.Westerns...All'Italiana!

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

RIP Peter Rabenalt

DEFA has announced the passing of German musician, composer Peter Rabenalt who died on August 26^th he was 87. He studied film production at the University of Film Art Potsdam-Babelsberg and composition at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. He worked as an editor at the German Television Corporation, as a scientist. Assistant at the Konrad Wolf University of Film and Television and later as a lecturer in sound and music dramaturgy and as a professor of film and television dramaturgy. He is also the film composer for 25 feature films. His Euro-western was as a composer for 1979’s “Blue Hawk”.

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Merv Campone

[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.]

Wilfred Mervin Campone was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada on May 31, 1932. He drove a cab for 12 years before starting his acting career in 1958. In 1969 he read a radio script he thought so terrible that he could write a better one himself. Thus began his alternate career as a scriptwriter for radio, TV and stage.

As a writer and actor, he’s best known for creating one of Canada’s most successful television series ‘The Beachcombers’ (1972-1990) also ‘Leo and Me’ (1978) and ‘The Manipulators’ (1970-1971).

In 1996, he co-founded the spiritual growth organization 'Spirit's Call' with holistic practitioner Dorothy Becker.

Merv Campone was married twice and had four daughters and a stepdaughter. He died from colon cancer on December 29, 2000, in Langley, British Columbia, Canada at the age of 68.

Campone appeared in only one Euroe western “The Trap” in 1966 where he played the role of Yellow Dog. The film starred Oliver Reed and Rita Tushingham.

CAMPONE, Merv (aka Merve Campone) (Wilfred Mervin Campone) [5/31/1932, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada – 12/29/2000, Langley, British Columbia, Canada (colon cancer)] – producer, writer, film, TV actor, married to Lorraine Darlene Rosanna Haug [1938-2018] (1957-19??), father of Debbie Campone, Kathy Campone, Michelle Campone, Tracy Campone, Married to Jo-Anne Moyes (19??-2000) stepfather of Diane J. Hilliard co-founded spiritual growth organization 'Spirit's Call' [1996].

The Trap – 1966 (Yellow Dog)

Django Undisputed is the return of the Italian western: the first images

The first images of Django Undisputed, the new film directed and starring Claudio Del Falco.

Cinematographe.IT

By Martina Volonté

August 9, 2024

Filming has officially begun on Django Undisputed, the new film directed and starring Claudio Del Falco, fresh from Iron fighter and The Martial Avenger. The film, which will take place in Lazio and in the Cinecittà World amusement park until the end of August, marks a further ambitious step in Del Falco's filmography, which aims to dust off the spaghetti western.

Django Undisputed tells the story of Django, a man determined to restore order to a Wild West village oppressed by violence and crime. Together with his brother, Django finds himself facing the cruel Thomas in a duel to the death to save their community and protect his mother Serena, owner of a brothel, from the tyranny of the outlaws.

Del Falco himself plays Django, while his brother, Thomas and Serena own the faces of Fabio Romagnolo, Italian IFBB PRO body building champion here in his film debut, international star Tomas Arana and Anna Rita Del Piano, within a rich cast including Michael Segal, Mauro Aversano, Francesca Giuliano, Ciro Buono and Clara Guggiari, with the participation of Massimiliano Buzzanca and the former Miss Italy Nadia Bengala. In addition, in the role of Django's father we find Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, a historic presence of the legendary films that starred Bud Spencer and Terence Hill.

"I will dedicate this film to director E.B. Clucher (Enzo Barboni) as a tribute to his They Call Me Trinity and They Kept Calling Me Trinity, true masterpieces of western cinema that inspired my entire youth," says Del Falco about Django Undisputed, whose goal is to bring back to the cinema the unmistakable atmosphere of spaghetti westerns by combining the typical Italian tradition with a modern and engaging narrative.

Django Undisputed is produced by One Seven Movies – Saturnia Pictures, in collaboration with Roswellfilm and will be distributed worldwide by Minerva Pictures international. The release date is yet to be defined.

Voices of the Spaghetti Western – Savage Gringo

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 these actors are as well-known as the actors they voiced.

Today we’ll cover “Savage Gringo”

[(I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German, (F) French, (E) English]

Ringo/Nebraska – Ken Clark (I) Sergio Rossi, (G) Gert Günther Hoffmann

Kay Hillman – Yvonne Bastien (I) Noemi Gifuni, (G) Margot Leonard

Bill Carter – Piero Lulli (I) Antonio Giudi, (G) Jürgen Thormann

Lou Felton – Renato Rossini (I) Renato Izzo, (G) Horst Niendorf

Marthy Hillman – Alfonso Rojas (I) Giorgio Piazza, (G) Martin Hirthe

Sheriff Bert – Livio Lorenzon (I) Mario Bardella, (G) Arnold Marquis

Antonio Giudi (1927 – 2013)

Antonio Giudi was born Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy on October 28, 1927. Guidi began a career of acting in the 1950s. He originally wanted to become an architect but he did not pursue that vocation. He worked for two years at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, then he became a stage actor. In addition, he also worked on radio and screen. He made his first ever film appearance in “The Archangel” starring Vittorio Gassman and on television, he made his debut on ‘I legionari dello spazio’.

Guidi was also a professional voice actor. He was the official Italian voice of Peter Ustinov as well as dubbing Peter Falk and Dominic Chianese in most of their work. He was internationally renowned for performing the Italian voice of Lieutenant Colombo (portrayed by Peter Falk) in the last two seasons of ‘Columbo’ since the death of Giampiero Albertini in 1991. He also voiced Prince John in the Italian-Language version of the 1973 animated film “Robin Hood”. After finishing his voice work on Colombo, Guidi retired in 2004, effectively ending his career.

Guidi died in Bergamo on 17 October 2013, eleven days before his 86th birthday.

Special Birthdays

Alessandro Sperli (actor) is 90 today.

G. W. Bailey (actor) is 80 today.

Monday, August 26, 2024

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Carlo Campogalliani

Carlo Campogalliani was born in Concordia sulla Secchia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy on October 10, 1885. He was an Italian screenwriter, actor and film director. Campogalliani began as an actor during the early silent period, first appearing as the Fool in Giuseppe De Liguoro's adaptation of King Lear made for Milano Films in 1910. After roles in a number of major silent films, including Luigi Maggi's “Satana” (Satan, 1912) and Mario Caserini's “Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei” (The Last Days of Pompeii, 1913), he played the lead in Edoardo Bencivenga's “Napoleone, epopea napoleonica” (Napoleon, 1914), before graduating to directing on “Il violino di Ketty” (Ketty's Violin, 1914), in which he also acted with his wife, Letizia Quaranta. He directed his wife in another half a dozen crime thrillers and made several of the Maciste films before founding his own production company, Campogalliani Film, in 1920. In 1922 he and Quaranta moved to South America, where he made films in Argentina and Brazil while also touring with his own theater company. Having returned to Europe in 1927, he worked in Germany for several years before returning to Italy at the beginning of the sound era. Before retiring from the industry altogether in the early 1960s, he produced two well-respected sword-and-sandal epics, “Maciste nella valle dei re” (Son of Samson, 1960) and “Ursus” (Ursus, Son of Hercules, 1961). His last film, “Rosmunda e Alboino” (Sword of the Conqueror, 1961), was a historical adventure fantasy set in the early Middle Ages.

Carlo Campogalliani died in Rome on August 10, 1974 at the age of 88.

Carlo appeared in only one Euro-western the 1913 silent film “Il bersaglio vivente” (The Human Target) 1913

CAMPOGALLIANI, Carlo (aka C. Campogalliani) [10/10/1885, Concordia sulla Secchia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy – 8/10/1974, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – director, writer, film editor, film actor, married to Letizia Quaranta (Letizia Beatrice Giuseppina Angela Quaranta) [1892–1977] (1921-1974), founded Campogalliani Film [1920].

The Human Target – 1913 (Walter)