 | This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (May 2016)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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Antonio Leonviola | |
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| Born | Antonio Leone Viola 13 May 1913 |
| Died | 4 August 1995 (aged 82) |
| Occupation | Screenwriter Film director |
| Years active | 1934-1975 |
Antonio Leonviola, sometimes Leon Viola (1913–1995), was an Italian screenwriter and film director [1] and co-founder of the "Libera Università del Cinema di Roma". [2]
Leonviola was born in 1913 in Montagnana as Antonio Leone Viola. [3] In 1934, he won a gold medal at the Venice Film Festival for his silent film Fiera di tipi, which he shot at a fair in Padua. [3] He worked as war photographer during World War II, an experience that he reflected in a few short films including La battaglia dell'Amba Alagi and La marcia degli eroi. [3]
After the war, Leonviola worked as a screenwriter in a number of adventure films and in 1942 directed his first feature film, Rita da Cascia. [3] After a long break, he returned as director in 1951 with a crime film, The Temptress , which was celebrated by critics. [3]
The success did not hold, and his next films were all more or less battered by the critics. [4] There followed the costume film Sul ponte dei sospiri, Noi cannibali (a story of social discrimination), a remake of his earlier Rita da Cascia entitled Il suo amore più grande, and Angel in a Taxi . [3] [4]
Human Torpedoes , a war film credited to Leonviola, was for the large part directed by Carlo Lizzani, who, however, did not want his name in the credits. [4]
In 1961, Leonviola switched to mythological peplum, directing Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops (starring Gordon Mitchell) followed by Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (starring Mark Forest) the same year. [4] Two years later, in 1963, Leonviola directed another two peplum films both starring Joe Robinson as "Taur" (in the English version: "Thor", in the German: "Taurus"): Thor and the Amazon Women and Taur, il re della forza bruta. [4] Finally, in 1967, after a break of 4 years, Leonviola returned one last time to direct the caper film I giovani tigri starring Helmut Berger. [5]
Leonviola continued to work as screenwriter.[ citation needed ] In 1968, his novel La virtù sdraiata was published under his jumbled birth name "Leone Antonio Viola". [6] It was adapted for Sidney Lumet's film The Appointment (1969). [7]
He was married to director, screenwriter and artist Sofia Scandurra, with whom he founded the "Libera Università del Cinema di Roma" for actors and directors in San Cesareo in 1983. [4] [5] Further co-founders were Cesare Zavattini and Alessandro Blasetti. [8]
Leonviola died on 4 August 1995. [3]
Maciste is one of the oldest recurring characters of cinema, created by Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giovanni Pastrone. He is featured throughout the history of the cinema of Italy from the 1910s to the mid-1960s.
Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum, is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or Biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget Hollywood historical epics of the time, such as Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, Quo Vadis, The Robe, Spartacus, Samson and Delilah and The Ten Commandments. These films dominated the Italian film industry from 1958 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by spaghetti Western and Eurospy films.
Nino Taranto was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1924 and 1971.
Alberto De Martino was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Born in Rome, De Martino started as a child actor and later returned to the cinema where worked as a screenwriter, director and dubbing supervisor. De Martino's films as a director specialised in wellcrafted knock-offs of Hollywood hit films. These films were specifically created films in Western, horror and mythology genres which were developed for the international market. The Telegraph stated that his best known of these film was probably The Antichrist. The Antichrist capitalized on the box-office appeal of The Exorcist (1973) and in its first week in the United States earned a greater box office than Jaws.
Kirk Morris is an Italian Bodybuilder and actor. He was the winner of "Mr.Italia Bodybuilding contest 1961”
Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules is a 1961 Italian peplum film directed by Antonio Leonviola and starring Mark Forest.
Sergio Ciani, best known as Alan Steel, was an Italian bodybuilder and actor.
Hercules Against the Barbarians is a 1964 Italian peplum film directed by Domenico Paolella.
Samson vs. the Giant King is a 1964 Italian fantasy-peplum film directed by Amerigo Anton.
Samson Against the Sheik is a 1962 Italian peplum film directed by Domenico Paolella.
Rita of Cascia is a 1943 Italian historical film directed by Antonio Leonviola and starring Elena Zareschi, Ugo Sasso and Beatrice Mancini. It was made at the Farnesina Studios of Titanus in Rome. The film portrays the life of the Catholic saint Rita of Cascia.
The Terror of Rome Against the Son of Hercules is a 1964 peplum film directed by Mario Caiano and starring Mark Forest and Marilù Tolo.
The Invincible Brothers Maciste is a 1964 Italian peplum film written and directed by Roberto Mauri.
Hercules of the Desert, aka Maciste and the Women of the Valley, is a 1964 Italian peplum film directed by Tanio Boccia and starring Kirk Morris.
Son of Samson is a 1960 Italian peplum film directed by Carlo Campogalliani and starring Mark Forest. The film was distributed to English-speaking countries as Son of Samson, although in the original film, Maciste had no relation to Samson whatsoever.
Triumph of the Son of Hercules is a 1961 Italian peplum film directed by Tanio Boccia and starring Kirk Morris.
Hercules vs. Moloch (Italian: Ercole contro Moloch also released as 'Conquest of Mycenae is a 1963 Italian/French international co-production peplum film written and directed by Giorgio Ferroni and starring Gordon Scott. The film reuses battle scenes from Ferroni's 1961 film The Trojan Horse.
Ugo Sasso, born Domenico Pasquale Giuseppe Sasso, was an Italian film and television actor.
Luigi Carpentieri (1920-1987) was an Italian assistant director (1940-1949) and film producer (1947-1968). Together with Ermanno Donati, he founded the production company "Athena Cinematografica", which in 1960 became "Panda Cinematografica". All films produced by [[the company were genre films.
Giovanni Onorato was an Italian film actor. He was the father of the actor Glauco Onorato and the cinematographer Marco Onorato.
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