Spaghetti
Western director ~ Mario Bava
Mario Bava was born in Sanremo, Liguria, Italy on July
31, 1914. He was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director,
cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter. His low-budget genre
films, known for their distinctive visual flair and stylish technical
ingenuity, feature recurring themes and imagery concerning the conflict between
illusion and reality, as well as the destructive capacity of human nature.
Widely regarded as a pioneer of Italian genre cinema and one of the most
influential auteurs of the horror film genre, he is popularly referred to as
the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the
Macabre".
Bava was a cinematographer until 1960. He developed a
reputation as a special effects genius, and was able to use optical trickery to
great success. Among the directors for whom Bava photographed films were Paolo
Heusch, Riccardo Freda, Jacques Tourneur and Raoul Walsh. While working with
Freda on “Lust of the Vampire” (1957) in 1956, the director left the project
after an argument with the producers and the film mostly unfinished. Bava
stepped in and directed the majority of the movie, finishing it on schedule.
This film, also known as "The Devil's Commandment", inspired a wave
of gothic Italian horror films. After a similar incident occurred on Freda's “Caltiki,
the Immortal Monster” (1959), and Bava's having been credited with
"saving" Tourneur's “The Giant of Marathon” (1959), Galatea urged
Bava to direct any film he wanted with their financing.
Bava directed two Spaghetti westerns: “Ringo del Nebraska”
(Savage Gringo) with Antonio Román in 1966 and “Roy Colt e Winchester Jack” (Roy
Colt and Winchester Jack) in 1970
Mario Bava was the son of cinematographer, SFX Eugenio
Bava [1886–1966] and was married to Iole Sergio and the father of producer,
director, assistant director, writer, film editor, actor Lamberto Bava.
Mario Bava died in Rome of a heart attack on April 27,
1980. He was 65 years old.
BAVA, Mario (aka Mario Baja,
Marie Foam, John Hold, Mickey Lion, Mario, John Old, John M. Old) [7/31/1914,
Sanremo, Liguria, Italy – 4/27/1980, Rome, Lazio, Italy (heart attack)] –
director, writer, cinematographer, cameraman, film editor, SFX, actor, son of
cinematographer, SFX Eugenio Bava [1886–1966], married to Iole Sergio
(1938-1980) father of producer, director, assistant director, writer, film
editor, actor Lamberto Bava. [1944- ].
Savage Gringo – 1966
(co)
Roy Colt and
Winchester Jack – 1970
Spaghetti
Western screenwriter – Jesús María Arozamena
Jesús
María Arozamena Berástegui was born in San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, País Vasco,
Spain on January 19, 1918. He studied law in Madrid in 1933 and trained as a
professor in San Sebastián in 1944. He began his career as a journalist working
for El Día and La Noticia. In 1937 he was appointed deputy
director of the newspaper El Correo Español in Bilbao and, later, deputy
director of La Voz de España from 1937. In 1939 he was named ABC theater
critic.
He
wrote his articles in Basque and Spanish, especially on topics that refer to
his hometown, of which in the early 1960s he could be considered as its
official chronicler.
On
non-Basque topics he wrote several scripts for films and theatrical shows. In
1957 he published the poem Sanjuanetako Txistularien Deia in the
magazine Egan. About his "sentimental biography" of San
Sebastián, F. Serrano Anguita has said: "the art and grace of a great
storyteller, with the devotion of a lover and with a panache and a liveliness
that prove the absolute mastery of the noble journalistic profession".
In
1954 he worked for the first time in a film as a screenwriter: “The Adventures
of the Barber of Seville”, directed by Ladislao Vajda, starring Luis Mariano. In
addition to writing scripts in the world of cinema, in 1955 he worked as a
composer in several musicals and as a librettist in a zarzuela: El hijo
fingido.
In
1958 he was appointed CEO of the SGAE, held other positions as a member of
international organizations related to the profession of playwright; he was a
member of the council of the International Confederation of Societies of
Authors and Composers. In the field of film management, he was president of the
film branch of CISAC. In 1970 he held the position of Director General of the
General Society of Authors.
In
1967 he premiered his last film as a screenwriter “Amor en el Aire”, directed
by Luis César Amadori and co-scripted with Luis Alcoriza and Amadori himself.
He
died unexpectedly on June 29, 1972, in Madrid at the age of 54.
Jesús
María Arozamena’s only Euro-western was “La Gitana y el Charro” (The Gypsy and
the Charro) in 1963
AROZAMENA, Jesús María (aka J. Mª
Arozamena, J.M. Arozamena, Jesus Mª Arozamena, J.Mª de Arozamena, Jesús Mª de
Arozamena, Jesús María de Arozamena) (Jesús
María Arozamena Berasategui)
[1/19/1918, San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, País Vasco, Spain – 6/29/1972, Madrid,
Madrid, Spain] – writer, songwriter, awarded Grand Cross of the Order of Civil
Merit [1966]
The Gypsy Girl and
the Charro – 1963
Spaghetti
Western cinematographer ~ Carlo Bellero
Carlo Bellero was born on May 15, 1911, in Rome, Italy. He
was an Italian cinematographer active between 1941 and 1964. He is notable for
his work with several directors, including Giorgio Simonelli, Turi Vasile,
Ermanno Olmi, Mario Amendola, Domenico Paolella, Giorgio Capitani and Francesco
De Robertis.
He worked on fifty-one films between 1941 and 1968. Forty-four
were as a cinematographer and seven as a cameraman. Some of his better-known
titles are “Avenger of the Seven Seas” (1962) “The Rebel Gladiators” (1962)
“Zorro and the Three Musketeers” (1963) and “Killer Without a Face” (1968).
Bellero died in Rome on May 31, 1988, at the age of 77.
Carlo’s only Spaghetti western was as co-cinematographer
along with Emilio Foriscot on 1965’s “La grande notte di Ringo” (Ringo’s Big
Night).
BELLERO, Carlo [5/15/1911, Rome,
Lazio, Italy – 5/31/1988, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – cinematographer, cameraman.
Ringo’s Big Night –
1965 (co)
