“I magnifici brutos del West” (The Magnificent Brutes of the West) premiere display December 1964.
Brutos means both 'Bad' & 'Ugly' thus Tuco's confusion
In English 'Uglies' seems more appropriate than the
'Brutes'
Submitted by Michael Ferguson and thanks to
'Istituto Luce' for the photo
[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Matilde Di Marzio was an Italian operatic singer who became one of the earliest performers to transition from the stage to silent cinema, marking her as the first operatic artist to enter the Italian motion picture industry in 1913. She appeared in twenty-seven films between 1913 and 1921, specializing in historical dramas and epic peplum productions, with notable roles including the slave Hagar in Enrico Guazzoni's “Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra” (1913) and an exotic character in Augusto Genina's “Kalida'a, la storia di una mummia” (1917). Praised for her perfect miming technique, charm, and spontaneity before the camera, Di Marzio fully abandoned her lyrical career upon committing to film, though details of her birth, death, and personal life remain scarce in historical records. Her contributions highlight the intersection of opera and early Italian cinema, where vocal talents adapted to the visual demands of the silent medium.
She’s not included in the Italian Film: A Who’s Who” and I can find no birth or death records. Once again, a failure of archivists.
Matilde di Marizio appeared in a supporting role in one silent Euro-western, “Nel paese dell’oro” (In the Land of Gold) as Matilde Gallegos in 1914.
di MARIZIO, Matilde [18??, Italy – 19??, Italy] – opera
singer, film actress.
In the Land of Gold – 1914 (Matilde Gallegos)
Spaghetti Western Director ~ Maury Dexter
Maury Dexter was an American film and television director and producer, best known for his work on low-budget horror films during the early 1960s and his long collaboration with Michael Landon on popular television series.
Born Morris Gene Poindexter in Paris, Arkansas on June 12, 1928, to a coal miner's family, Dexter moved to southern California in the late 1930s following his father's death in an automobile accident. His early career included minor acting roles, such as in the 1946 Three Stooges short “Uncivil War Birds”, before military service in the Korean War interrupted his pursuits. After discharge, he transitioned into production roles, starting as a production assistant on ‘The Hank McCune Show’ and later advancing at Lippert Pictures under Robert L. Lippert.
Dexter's breakthrough came in the mid-1950s as a producer and director for Regal Pictures (later Associated Producers International), where he specialized in efficient, low-budget features distributed by 20th Century Fox, often in genres like westerns and horror. Notable films include “The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come” (1961, producer), “Young Guns of Texas” (1962, producer/director), “House of the Damned” (1963, producer/director), and “The Yellow Canary” (1963, producer), which exemplified his approach to creating unpretentious entertainment under constrained circumstances.
From 1974 onward, Dexter formed a key partnership with Michael Landon, serving as assistant director on 73 episodes and director of 21 episodes of ‘Little House on the Prairie’ throughout its run, as well as contributing to ‘Father Murphy’, ‘Highway to Heaven’, and the 1991 TV movie ‘Us’. He retired following Landon's death in 1991 and spent his later years in Hawaii and California, passing away in Simi Valley, California, at age 89 on May 28, 2017.
Maury Dexter directed one Spaghetti western “El proscrito del rio Colorado” (Outlaw of Ried River) in 1964.
DEXTER, Maury (Morris Gene
Poindexter) [ 6/12/1928, Paris,
Arkansas, U.S.A. - 5/28/2017, Simi
Valley, California, U.S.A.] – producer, production manager, director, assistant
director, writer, actor.
The Outlaw of Red
River – 1964
Spaghetti Western Screenwriter ~ Augusto Caminito
Augusto Caminito was an Italian screenwriter, producer, and director known for his work in genre cinema, spanning Spaghetti westerns, horror, and crime dramas across Italian and international productions. Born on July 1, 1939, in Naples, Italy, he built a career that included writing, producing, and directing films from the 1960s through the 1990s.
His notable credits include producing Abel Ferrara's “King of New York” (1990), directing and writing the horror film “Vampire in Venice” (1988), and producing “Grandi cacciatori” (1988). By the early 1990s, he had emerged as a prominent independent producer in the Italian film industry, navigating funding challenges and advocating for supportive legislation to bolster local production.
Augusto Caminito began his career as a screenwriter in the Italian film industry during the mid-1960s, initially focusing on genre films such as Spaghetti westerns and action pictures. His earliest credited work appeared in 1966 with “Il gioco delle spie”, where he contributed to the screenplay. In 1967, he became particularly prolific, co-writing several Spaghetti westerns including “I lunghi giorni della vendetta” (also known as Long Days of Vengeance), “Pecos è qui: prega e muori”, “Con lui cavalca la morte”, and “Un poker di pistole”. These early efforts established him within the popular Italian western genre, which dominated domestic production at the time
Caminito passed away on August 23, 2020, in Naples Italy at the age of 81. His contributions reflect a versatile role in European genre filmmaking during a transitional period for the industry.
Augusto Caminito was a co-screenwriter on eight Spaghetti westerns: “La più grande rapina del west” (The Greatest Robbery in the West) with Augusto Finocchi and “I lunghi giorni della vendetta” (Long Days of Revenge) with Fernando Di Leo both in 1966, “Con lui cavalca la morte” (Death Rides Along) with Fernando di Leo, Adriano Bolzoni and “L’ ultimo pistolero” (Django, the Last Killer) with Augusto Finocchi, “Pecos è qui: prega e muori” (Pecos Cleans Up) with Adriano Bolzoni and Ferdnando di Leo, “Un poker di pistole” (Poker With Pistols) with Fernando Di Leo and “Ognuno per sé” (The Ruthless Four) all in 1967 and “Blu gang vissero per sempre felici e ammazzati” (Brothers Blur) with Marco Fenelli in 1971.
CAMINITO, Augusto (aka Arthur Franck)
[7/1/1939, Naples, Campania, Italy – 8/23/2020, Naples, Campania, Italy] –
producer, director, writer.
The Greatest Robbery
in the West – 1966 (co)
Long Days of Revenge
– 1966 (co)
Death Rides Along –
1967 (co)
Django, the Last
Killer – 1967 (co)
Pecos Cleans Up –
1967 (co)
Poker With Pistols –
1967 (co)
The Ruthless Four –
1967 (co)
Brothers Blue – 1971
(co)
Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Arthur Grant
Arthur Grant was a British cinematographer known for his prolific contributions to Hammer Film Productions, where he served as the studio's primary director of photography from 1957 until his death in 1972, capturing many of its signature Gothic horror and fantasy films.
Born in 1915 in Surrey, England, Grant began his career in the film industry in the early 1930s as a camera operator, with early credits including work on pictures directed by Michael Powell. He advanced to director of photography roles by the mid-1940s and accumulated 101 credits as director of photography throughout his career, including his extensive work with Hammer Film Productions, where he succeeded Jack Asher BSC and became the studio's most prolific cinematographer. A member of the British Society of Cinematographers, Grant's work helped define the visual style of Hammer's classic era through atmospheric lighting and composition in films such as “The Abominable Snowman”, “The Curse of the Werewolf”, “The Devil Rides Out”, “Frankenstein Created Woman”, “Quatermass” and “The Pit”, and “Demons of the Mind”.
Grant remained active until his final film in 1972 and is remembered for his dedication to low-budget genre filmmaking and his extensive body of work within the British horror tradition. He died that year in London st the age of 56.
Arthur Grant was a cinematographer on one Euro-western, “Ramsbottom Rides Again” in 1956.
GRANT, Arthur (aka A. Grant)
[1915, Surrey, England, U.K. – 1972, London, England, U.K.] – cinematographer,
cameraman.
Ramsbottom Rides
Again - 1956
“Die rechte und die linke Hand des Teufels”
(They Call Me Trinity)
(1970)
Director: Enzo Barboni
Starring: Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Frarley Granger
Country: Germany
Blu-ray
Label: AVV / WMM / Cargo Records
Ltd. Scanavo plus Booklet and Poster - Slap Sensation #2
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Languages: German, English, Italian
Subtitles: German (dubtitles), German (translation)
Running time: 115 minutes
Extras: five trailers; gallery; version comparison;
German opening credits; digital booklet; two stickers; poster.
[Note: Like WME's re-releases this a mere re-pack of one
of the RetroGold discs]
ASIN: B0GMJRTFK2
Available: May 8, 2026
“Vier Fäuste für ein Halleluja”
(Trinity is STILL My Name)
(1971)
Director: Enzo Barboni
Starring: Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Jessica Dublin,
Harry Carey Jr.
Country: Germany
Blu-ray
Label: AVV / WMM / Cargo Records
Ltd. Scanavo plus Booklet and Poster - Slap Sensation #3
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Languages: German, English, Italian
Subtitles: German
Running time: 127 minutes
Extras: comedy version; trailer; gallery; alternative
opening credits and ending; scene comparison; poster; digital booklet; sticker
[Note: Like WME's re-releases this is most likely a mere
re-pack of one of the RetroGold discs]
ASIN: B0GMJF2S4G
Available: May 8, 2026
Movies Silent
Lulien Duvivier’s debut as director, this is a revenge story with a strong dose of the American west. Two mysterious men arrive in a remote area of France and both seem to be on a quest to harm a wealthy recluse with dark secrets.
Home Media Availability: Free streaming via Henri.
How do you say “pardner” in French?
Before getting started, let’s talk about language. The
Cinémathèque française has made this film, along with many others, available
for free online streaming but there are no English subtitles. French cinema fan
Guillaume Bouqueau kindly reached out and offered to translate the title cards
of this film for me and even included explanatory notes for little details that
might evade non-French viewers. He also generously offered to let me post this
document with my review, so that even more English speakers can see and enjoy
this picture. You can access it here as a Google Doc. Enjoy and thank you,
Guillaume!
[Way out west by way of France.]
So, Julien Duvivier. His reputation these days rests on directing the crime picture Pépé le Moko (1937), an atmospheric crime picture set in Algiers and famous remade as, well, Algiers in 1938 with imported Hollywood hotties Charles Boyer and Heddy Lamarr. There’s a lot more to Duvivier’s sound career, of course, but Pépé le Moko, in addition to being ridiculously fun to say out loud, is the most popular frame of reference.
But Duvivier had been directing for a decade when sound came to the movies and his early work is not discussed very often. Haceldama, his feature debut, is treated as a curio. Most reviews mention its curious American west trappings but dismiss it as unworthy compared to his later catalog.
[Worth a view or leave it be?]
I don’t pretend to be a particular expert on Duvivier’s filmography but I am a huge fan of his old boss and silent French serials in general. Duvivier started as an assistant and one of the directors he worked for was Louis Feuillade, undisputed master of the serial picture and director of such beloved classics as Les Vampires and Judex. So, I will be approaching this film as a fan of 1910s French serials more than as a Duvivier expert. Let’s see if that makes a difference. (Divivier also worked with Marcel L’Herbier, by the way.)
After introducing the characters formally in the opening credits, the picture presents its central mystery: Landry Smith (Séverin-Mars) has buried himself in a remote mansion with his ward, Minnie (Suzy Lilé) and seems to carry a deep, dark secret. He is introduced shooting himself up with drugs and he seems to be wracked with guilt.
[Sinister happenings…]
Meanwhile, two men arrive in the neighborhood and both have their attention fixed on Smith. Bill “the Wolf” Stanley (Camille Bert) is a cowboy with a penchant for chugging whiskey, shooting any stray farm animals he sees and picking fistfights with random strangers. Jean Didier (Jean Lorette) is a young man whose main character trait seems to be gloom. Lorette’s performance lays it on a bit thick but we soon learn that he has good reason to mourn: Jean’s father killed himself and Smith is somehow involved.
(The film does not quite play fair with us as it shows just a few words of the letter Jean is reading and concealing the rest. That’s not cricket, you know.)
[Menacing letters…]
Once they arrive Corrèze, Bill Stanley and Jean Didier set to work on their plans. Neither one of them harbors good thoughts toward Smith and both show an interest in Minnie (Stanley outright assaulting her) but Jean’s intentions seem pure while Stanley can barely go two minutes without shooting or punching something.
The rest of the film is spent shooting and shouting and praying as everyone’s schemes unravel. DA DA DUM
[Yeehaw]
Okay, so now we address the bronco in the room: why a cowboy? Well, France had actually produced some pretty darn good, darn bloody westerns earlier in the decade (do see The Railway of Death, it’s excellent) and western trappings were definitely popular, though the country was no longer making its own 100% westerns by 1919.
Haceldama has a lot going on: religious imagery (Haceldama refers to the potter’s field purchased with the silver of Judas Iscariot), Shakespeare quotes, fistfights and a maniac of a villain… Yeah, this is pulp territory. And compared to other French popular fare of the period, this comes up a bit short. It doesn’t have the rapid, shocking gut punch of earlier French westerns. It lacks the addictive quality of a Feuillade serial, though it does match it in anarchic mayhem and colorful villainy. Studio Albatros, the Russian émigré concern, showed the way forward with the serial format in The House of Mystery.
[Lots of meaningful stares.]
Like the best French serials, this is a story of family, both by blood and adoption, but Haceldama lacks the underlying structural framework or fails to communicate it to the audience. In other words, the legbone is not connection to the thighbone here. It feels like there should be more but it is not clear what that should be.
Essentially, Haceldama is an episode in search of a serial. Like, the second-from-the-last episode where a bunch of stuff has been established but we still need to wrap up the main plot threads. It badly needs some comedy relief and the denouement is a bit disappointing because it simultaneously is predictable and lacks the time to flesh out the backstory that has been hinted at throughout the picture. In other words, it needed to either be three reels shorter or ten reels longer.
[My kingdom for someone willing to commit to kitsch.]
The acting is kind of a hit or miss affair. Bert and Lorette gnaw on the scenery with relish (more understandable in the case of the former) while Séverin-Mars treats his performance with more seriousness than the material either needs or deserves. Suzy Lilé is fine but isn’t given much to do besides being the classic Beautiful Daughter of the Guy the Hero Wants Revenge Against.
That being said, the film has a unique flavor to it,
something is difficult to put into words. The atmosphere of menace is palpable
throughout, aided by the wild landscape. The viewer is constantly uneasy as the
picture plays, it’s essentially a full feature of waiting for the other shoe to
drop. The picture’s major fight scene is undertake with vigor and gore usually
reserved for Richard Barthelmess protecting the government mail, which is
always appreciated. While the plot isn’t everything that was hinted at or that
I hoped for, the ride was still worth taking.
[Ernest Torrence would approve.]
Let me put this another way: if you are the kind of viewer who considers “French revenge picture with pulpy plotting and the offbeat inclusion of a homicidal cowboy” to be an irresistible pitch, then you are the kind of viewer who will enjoy this film. If you come into this as a diehard Duvivier fan, you may not like it as much as I did so I recommend leaving you fan hat hanging up by the door.
Haceldama is not perfect by any means but I liked it probably more than I technically should. I think that little Feuillade echo appealed to me, along with the rather pulpy nature of the plotting. And while the atmosphere cannot be described as poetic, it is definitely a motion picture with a distinct look and feel and Duvivier captures the menacing grime of the local criminals in particular quite well. The sense of dread and foreboding is present throughout and it makes the audience uncomfortable in a rather interesting way. I do think it needs to be somewhat divorced from Duvivier’s later work because these comparisons seem to be the angle the negative reviews seem to be coming from
[I’m a sucker for rural menace.]
Accept it for what it is, made in its own moment by a
director who may have gone on to better things but it’s a bit unfair to make
this a Duvivier vs Duvivier thing. Haceldama doesn’t stand up to deep scrutiny
but the film never pretends to be anything it isn’t. It’s an honest French
western/revenge mashup and I accept it on these terms.
Where can I see it?
Haceldama can be viewed for free courtesy of the
Cinémathèque française, and I must say that I am extremely grateful for the
high-quality films they have shared so far.
Gualtiero Tumiati (actor) would have been 150 but died in 1971.
Bice
Waleran (actress) would have been 140 today but died in 1969.
Luana
Alcaniz (actress) would have been 120 today but died in 1991.
Erico
Meczer (cinematographer) would have been 100 today but died in 2012.
Bruno Carotenuto (actor) is 85 today.
James
Mitchum (actor) would have been 85 today but died in 2025.
Spanish film and voice actor Rafael Taibo died on May 6.
He was 90. Born in Ferrol, La Coruña, Spain in 1935. After completing his
primary studies in a school of Mercedarian friars, he began his professional
life in the local radio station Radio Ferrol and the theater group Talía. He
moved to Santiago de Compostela to study Law, where he began to collaborate with
Radio Galicia and with the TEU (Teatro Español Universitario) of the University
of Santiago de Compostela. Later, and already in Madrid, he joined the group of
actors of Cadena SER. In the Spanish capital he began to work in dubbing,
advertising and television, and joined Radio Nacional de España. He also made
his foray into dubbing, starting in Barcelona but developing his career in
Madrid. Taibo voiced 11 Spaghetti westerns: “4 Bullets for Joe” [Spanish voice
of Tito Garcia] “The Sign of Coyote” [Spanish voice of Rufino Hernandez] both
in 1964, “Pirates of the Mississippi” [Spanish voice of O’Toole], “Two Thousand
Dollars for Coyote” [Spanish voice of Sonoran bandit], “Massacre at Fort Grant”
[Spanish voice of lieutenant] all in 1965, “A Gunman Called Nebraska” [Spanish
voice of Jose Canalejas] in 1966, “Dynamite Joe” [Spanish voice of Gianni Di
Stolfo] in 1967, “Quinto Fighting Proud” [Spanish voice of unknown actor] in
1969, “Tepepa” [Spanish voice of general] in 1970, “A Man Called Gringo” Spanish
voice of a priest], “Fall of the Mohicans” [Spanish voice of Matt] both in
1966.
[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Massimo Di Marco is an Italian character actor. Born in Brazil he now lives and works out of Rome, Italy. He’s a member of the new Italian acting group who has appeared in severa; Emiliano Ferrera’s films as well as a few other Italian productions.
I can find no biographical information on him
Massimo Di Marco has appeared in four Spaghetti westerns, “Oro e Piombo” (The Dutchman) in 2017, “Redemption” in 2019, “E continuano a mangiare fagioli” as a cowboy and “Django Undisputed” as a saloon patron both in 2024.
Di MARCO, Massimo [19??, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - ] – film actor.
The Dutchman – 2017
Redemption – 2019
E continuano a mangiare fagioli – 2024 (cowboy)
Django Undisputed – 2024 (saloon patron)
Spaghetti Western Director ~ Amando De Ossorio
Amando de Ossorio was a Spanish film director, screenwriter, and painter renowned for his contributions to the horror genre, particularly his creation of the cult classic Blind Dead tetralogy featuring undead Knights Templar as central antagonists. Born in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain on April 6, 1918. He emerged as a key figure in Spain's 1970s "fantaterror" wave, blending low-budget ingenuity with original mythology inspired by European folklore and classic horror tropes to produce influential, atmospheric films that gained international acclaim despite domestic censorship under the Franco regime.
Ossorio's early life was marked by a passion for cinema and the arts, shaped by his family's cultural milieu in A Coruña and frequent viewings of silent films and Universal monsters at local theaters like Cine París and Cine Savoy. A sickly youth who was declared unfit for military service during the Spanish Civil War due to health issues, he studied journalism in Madrid in the 1940s, worked in radio adapting literary classics, and briefly held a banking job in A Coruña while pursuing photography and hosting intellectual gatherings. Relocating permanently to Madrid in 1949, he transitioned into filmmaking through short films, industrial documentaries, and scriptwriting collaborations, though frustrations with alterations to his work prompted him to direct independently. His debut feature, the censored anti-death penalty allegory “Bandera Negra” (1956), faced release issues, leading him to hone his craft on spaghetti westerns, musical comedies, and youth dramas to fund his true interest in horror.
Ossorio's horror breakthrough arrived with “Malenka, la sobrina del vampire” (1969), a vampire tale starring Anita Ekberg that sold over 500,000 tickets in Spain and paved the way for his signature series. He then crafted the Blind Dead saga, “La noche del terror ciego” (1972), “El ataque de los muertos sin ojos” (1973), “El buque maldito” (1974), and “La noche de las gaviotas” (1975), inventing blind, mummified Templars who ritually drain virgins' blood for immortality, a novel fusion of zombie, vampire, and Galician legend elements produced under severe constraints like four-week shoots and Francoist oversight. These films, alongside others like “La soga de la Muerte” (1972) and “El mariscal del infierno” (1974), established him as a pioneer of Spanish fantastique horror, comparable to contemporaries Paul Naschy and Jesús Franco, with their slow-paced dread and innovative visuals earning cult status worldwide.
In his later years, Ossorio directed fewer films as the horror boom waned amid the rise of erotic cinema post-Franco, with his final works including the drama “Pasión prohibida” (1980) and the adventure-horror “Serpiente de mar” (1985) featuring Ray Milland. Retiring from directing, he returned to painting eerie Templar imagery and lived modestly in Madrid, where he humbly reflected on his legacy in interviews, noting the irony of Galician folklore's dark tales. Ossorio died on January 13, 2001, at home in Madrid; his Blind Dead series endures as a cornerstone of Eurohorror, influencing filmmakers like John Carpenter and studied in film archives for its resourceful storytelling and cultural impact.
Amando De Ossorio directed two Spaghetti westerns: “La tumba del pistolero” (Tomb of the Pistolero) in 1964 and “Rebeldes en Canada” (Rebels in Canada) in 1965.
De OSSORIO, Amando (aka Albert Mann) (Amando Rodriguez) [4/6/1918, A Coruña, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain – 1/13/2001,
Madrid, Madrid, Spain] – director, assistant director, writer, SFX, actor,
painter.
Tomb of the
Pistolero – 1964 [as Albert Mann]
Rebels in Canada –
1965
Spaghetti Western Screenwriters ~ Alfio Caltabiano
Alfio Caltabiano was an Italian actor, screenwriter, film director, and stunt performer, best known for his contributions to spaghetti westerns and other genre films during the 1960s and 1970s. Born on July 17, 1932, in Pistoia, Tuscany, he stood at an imposing 6 feet 2¾ inches and often appeared in tough-guy roles under pseudonyms such as Al Northon, Alf Thunder, and Alf Randall. Caltabiano's career spanned multiple facets of filmmaking, including acting in over 30 productions, writing seven screenplays, directing several features, and performing stunts in nearly 50 films, frequently uncredited.
His acting credits included memorable supporting roles like the Count in “A Sword for Brando” (1970) and Frank Cline 'Five Cents' in “The Hell Before Death” (1968), as well as stunt work as a double for Vittorio Gassman in “L'armata Brancaleone” (1966). As a writer and director, he helmed films such as “They Still Call Me Amen” (1973), where he also contributed the story and screenplay, and “Ballad for a Gunman” (1967). Caltabiano's versatility extended to roles like master of arms and weapons choreography, notably in “Seven Slaves Against the World” (1964), showcasing his expertise in historical and action-oriented productions. He passed away on June 23, 2007, in Rome, Lazio, leaving a legacy in Italy's vibrant low-budget cinema scene. He was 74.
Alfio Caltabiano co-wrote screenplays for Spaghetti Westerns: “Ballata per un pistolero” (Ballad of a Gunman) with Ernest R. von Theumer in 1967, “Così Sia” (They Called Him Amen) with Adriano Bolzoni and “Oremus, Alleluia e Cosi Sia” (They Still Call Me Amen) with Adriano Bolzoni both in 1972.
CALTABIANO, Alfio (aka Alfio
Caltapiano, Alfio Caltaviano, Al Northon, Alf Randal, Alf Thunder) [7/17/1932,
Pistoia, Tuscany, Italy – 6/23/2007, Rome, Lazio, Italy (heart attack)] –
director, writer, master of arms, stunt coordinator, stuntman, actor.
Ballad of a Gunman –
1967 (co)
They Caledl Him Amen
– 1972 (co) [as Alf Thunder]
They Still Call Me
Amen – 1972 (co) [as Alf Thunder]
Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Jean Gonnet
Jean Gonnet was a French cinematographer known for his work as a director of photography on several French films during the 1960s and 1970s.
He contributed to productions such as “Little Girls” (1967), “Paulina Is Leaving” (1969), and “Un autre monde” (1972), as well as other works including “A Girl Is a Gun”, “Comrades”, and “The Water Spider”. His career focused primarily on cinematography.
Born on August 14,1921 in Péronne, Somme, France, Gonnet spent much of his professional life in the French film industry and died on November 29, 2005 in Paris. Limited public information exists on his personal life or major awards, but his credits reflect steady involvement in mid-century French filmmaking.
Jean Gonnet was a co-cinematographer on one Euro-western “Une aventure de Billy le Kid” (A Girl is a Gun) with Jean Flori in 1971.
GONNET, Jean [8/14/1921, Péronne, Somme, France –
11/29/2005, Paris, Île-de-France, France] – cinematographer,
cameraman.
A Girl is a Gun – 1971 (co)
Movies Silently
One of the western films director Jean Durand and his madcap team made in Camargue, France, this tells the story of a poor suitor trying to win the love of a chief’s daughter. The solution: grand theft.
Home Media Availability: Released on DVD.
Steer Rustling French-Style
There are few things I enjoy more than European westerns.
Seeing familiar tropes translated through Continental eyes is always
interesting and the way shopworn plots are shaken up is exhilarating. Plus,
American films have done their share of European stories over the years so
turnabout is fair play.
[Burning Heart pleads his case.]
Wild west shows were far more responsible for shaping these tropes than the actual wild west and European audiences were just as enthralled with them as their American counterparts. Lest you think the foreign shows were less elaborate than the ones put on in the States, premiere showman Buffalo Bill Cody’s entourage during a jaunt to London included “97 Indians, 180 horses, 18 buffalo, 10 elk, 5 Texan steers, 4 donkeys, and 2 deer.”
Such spectacle fired the imaginations of European audiences just when motion pictures were starting to emerge as an exciting new art and one of the first European western film stars was Parisian Joë Hamman. Hamman had seen wild west shows during a trip to America and enthusiastically embraced all the skills of a cowboy showman, from stunt riding to roping to leaping onto moving trains.
[Hamman and friend.]
Hamman and director Jean Durand, best remembered today for his anarchic Onésime comedy series, made westerns in the Camargue marshlands and they are really something. The Railway of Death, in which Hamman duels for a mining claim, are best described as Coyote v. Roadrunner cartoons with real guns. Dark, bloody, anarchistic and riotous, they are a revelation for any viewer of spaghetti westerns. Yes, Europeans were doing that kind of thing a half-century before Clint Eastwood donned a poncho.
Burning Heart replaces the cowboys with Native Americans (with, alas, an entirely French cast playing them) and tells the story of forbidden love, grand theft and humans being hunted for sport. So, basically, par for the Camargue western course.
[A marshy romance.]
Hamman plays Burning Heart, a young man hoping to marry Sunbeam (Berthe Dagmar), the daughter of the chief. (Though I believe the character’s French name, Mouche-de-Feu, translates to “Firefly” so I am not sure if “Sunbeam” is based on an original English translation or something more modern.) However, Sunbeam’s father refuses to allow his daughter to marry a man without a herd of cattle to call his own.
This is clearly a problem but Burning Heart and Sunbeam have an easy solution: they will steal the livestock of a neighboring tribe and remove any objections to their union. And so, the pair ride off together and Bonnie and Clyde that herd right out from under their lawful owners. Unfortunately, the theft does not go unnoticed for long and the victims of the theft vow revenge.
[Larceny will frequently endear you to your potential father-in-law.]
Will Burning Heart and Sunbeam finally be able to tie the knot? Or will they be made to pay for their crime?
Joë Hamman is showcased to advantage here. He doesn’t make use of his famous roping tricks but he does engage in fisticuffs, hard riding and cold-blooded ambushes. (Despite his boyish looks, Hamman’s characters had a high body count even compared to bloodthirsty American cowboys like William S. Hart.)
[Dagmar races to the rescue.]
As always, I am impressed and delighted by Berthe Dagmar, the resident leading lady of the Durand troupe who trained animals and performed her own stunts. (Jean Durand knew what was what, he later married her.) Sunbeam is a proactive, ride or die heroine who helps her man rustle cattle and later rides to his rescue when he’s in a pickle. This was reasonably common in 1910s films, which often featured women in action star roles, but Dagmar’s obvious athleticism makes her heroism even more convincing.
(If you want to see Dagmar at the height of her abilities, check out Under the Claw, in which she is leapt upon by a trained leopard and wrestles with it.)
[Rustling salt marsh cattle.]
The Camargue setting is used thoroughly in this picture as well, with characters stomping and splashing through the salt marshes and swimming in saltwater. It’s practically a tourism advertisement.
As for a sense of North American place, well, European westerns always have certain little details that reveal them as not being made in the U.S.A. (a patterned fabric here, a building shape there) but that’s part of the fun and the charm of them. The time and exact location are unclear but the use of tipis would lead one to assume it is meant to take place on the Great Plains and the European-style shirts with cuffs and buttons as well as the repeating rifles would mark the time period as the mid-1800s or later. (Obviously, I am taking for granted that little to no authentic culture was incorporated into the story.)
[Burning Heart in peril.]
In any case, the Durand/Hamman westerns were about thrills and this one delivers. When Burning Heart is being hunted down by his enemies and manages to evade them thanks to some equestrian aquatics, I was cheering for him the whole time. In my opinion, that’s the main goal of an adventure picture, so well done there. This is the kind of zippy filmmaking that was so much in demand during the early 1910s and it’s easy to see why. Maximum thrills economically presented by a talented cast and crew.
[One more shot of Camargue for the road.]
While not quite as deranged as The Railway of Death,
Burning Heart still showcases the madcap sensibilities of Durand’s team, the
stunt prowess of Hamman and Dagmar and the impressive production values of
Camargue westerns. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I hope that more of these
splendid films become available.
Where can I see it?
Released on DVD by Kino as part of the Gaumont Treasures
Vol. 2 box set, which also includes films from Emile Cohl and Jacques Feyder.
The film is accompanied by an excellent score composed by Patrick Laviosa and
performed by a small ensemble.
As we know most of the Euro-westerns were co-productions from Italy, Spain, Germany and France which incorporated British and American actors to gain a worldwide audience. The films were shot silent and then dubbed into the various languages where they were sold for distribution. That means Italian, Spanish, German, French and English voice actors were hired to dub the films. Even actors from the countries where the film was to be shown were often dubbed by voice actors for various reasons such as the actors were already busy making another film, they wanted to be paid additional salaries for dubbing their voices, the actor’s voice didn’t fit the character they were playing, accidents to the actors and in some cases even death before the film could be dubbed.
I’ll list a Euro-western and the (I) Italian, (S)
Spanish, (G) German and (F) French, (E) English voices that I can find and once
in a while a bio on a specific voice actor as in Europe.
Today we’ll cover “Once Upon a Time in the West”
[(I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German, (F) French, (E) English
Jill McBain – Claudia Cardinale (E) Joyce Gordon, (I) Rita Savagnone, S) Josefina De Luna, (G) Beate Hasenau, (F) Michèle Bardollet
Harmonica – Charles Bronson (E) Charles Bronson (I) Giuseppe Rinaldi, (S) Roberto Martín, (G) Michael Chevalier, (F) Claude Bertrand)
Frank – Henry Fonda (E) Henry Fonda, (I) Nando Gazzolo, (S) Claudio Rodríguez, (G) Wilhelm Borchert, (F) Raymond Loyer
Manuel 'Cheyenne' Gutiérrez – Jason Robards (E) Jason Robards, (I) Carlo Romano, S) Eduardo Calvo, (G) Arnold Marquis, (F) René Arrieu
Morton - Gabriele Ferzetti (E) Bernie Grant, (I) Gabriele Ferzetti, (S) Teófilo Martínez, (G) Paul Edwin Roth, (F) Jean-Henri Chambois
Brett McBain – Frank Wolff (E) Frank Wolff, (I) Corrado Gaipa, (S) Fernando Mateo, (G) Martin Hirthe, (F) Henri Poirier)
Sheriff – Keena Wynn (E) Keenan Wynn, (I) Stefano
Sibaldi, (S) Pedro Sempson, (G) Hans Wiegner, (F) Louis Arbessier
Michèle Bardollet (1939 - )
Michele Bardollet was born on May 26, 1939, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, is a French actress. She is the daughter of actors Léo Bardollet and Colette Iris. She was a member of the Théâtre du petit Jacques company directed by Antonin Baryel in the 1950s. She starred opposite Roger Dumas, Jean-Paul Rouland and Jacques Herlin in “The Adventures of Bidibi and Banban”.
After young audiences, it was the turn of adult audiences to discover her, in 1958, in “L'Année du bac” by José-André Lacour, directed by Yves Robert, where she played Nicky.
Michèle Bardollet had her first experience in the cinema in 1956 in “Les Promesse dangereuses” by Jean Gourguet and then made some twenty films including “Les Tricheurs by Marcel Carné” (1958), “Les Bons Vivants” (1965) by Georges Lautner, “Un homme de trop” by Costa-Gavras (1966), “Mayrig” by Henri Verneuil (1991) and on television appearances in ‘L'Auberge de l'ange gardien’ – ‘Arsène Lupin, Au théâtre ce soir’ and ‘Le Comte de Monte-Cristo’ by Josée Dayan in particular.
Michèle then specialized in dubbing with equal talent by becoming one of the greatest ladies of post-synchronization. She is the regular French voice of Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand in most of their films, as well as Joan Collins and Sharon Gless in most of their TV movies and series.
Michèle Bardollet was married to the actor Georges Galley
[1926-1994] with whom she had two sons: Alexandre, also an actor, and Frédéric.
John Epper [stunts] would have been 120 today but died in 1992.
John
Hock [stunts] would have been 120 today but died in 1992.
Gertraut
Last (actress) would have been 105 today but died in 1992.
Legendary businessman, TV producer, media proprietor and philanthropist
Ted Turner died at his Tallahassee, Florida home from f Lewy body dementia on
May 6. He was 87. Born Robert Edward Turner III in Cincinnati, Ohio on November
19, 1938. He founded (CNN) Cable News Network, the first 24-hour cable news
channel. He also owned (TVM) Turner Classic Movies In addition, he founded
WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television, as well as
television network TNT. Ted’s networks were where many of us saw for the first
time some of the Spaghetti westerns not shown on the other networks or local
stations. TNT also produced the TV Spaghetti western films “Dead for a Dollar” 1998
and “Outlaw Justice” 1999 directed by Gene Quintano and filmed in Spain on
several of the old Spaghetti westerns sites.
[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Vladimir Di Lorenco is/was a Yugoslavian stuntman and actor who appeared in several films during the 1960’s filmed in Croatia. He became well known as the Mexican who fought with Old Shatterhand in the stable in the movie “Desperado Trail”. He also starred in the other two parts of the Winnetou trilogy and in the film “Frontier Hellcat”.
Other than his filmography I can find no biographical information about him.
“Winnetou I Teil” (Apache Gold) as a Mexican in 1963, “Winnetou – 2. Teil” (Last of the Renegades) and “Unter geiern” (Frontier Hellcat) performing stunts both in 1964 and “Winnetou III Teil” (Desperado Train) performing stunts in 1965.
Di LORENCO, Vladimir (aka Vladimir Delorenc) [Yugoslavian]
– stuntman, film actor.
Apache Gold – 1963 (Mexican)
Last of the Renegades – 1964 [stunts]
Frontier Hellcat – 1964 [stunts]
Desperado Trail – 1965 [stunts]
