Antonio Margheriti

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Antonio Margheriti (19 September 1930 – 4 November 2002), also known under the pseudonyms Anthony M. Dawson and Antony DaisiesTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn ("daisies" is "margherite" in Italian), was an Italian filmmaker. Margheriti worked in many different genres in the Italian film industry, and was known for his sometimes derivative but often stylish and entertaining science fiction, sword and sandal, horror/giallo, Eurospy, Spaghetti Western, Vietnam War and action movies that were released to a wide international audience. He died in 2002.Template:Sfn

Early life and career

Antonio Margheriti was born in Rome on 19 September 1930.Template:Sfn Margheriti was the son of a railroad engineer and began his film career in 1950 working with Mario Serandrei.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He then began making short documentaries beginning with Vecchia Roma in 1953.Template:Sfn In 1954, Margheriti was credited with special effects in films such as Pino Mercanti's I cinque dell'Adamello and La notte che la terra tremo.Template:Sfn By 1955 he was credited in screenplays such as Classe di ferro.Template:Sfn

Directing

Margheriti grew up reading science fiction comics, and when he was offered the film Assignment: Outer Space, he signed on as director.Template:Sfn He followed up this film with Battle of the Worlds starring actor Claude Rains,Template:Sfn which was in turn followed by The Golden Arrow with Tab Hunter and some more peplum-style films such as The Fall of Rome and Giants of Rome.Template:Sfn Other genres tackled in the 1960s included horror—Castle of Blood, The Long Hair of Death and The Virgin of Nuremberg and the Eurospy films: Bob Fleming... Mission Casablanca and Operazione Goldman.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Margheriti then returned to science fiction with his Gamma I series, originally filmed for the Italian television series Fantascienza but afterwards released theatrically.Template:Sfn Margheriti followed these films with some westerns, including Take a Hard Ride and And God Said to Cain.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In the 1980s, Margheriti created films following the success of PlatoonTemplate:Sfn and Raiders of the Lost Ark, such as The Last Hunter and Hunters of the Golden Cobra, which both starred David Warbeck.Template:Sfn Warbeck also starred in Tiger Joe, a film overshadowed by tragedy when Margheriti's long time cinematographer, Riccardo Pallottini, died in a plane crash while attempting to get the film's last shot.Template:Sfn

He delved into the genre of films inspired by The Wild Geese with Code Name: Wild Geese and Commando Leopard starring Lewis Collins as well as Conan the Barbarian (1982) with Yor, the Hunter from the Future, which was shot in Turkey and was picked up by Columbia Pictures for an American release to 1400 theaters.Template:Sfn

Margheriti died on 4 November 2002.Template:Sfn

Style

Margheriti's specialty in films was low budget efforts that fell into genres such as action and science fiction.Template:Sfn To make films in short amounts of time, Margheriti applied techniques such as shooting with several cameras simultaneously, allowing him to record master shots, close-ups, and more.Template:Sfn This often led him to light films very carefully, and allowed him to create several films per year.Template:Sfn

Partial filmography

Note: The films listed as N/A are not necessarily chronological.

Title	Year	Credited as				Notes	Template:Abbr
		Director	Screenwriter	Screen story writer	Other
Assignment: Outer Space	1960	Template:Yes	Template:Yes				Template:Sfn
Battle of the Worlds	1961	Template:Yes
Template:Sort	1962	Template:Yes					Template:Sfn
Template:Sort	1963	Template:Yes	Template:Yes				Template:Sfn
Template:Sort		Template:Yes	Template:Yes				Template:Sfn
Castle of Blood	1964	Template:Yes					Template:Sfn
Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules		Template:Yes					Template:Sfn
Hercules, Prisoner of Evil		Template:Yes					Template:Sfn
Giants of Rome		Template:Yes					Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Template:Sort		Template:Yes	Template:Yes				Template:Sfn
Wild, Wild Planet	1966	Template:Yes
Lightning Bolt		Template:Yes
Template:Sort	1968	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Template:Sort	1969	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Producer	Template:Sfn
Template:Sort	1970	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Template:Sort	1971	Template:Yes	Template:Yes				Template:Sfn
Treasure Island	1972		Template:Yes
Template:Sort	1973	Template:Yes	Template:Yes				Template:Sfn
Rudeness	1975		Template:Yes	Template:Yes			Template:Sfn
Death Rage	1976	Template:Yes					Template:Sfn
Yor, the Hunter from the Future	1983	Template:Yes	Template:Yes				Template:Sfn
Code Name: Wild Geese	1984	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Jungle Raiders	1985	Template:Yes					Template:Sfn
Presentimento	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Classe di ferro	Template:N/a		Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Gambe d'oro	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Promesse di marinaio	Template:N/a		Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Roulotte e roulette	Template:N/a		Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Solitudine	Template:N/a		Template:Yes
Template:Sort	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
War of the Planets	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Bob Fleming... Mission Casablanca	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Joe l'implacabile	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Io ti amo	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Vengeance	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Mr. Superinvisible	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
House of 1000 Pleasures	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Novelle galeotte d'amore dal Decamerone	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Mr. Hercules Against Karate	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Template:Sort	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Manone il ladrone	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Fantasma en el Oeste	Template:N/a	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Cannibal Apocalypse	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Template:Sort	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Car Crash	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Hunters of the Golden Cobra	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Tiger Joe	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Tornado: The Last Blood	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Template:Sort	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Commando Leopard	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Template:Sort	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Template:Ill	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Indio	Template:N/a	Template:Yes
Indio 2 - La rivolta	Template:N/a	Template:Yes

Legacy

In the documentary on the Image DVD release of his film Cannibal Apocalypse, Margheriti proudly mentioned that it was Quentin Tarantino's favorite among his films. In Tarantino's film Inglourious Basterds, Eli Roth's character Donny Donowitz uses "Antonio Margheriti" as an alias in an undercover operation at the cinema screening of Stolz der Nation.Template:Better source needed There is also a reference in Tarantino's film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In said film, Leonardo DiCaprio portrays the fictional actor Rick Dalton, who goes to Italy in 1969 to film Spaghetti Westerns, including one spy thriller directed by Margheriti titled Operazione Dyn-o-mite.

References

Sources

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External links

• Stefano Bigliardi, "Mr. Superinvisible's Potion: Science, Scientists and Technology in Antonio Margheriti's Films," Simulteanea. A Journal of Italian Media and Pop Culture - Rivista di media e cultura popolare in Italia, Vol. 2, N. 1. Template:Webarchive
• Template:Official website
• Article at Senses of Cinema
• Template:IMDb name
• Thesis on Margheriti