Antonio Margheriti's "E Dio Disse A Caino" aka. "And God Said To Cain" is a very dark and excellent Spaghetti Western with a great leading performance by Klaus Kinski in an untypical role. Kinski, who was usually typecast as a crazy and/or extremely cold-blooded villain plays the (anti)hero in this, an innocent victim, who becomes a merciless avenger.
Innocently imprisoned, Gary Hamilton (Kinski) is pardoned after 10 years of heavy labor in a stone pit in the desert. After loosing ten years of his life for a crime he did not commit, Gary only has one thought on his mind - to take bloody, pitiless revenge on those responsible for the crime he was charged for and who blamed him for a crime they committed.
Klaus Kinski (once again) delivers an excellent performance in the lead, and although the role of Gary Hamilton is unusual for Kinski, I could hardly imagine anybody else to fit in this role as perfectly as he does. Peter Carsten also does a very good job as the villainous Acombar, and the supporting cast contains Gino Lollobrigida, who fits into his role as one of Acombar's sidekicks very well, and beautiful Marcella Michelangeli, who is lovely to look at and who also plays her role well (allthough it did not require a lot of acting). The movie has a lot of horror influences and the atmosphere in "And God Said To Cain" is a very dark one, and resembles the atmosphere of a Horror flick at times (unsurprisingly, since director Margheriti is best-known for his horror movies). The score by Carlo Savino is very good, it mixes the Spaghetti Western sound with a sound that resembles the soundtrack of Thrillers and Horror movies. Furthermore, the score contains a stylish, chanted gospel-style song in the beginning. I usually prefer soundtracks without singing in Spaghetti Westerns, but I have to say that this one fits very well in the opening scene in the desert prison. The cinematography is also very good and quite original, as it underlines the dark atmosphere and intensifies the suspense.
"And God Said To Cain" is an excellent, dark and very suspenseful Spaghetti Western that I highly recommend. Spaghetti Western and/or Kinski fans can't afford to miss this.
