ANTONIO MARGHERITI is one of the fathers of the genre movies in Italy. His works have been distributed all over the world, earning him a greater fame abroad than what he enjoyed in his home country. He was largely known and appreciated in the USA, where he directed several movies produced by major studios (few or no Italian directors other than Margheriti have been explicitly hired by studios such as MGM, Lou Grade Production, and  20th Century Fox to direct nationally produced movies). His name and his works are also known in Germany, France, Spain, and in many other countries and important foreign markets.

 

A skilled master of special effects, he was the first director in Italy to film science fiction and space opera movies. His first work, Spacemen, was produced by Goffredo Lombardo’s studio, Titanus, with a cost of less than 50 millions liras and it ensured revenues tenfold. The movie was an international smash hit, and it convinced Lombardo to entrust Antonio with another Sci-Fi movie: The Planet of Extinct Men. Shortly after that, he filmed an MGM co-production, The Golden Arrow, a fantasy comedy were Antonio mad use of elaborate visual effects with astounding results. MGM’s American producers, astonished by those results, hired Antonio to film four Sci-Fi movies meant for the American TV market. A few years later, he was also contacted by Stanley Kubrick to contribute with his skills to 2001, Space Odissey. After a few meetings and an examination of Antonio Margheriti’s mastery in special effects, Kubrick had no dobuts about his skills, but Antonio turned that offer down, realizing it would require two or three years of full-time commitment, and he went on to film about a dozen of movies in those years.

In 40 years behind the camera, ANTONIO MARGHERITI directed over 60 movies of every kind: Horror, Western, Peplum, Science-Fiction, Prehistory, Comedies, Dramas, Action, Adventure, and even Sexy Comedies... and he was able to film a unique movie every time, leaving his own mark even on obsolete genres and revitalizing them. With his “cross-genre” style, he turned some of his works into veritable cult movies for many generations of aficionados. Even today, crowded audiences gather every time a show offers the opportunity to enjoy his movies.

MARGHERITI left an indelible mark in the Italian movie production between 1960 and 2000, and his unique style has inspired countless directors, writers and critics, both in Italy and abroad. He used to consider himself a simple “craftsman” of cinema, and yet he wrote an important page in our film history, leaving a strong, unmistakable and longstanding mark.