Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director – Claude Autant-Lara

Claude Autant-Lara de Lisle was a French film director, screenwriter, set designer and costume designer who worked in films for over 50 years. Born in Luzarches, Val-d'Oise, France on August 5, 1901. Édouard Autant, [1872-1964], his father, was an architect, and his mother, Louise Lara, [1876-1952], was an actress from the Comédie-Française. he made films characterized by bourgeois realism, anti-clericalism and sexual frankness, often from literary sources. His career was frequently marked by controversy. Even though he was considered left-wing during most of his life, in his late 1980s he was elected to the European Parliament as a member for the far-right National Front: he stepped down two months later after making antisemitic statements.

In 1919, Autant-Lara was employed by the filmmaker Marcel L'Herbier as a set designer for “Le Carnaval des vérités” L'Herbier continued to engage him for set and costume design on subsequent productions and in 1923 he gave him the opportunity to direct his first short film, “Fait-divers”, which featured Louise Lara and Antonin Artaud. Autant-Lara also worked for other leading filmmakers, as assistant director for René Clair, and as costume designer for Jean Renoir on his lavish production of “Nana” (1926), in which he also acted. In 1927–28 he directed another short experimental western film called “Construire un feu”, based on The Origin of Fire by Jack London, for which he used for the first time the hypergonar, an anamorphic optical system to produce widescreen images invented by Henri Chrétien. (The process was not used again, but in 1952 20th Century Fox purchased Chrétien's device and developed from it the CinemaScope format). Disheartened by the failure of this venture and in need of money, Autant-Lara went to Hollywood in 1930 where he found work making French versions of American comedies, including two featuring Buster Keaton.

After the war he had international success with “Le Diable au corps”, based on the controversial novel of 1923 by Raymond Radiguet. The film's portrayal of a schoolboy's adulterous affair during WWI caused fresh scandal in France and consolidated Autant-Lara's reputation for challenging the prevailing moral order.

Autant married Odette Massonnet in 1926 and divorced in 1935. He later married Ghislaine Auboin (1915–1967), who worked as an assistant director on many of his films from 1942 onwards.

Claude Autant-Lara died in Antibes, Alpes-Maritimes, France on February 5, 2000. He was 98.

AUTANT-LARA, Claude (Claude Autant Larapide de Lisle) [8/5/1901, Luzarches, Val-d'Oise, France – 2/5/2000, Antibes, Alpes-Maritimes, France] – producer, director, assistant director, writer, make-up artist, actor, son of actress Louise Lara (Louise Larapide de Lisle) [1876-1952], married to Odette Massonnet[1915-1967] (1926-1935), married to producer, assistant director, actress, Ghislaine Autant-Lara (Gabrielle Ghislaine Louise Auboin) (1934-1967).

The Origin of Fire – 1929

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter – Silvio Amadio

Silvio Amado was born in Frascati, Rome, Lazio, Italy on August 8, 1926. He was an Italian film producer, director, assistant director, screenwriter and film editor who directed 24 films between 1957 and 1981. His film “Wolves of the Deep” was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. He is known to horror film fans for directing “Amuck!” (1972), a giallo film starring Rosalba Neri and Barbara Bouchet, and to Sex comedy all'italiana fans for directing some of the best Gloria Guida sex comedies of the mid-1970s.

Amadio ventured into the Spaghetti western genre on only one occasion when he directed and was a co-screenwriter with Tito Carpi (Fiorenzo Carpi de Resmini) and Luciano Gregorett on 1965’s “Per mille dollari al Giorno” (Renegade Gunfighter).

Silvio Amadio died in Rome on August 19, 1995, two weeks after turning 69.

AMADIO, Silvio [8/8/1926, Frascati, Rome, Lazio, Italy – 8/19/1995, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – producer, director, assistant director, writer, editor.

Renegade Gunfighter – 1965 (co)

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer – Ubaldo Arata

Ubaldo Arata was born in Ovada, Piedmont, Italy on March 23, 1895. He was an Italian cinematographer who worked on more than a hundred films between 1918 and his death in 1947. Arata entered cinema in the silent era and worked prolifically during the 1920s including on one of the final entries into the long running Maciste series. He was employed on the first Italian sound film “The Song of Love” (1930). Until the fall of Fascism, he was one of the leading Italian cinematographers working on propaganda films such as “Scipione l'africano” (Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal, 1937) and “Luciano Serra, Pilot” (1938) as well as more straightforward entertainment films.

Arata worked with Roberto Rossellini on the 1945 neorealist drama “Rome, Open City”. He was instrumental in securing the backing of the distribution company Minerva Film for the production's release. Following the Second World War, Arata worked on several co-productions with Britain and the United States.

Ubaldo was the cinematographer on the 1942 Euro-western “The Girl of the Golden West”.

Arata Ubaldo died suddenly from a heart condition in Rome on December 7, 1947 while working on Orson Welles’ “Cagliostrio”. He was only 52 years of age.

ARATA, Ubaldo (aka Arata, U. Arata) [3/23/1895, Ovada, Piedmont, Italy – 12/7/1947, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – cinematographer, cameraman.

The Girl of the Golden West – 1942