Once Upon a Time in Europe

Erase una vez es europa – Spanish title

Once Upon a Time in Europe – English title

A 2001 Spanish production [Media Park (Madrid)]

Producer: Sara Gibbings

Directors: Carles Prats, Manel Mayol

Story: Joan Ferrer

Screenplay: Joan Ferrer

Photography: Angel Puig, Pere Ballesteros [color]

Music: Salvador Rey

Running time: 13 episodes x 30 minutes

Cast:

Narrator – Christopher Lee

Carlos Aguilar, Alessandro Alessandroni, Dario Argento, John Barry (John Prendergast), Martine Beswick, Erika Blanc (Enrica Colombatto), Barbara Bouchet (Barbara Goutscher), Artur Brauner (Abraham Brauner), Mario Caiano, John Cater, Damiano Damiani, Tonino Delli Coli, Amado de Ossorio (Amando Rodríguez), Tonino Delli Colli (Antonio Delli Colli), Jacques Desray (Jacques Desrayaud), Fernando Di Leo, Sergio Donati, Eduardo Fajardo, Jess Franco (Jesús Manera), Christopher Frayling, Ricardo Freda, Caron Gardner, Gianni Garko (Giovanni Garcovick), Giuliano Gemma, Jose Giavonni (Joseph Damiani), Uschi Glas (Helga Glas), Jorge Grau (Jorge Solá), Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi (José Isasmendi), Marianne Koch, Michael Latimer, Carlo Leva, Antonio Margheriti, Eugenio Martin (Eugenio Márquez), Sergio Martino, Ennio Morricone, Patrick Mower (Patrick Shaw), Caroline Munro, Paul Naschy (Jacinto Álvarez), Rosalba Neri, Franco Nero (Francesco Sparanero), Ingrid Pitt (Ingoushka Petrov), Wofgang Preiss, Lina Romay (Rosa Martínez), Carlo Rustichelli, Aldo Sambrell (Alfedo Brell), Conrado San Martin (Conrado Prieto), Janette Scott (Thora Scott), Julio Sempere, Sergio Sollima, Bud Spencer (Carlo Pedersoli), Jack Taylor (George Randall), Tonino Valerii (Antonio Valerii), Florestano Vancini, Horst Wendlandt (Horst Gubanov),  Virginia Wetherall

The end of the fifties through to the mid-seventies witnessed an explosion in genre cinema throughout Europe. This coincided with the appearance of several new trends in European cinematography such as nouvelle vague and free cinema. The rapid and significant development of European cinema lead to the creation of new styles of film making which have stood the test of time and continue to influence film makers today: the debuts of actors such as Clint Eastwood and Sean Connery; the narrative style of directors such as Sergio Leone; the evolution of Terror, Fantastic and Giallo genres. This is an extraordinary period in cinema, yet one which is relatively unexplored. Once Upon a Time in Europe aims to present an overall picture of this period as well as to examine specific genres in-depth, focusing on the common elements between Mediterranean productions and British/German productions.