who don't agree to his plans for capturing Diabolik.
* CameraSpoofing: Diabolik pulls the Polaroid Punk to steal an emerald necklace.
* CanonForeigner: Ralph Valmont bears some resemblance to comics' character King insofar as he's a powerful crime boss who becomes Diabolik's nemesis, but he's otherwise an original character.
* CoincidentalBroadcast: Right as Diabolik is asking Eva what she wants for her birthday, a news report airs concerning a visiting dignitary and his wife's fabulous emerald necklace. Justified in that Diabolik was aware of the report and timing his offer.
* ComedicSociopathy: Diabolik, according to the film.
* DeathByMaterialism: [[spoiler:Subverted. Diabolik gets covered in molten gold which soon solidifies around him, but his safety suit saves him. And by JokerImmunity, it's implied he will soon escape.]]
* DistractedByTheSexy: Eva is the living incarnation of this. In the course of the film she proves she can daze and distract basically anyone she pleases, including Diabolik (it's a wonder the man ever musters the will to leave his giant, rotating bed). She even [[DistractedByMyOwnSexy distracts herself]] from time to time--when Diabolik momentarily ceases paying attention to her in order to watch a police news conference, a bored Eva idly extends one bare leg and admires it lovingly. Yes, she ''is'' that sexy.
* TheDitz: Valmont's squeeze Rose.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: Diabolik's, to a truly absurd degree for someone who seems to have absolutely nothing in the way of actual henchmen or employees to actually build or maintain things other than Eva (and her skill set is ''entirely'' centered around DistractedByTheSexy... at which she admittedly excels, but still.)
* EnemyMine: Ginko's police are raiding and shutting down Valmont's activities at various nightclubs. In order to get Ginko to agree to back off, Valmont promises to help Ginko capture and arrest Diabolik. Their partnership goes better than you would think.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Ginko balks at letting a seemingly dead Diabolik be exploited by the press.
* EvilLaugh: Especially at the very end, where someone, presumably Diabolik, lets out a very Vincent Price-like echoing cackle.
* ExpoLabel: The "exhilaration gas" and "anti-exhilaration pills."
* {{Fanservice}}:
** Eva. Oh so much.
** The entire film has John Phillip Law in leather or shirtless.
%%* FemmeFatale: Eva.
* FictionalCountry: Like its source material, the film is set in the fictional European city-state of Clerville. It's an amalgam of various Southern and Western European coastal regions, including Marseilles and the Bay of Naples. The populace speak {{The Queens Latin}}, the currency is in dollars, and the architecture is mostly real locations in Rome and Turin, where the film was shot.
* FlatlinePlotline: Diabolik drugs himself to temporarily fake his death.
* GoldMakesEverythingShiny: [[spoiler:Including Diabolik himself.]]
* HereWeGoAgain: One way to interpret the ending. [[spoiler:Once again he's in a tight spot with seemingly no method of escape, and once again he seems to have a trick up his sleeve.]]
* IceCreamKoan: "If you didn't see him [Ginko], he's there."
* ImpossibleTheft: The government tries to stop Diabolik from stealing the gold reserves by melting the entire thing into one giant obelisk-sized ingot moved by train. Stealing this would be totally impossible for a ''normal'' thief, but Diabolik is anything but normal...
* JabbaTableManners: Valmont in the pool.
* JokerImmunity: The only explanation for the last scene, where [[spoiler:Diabolik is ''still alive'' after being trapped in gold -- something that really should have killed him]].
* LackOfEmpathy:
** One of the elements that make Diabolik and Eva {{Villain Protagonist}}s. They don't give a damn about how many people -- cop, crook or innocent -- get killed by their exploits, as long as they get what they want in the end.
** Made worse when compared to Ginko, who isn't thrilled with others gloating over Diabolik's fate, and shows sympathy to Eva.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Diabolik [[spoiler:trapped in gold]]. Ginko invokes this.
* LatexPerfection: Surprisingly {{Averted}} in spite of being a staple of the original comic book. His balaclava, however, ''is'' molded to his face.
* LaughingGas: Diabolik and Eva disrupt a press conference held by the Minister of the Interior by releasing "[[ExpoLabel exhilaration gas]]" into the crowd (after taking "anti-exhilaration pills" to remain unaffected), which causes everyone else in the room to suffer a simultaneous fit of hysterical laughter.
* MadeOfIron: Inspector Ginko. He is on a small train full of ammunition, which is blown up on a bridge ''and'' falls 30 meters into a deep bay. The next time we see him he only has a dainty band-aid under one eye.
* MaleGaze: Eva. An early scene has her reveal a shapely leg from out of a pile of money.
* MarilynManeuver: During Valmont's ThrownFromTheZeppelin moment, his [[TheDitz ditzy girl Friday]] stands rather close to the trap door.
-->'''Rose:''' Oh, Ralph, how nice! Fresh air.
* MoneyFetish: Diabolik and Eva have sex in a big pile of it.
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Played oddly straight when Diabolik [[spoiler:is [[ConvectionSchmonvection coated in molten gold]], even though he's wearing a "swimming through the sun"-proof suit]].
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Ginko is the only one immune to Eva's charms.
%%* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter -- Averted, we assume.
* PetTheDog: Ginko allows Eva alone-time with gold-trapped Diabolik when she asks for it.
* PoliceAreUseless: Averted, since most of the time Ginko only seems to fail to catch Diabolik because of some [[PlotArmor increasingly ludicrous plot contrivances]], including Diabolik exiting one elevator just after Ginko and the cops enter the one next to it.
** Also, in the film anyway, Diabolik gives off the impression of having some belief in Ginko's abilities.
%%* PrettyInMink: Eva again.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Ginko allows a grieving Eva to mourn at Diabolik's "corpse".
* SayMyName: When Diabolik first appears, a chorus yells, '''"DIABOLIK!"''' out of nowhere. He's just that awesome.
* SatelliteCharacter: Sgt. Danek really has only one scene where he has a significant amount of dialogue. He also has one scene where he is independently taking any action to apprehend Diabolik -- offscreen. Adding insult to uselessness, [[PlotArmor he fails]]. For the rest of the film he's pretty much just hanging around with Ginko.
* StealTheSurroundings: Authorities try to prevent Diabolik from stealing 20 tons of gold from a train by melting it into a single ingot and sealing it into a thick welded steel container. Diabolik blows up a bridge that sends the train into the water, where the supervillain steals the entire container with the aid of balloons and a mini sub. Once back at his lair Diabolik drills a hole at the top of the steel container to insert a super heated rod to melt the gold inside. He then attaches a hose to a hole drilled at the bottom of the container in order to pour the melted gold into molds so that it can be converted to regular sized gold bars. This is taken step for step from the comic book (the story "Desperate Fight").
* SuperIdentikit: Valmont and his men get a woman who has seen Eva to describe her to a mook with an Identikit set. It doesn't seem to go well at first -- the film pulls an ArtShift into a chaotic sequence where [[FacialCompositeFailure all sorts of wrong features flash across the screen]] -- but the end result is a remarkably accurate portrait. (The picture is in fact [[MythologyGag copied from the original Diabolik comic books]].)
* TemptingFate: Quoth the Minister Of The Interior: "He [Diabolik] is certainly not going to make a fool of me!" Needless to say, he immediately does exactly that.
* ThrownFromTheZeppelin: One such dissenter is dropped out of Valmont's private plane. In a [[BlackComedy darkly humorous]] case of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor, Valmont did this specifically because said dissenter begged not to be shot.
-->'''Valmont:''' Since you said ''"please"'', I won't ''shoot''...
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VROTap6uJoU original trailer]] includes the ''entire ending scene'', where Diabolik [[spoiler:gets encased in gold.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Diabolik. He's also this in the source material, who has no problem with stealing and killing, but here he's a bit less indiscriminate about the latter.
* VillainRespect: Diabolik thinks this of Ginko.
* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys? Most likely he pays for them using his stolen money, or he steals them too.
* XanatosGambit: Ginko tries to make a shipment of gold Diabolik-proof by melting it into a single 20-ton ingot and welding it inside a huge container. When Diabolik manages to steal it anyway, Ginko reveals that he also had a small part of the container "radioactivated," meaning the police can trace it back to Diabolik's hideout.
* ZenSurvivor: Diabolik, faced with capture, takes a [[CyanidePill cyanide-like capsule]] and goes into a death-like trance, allowing him to awaken and escape later.
** The pill works on a very rigid timetable, too. He says it knocks him out for exactly 12 hours before it kills him and Eva wakes him up with exactly three minutes to spare. Pulse rate? Body mass? Don't matter; it's 12 hours on the dot before you die, and that's that. (Then again, Diabolik knows his own pulse rate and body mass.)
----