Seth Holt's "Diabolik" - the Film That Wasn't

Seth Holt, a director whose brief filmography included the superior 1965 chiller "The Nanny" with Bette Davis, was at one point attached to a film adaptation of "Diabolik" which would have starred Jean Sorel (the handsome actor who would go on to star in  "Belle du Jour" as well as several notable genre efforts including "Perversion Story," where he appeared opposite Marisa Mell of Bava's "Diabolik") and Elsa Martinelli (who also appeared in "Perversion Story").  The project doesn't appear to have progressed past the promotional stage, and all that exists at this point are some promotional photos of Sorel and Martinelli in costume.  There may have been some film footage shot, but seems to have been lost or intentionally destroyed when the financing for the project failed to materialize.  Below is an image from the promotional campaign as reprinted in Bizarre Sinema! Archive's "Cinefumetto" book:

It's interesting to think how different this film would have been from the colorful Pop Art fantasy of Mario Bava.  Holt's directorial style seemed to favor stark, almost noir-ish black and white compositions, which would have cast the King of Crime in a very different, though doubtless equally flattering, style.  How much of that film would have felt drawn directly from the pages of a fumetti is open to discussion.  What isn't debatable is that it's a damn shame this film was never produced--in my universe, there is quite simply NEVER enough Diabolik!

Above is an ad that ran in 1966 in which producer Tonino Cervi seeks an exciting new actor with a handsome, masculine face, clear eyes, and an athletic build who is no less than 6 feet tall to play dashing criminal mastermind Diabolik in this film.  De Laurentiis and Bava would find just such an actor in John Philip Law not too long after this advertisement ran.