Original subtitles

Well, hello and welcome to the audio commentary for Phantom of Death, also

as Off Balance, and I'm sure a whole variety of other titles as these things

tend to be.

I'm known by the title of Troy Howarth, and I'm very happy to be joined here

today by... Eugenio Corrani, here we go, to talk

about Un Delitto Poco Comune, Off Balance, a .k .a. Phantom of Death.

Yeah, it's a film of Ruggiero Deodato, of course, who, anybody listening to

doesn't really require an introduction. We'll get into him, of course, some of

the career highlights and so forth and talk about this film's place in its

career.

Right off the bat, we're seeing some very familiar faces. Hal Yamanuchi here,

who is a familiar face in other Italian genre films.

of the period, including Lucho Fulci's Warriors of the Year, 2072.

He later shows up in Roberta Lenzi's film, House of Lost Souls, as well.

And this doctor here, if she looks familiar, is Carola Stagnaro, who also

appears in a couple of Dario Argento films. She plays Detective Altieri in

Tenebrae. She's the one that's paired up with Giuliano Gemma in that film.

They have some great witty banter back and forth in that movie. It talks about,

you know, it's a good thing he has a female partner, otherwise he'd have

to bitch about.

But he also played the mother of the little girl who lives next door to the

heroine in opera.

Later on, appeared also for Deodato in Dial Help. And, of course, our star,

Michael York, who, as we will discuss, unfortunately, rather tragically in real

life, ended up afflicted with a condition that's not precisely the same

but certainly has affected his looks and his life in a way that's quite tragic

and very unfortunate the way it connects into this film.

Yes, I mean, this is an interesting film for a number of reasons.

I mean, it's quintessentially a 1980s giallo under a lot of points

of views.

But, you know, with the perception that Del Dato has had over the years

of his own film, he's had a kind of rocky relationship with it.

has always lamented a certain slowness and not having

had the liberty he was used to when choosing his actors.

I mean, he's often stated that he would not have gone for Edwidge Spanek as a

female lead, preferring somebody younger.

Over the years, he's even given a few names of who he would have rather have.

All of them were...

kind of American names, young and upcoming actresses and models.

He was also complained about the interfering

of Gianfranco Cleri, who not only wrote the script,

in fact, they wrote it in 1982 for what was supposed to be a

Lutofuci film.

then the whole concept was kind of put aside and then it kind of re -emerged

when Luciano Martino was interested who is mistakenly often credited

as the producer but actually Dania Film owned by Luciano Martino is only the

distributor of Off Balance which at the time

meant having still a lot of power because distributors really had a say in

direction the film was supposed to take and kind of the amount of violence or

sex or kind of the various elements. And of course, casting.

It's, I think, safe.

to say that most likely Edwidge Fennec was an imposition from the distributor,

Luciano Martino, of course, a long -time partner of Edwidge Fennec, and in fact,

really, the man who jump -started her Italian career and made her an

international star.

I was saying, Vincenzo Manino and Gianfranco Clerici, they are the actual

producers, besides being the writers of the film.

Of course, as most people know, Claire Richie and Del Dato go back way, way

back. Claire Richie penned Cannibal Holocaust, House Under the Park, but

actually started collaborating as far back as the early 70s. So there's

definitely an established relationship by the time Off Balance kind of brings

them back together.

But...

According to Deodato, Clerici really kind of imposed a lot of things, kind

he didn't have the liberty of cutting down dialogue or kind of reshaping the

story. So, over the years, he's lamented about these things, especially in the

late 90s when he was giving this kind of film, at least in Italy, kind of re

-emerged.

He complained about it. Then...

as most directors do, but Valencia with his cannibal movies is a good example.

Over the years, he's kind of warmed up to the film and now seems to kind of

a benevolent eye towards it.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, it's certainly not a film to be ashamed of by any stretch of the

imagination. I think it's actually a fairly top -tier Deodato film, not...

obviously on the level of Cannibal Holocaust, which is the film that

knows that film, whether they've seen it or not.

It's a film that will be in his obituary, we'll put it that way. The

director is what he's known for more than anything else. But this is a very,

very good example of, it's a jello up to a point, although it's kind of an

unorthodox one.

It has a mystery angle early on, but it kind of gets abandoned.

as the story goes along and is developed.

And, of course, as you were saying, you know, there were different things that

were sort of imposed and different things that he wasn't very happy with.

see Edwidge VanEck here, who, by the way, on the English dub, it's actually

voice, which is very unusual.

It's not her voice on any of those famous Sergio Martino jallies that she

back in the 70s, for example, but she speaks English on the soundtrack for

film, as do, obviously, Michael York and Donald Pleasence, whom we've also met

already showing up as the inspector.

so that's one kind of interesting point in its favor as far as he's concerned. I

know at least one of the actresses that they ought to mention being interested

in casting in a part was Kelly LeBrock, which, you know...

Made sense. I mean, she was a name at the time in the 80s. It would have been

good for international distribution.

Obviously, with the Martino factor in place, it makes sense that Fennec would

have been slightly imposed on the film.

But she's not bad in the film, by any stretch of the imagination. I don't

she comes across as being miscast.

You know, I mean, it could be argued that Michael York is too old for his

because he's supposed to be, you know, a man of about 30, whereas he's pushing

50. But he's a very youthful -looking man in his late 40s, so he pulls it off.

It's one of those things where, you know, if you are aware of how old he is,

might think, well, I don't know if I really buy the idea this man's supposed

be in his early 30s. But, yeah, he pulls it off well enough. And the same thing

with Edwidge Fenex. She doesn't seem out of place at all.

I think she actually fits in quite well to this. movie. But as to the origins of

the story, yes, as you mentioned quite accurately, originally it's tied into

of my absolute favorite Lucio Fulci films, The New York Ripper, which

was originally supposed to direct.

There was some trade announcements and so forth that Deodato was going to make

this film, which at the time dealt with the idea of progeria being a trigger for

a series of killings.

When Lucia Fulci ended up taking over the project, he and Dardana Sicchetti

an overhaul in the script and completely jettisoned that idea, brought in the

idea of a killer who's basically trying to avenge his dying daughter. She's

dying of some terrible form of cancer.

So he has a great resentment against young, healthy, beautiful women and is

taking it out on them by slashing them up.

So they were very unhappy. Manino and Clerici were very unhappy with all the

changes that were made and arranged, essentially, to buy the project. buy the

script back so that they can make the film that they originally had in mind.

it really did kind of work out as the best of both worlds. We get Lucio

The New York Ripper, which is a controversial film, much maligned by

people. I'd argue misunderstood by many people as well. I don't think the film

is nearly as vile as some people make it out to be, although it is a tricky

film, and it is a movie that plays a very sophisticated game with its

but I think it's quite brilliant.

But we also get Raul Delgado's film, which is dealing with this idea of

as well. So kind of a win -win in the long run. Yes, I mean, I would agree

you. I don't think Edwidge Fennec is at all miscast or misplaced in this film.

It also kind of has an important role in her filmography because it really is

her return to, although an anomalous one still, a film that incorporates

elements of the genre.

I think her previous effort within Jalli was

1975's Nude for the Killer.

Strip Nude for your Killer.

I was translating from the Italian title, Nude per l 'assassino.

And really, between these two films, Edwidge Fenech was

really became, I mean, she had already done at least four, important

films within the sex comedy arena, mainly Sergio

Martino's first effort, Giovannona Coscia Lunga, with her and Pippo Franco,

really after between from the mid 70s right up till

1983 -84 she really digs in in the sex comedy and sex passes.

and does loads and she's directed mostly produced by dania um that kind of is a

company that's specialized in in this um particular subgenre and she really is

directed by kind of the cream of the crop shall you say of um uh of the

specialized in comedic sexy uh michele massimo tarantini nando cicero of course

luciano's brother

director sergio martino and she had become incredibly popular in italy uh i

she was huge thanks to these comedies which over the over especially from

starting from 1978 they start getting a lot the ones she acted in started

getting a lot less want here and pretty much becoming just comedies with a

little bit of maybe

the odd breast or buttock but for the most part they really turn into just

comedies although of course most of the stories revolve around her beauty and

ugly small little men wanting to somehow have her

sexually but she starts really stripping less and less

so this is her return to Jalloh and

I think she does a good job.

Donald Pleasence has, I would say, an important

role, narratively speaking.

And Ruggero Del Dato, I believe, yes, is the only film in which Del Dato

directs Pleasence, has always stated that he is the... best actors ever

directed, the one he was the happiest with, and even as a

man, the one he seemed to connect more with.

It would be interesting, Troy, to kind of open up a little sub -chapter on

Donald Pleasance in Italian, 80s Italian cinema, because there's a lot to say

there. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, you know, people who know Donald Pleasance for his later

period as kind of a horror film icon, thanks to his role as Dr.

Loomis in the Halloween films, may not be aware of what a truly distinguished

career he had as an actor. He was a Tony Award winning actor in the theater.

He had worked, obviously done. And of course, there's Dead Otto, his little

directorial cameo getting on the moped there. Had to point that out real quick.

He, you know, had been in plays by Harold Pint. And, you know, The Man in

Glass Booth had been an enormous success, although when they made the

adapted from the Robert Shaw play, the same Robert Shaw who played Quentin

incidentally. they hired Maximilian Sell, who is fantastic in the film, but

would have been really something to have seen Donald Pleasance in that part

because he did want a Tony playing that role on stage.

So he'd had a very distinguished career. He'd worked with major directors like

John Sturgis, Roman Polanski, probably gave the performance of his career on

film for Polanski in a film called Cul -de -Sac, and an extraordinary, very

of Beckett -esque.

black comedy, where he's this milquetoast kind of a character who has

himself in this little island castle.

And he finds himself under attack by a boorish American gangster played by

Lionel Stander, who has his own Italian career.

Incidentally, of course, as we know, showed up in a number of interesting

Italian films. But Pleasence, by late 70s, is becoming more and more typecast

a horror film actor.

And not surprisingly, he ends up in Italy doing a lot of films there. Not

horror films, but... You know, films in a variety of different genres. He's in

the official sequel to Django, for example, which is a very unusual film,

it's the only real true official sequel to the original Sergio Corbucci film

with Franco Nero. Although, as we've talked about in other contexts, by the

this movie's done, the Western phase has ended.

Stallone and Rambo has become the big kind of success. So they kind of

reconfigure that character somewhat to be, it's more of a Rambo kind of ripoff

than it is a real sequel to Django, ultimately.

But Pleasance is in that. Of course, around this time, too, he works with

Argento on Phenomena. He's very effective in a role that originally was

apparently intended for either Orson Welles or Peter Ustinov, both of whom

up bailing for one reason or another.

So Pleasance comes in and does it.

Noteworthy, really, in that sense, is being kind of the only horror.

quote -unquote horror film actor that Dario Ageno ever really worked with in a

film. He didn't really tend to gravitate towards getting genre actors. He tended

to get actors who were outside of that kind of genre to be in his films. So

Donald Pleasance definitely had his horror credentials in place.

And speaking of horror credentials, his little interrogation here reminds me of

one of my favorite Donald Pleasant's performance, which is his role as

Calhoun in Gary Sherman's Deathline or Raw Meat from 1972, where he's

brilliant.

Some of the sort of smart -ass trickery that he's doing here, the way he's

interacting with the suspect and so forth, reminds me of his heavily

performance in that film.

But anyway, he's doing other things around this time, too. He, a couple

earlier, did another interesting kind of significant late -period jello of the

period movie called Nothing Underneath.

which was enormously successful, one of the very few enormously successful non

-Argento Jali of the period, in which he plays a similar role, the aging police

inspector, which in and of itself could be seen as kind of a variation on his

role as Dr. Loomis in the Halloween franchise. So he's this kind of

Captain Ahab -esque or Professor Van Helsing -esque.

figure who's out there trying to uh trying to stop some unstoppable evil

so uh yeah i mean he's his career is all over the map and of course almost

virtually ends his career with an italian film unfortunately not nearly as

distinguished a film called fatal frames by alfesta in which he plays a a meaty

supporting role but he's one of several actors in that film that basically was

dead by the time the movie came out sorry to say, died after undergoing open

-heart surgery in France.

So, you know, really a terrific actor I always enjoy seeing, and yeah,

definitely somebody with a very interesting Italian career. Yeah, I

personally absolutely adore Don Pleasence. I mean, The Great Escape

would not be the same without Don Pleasence, and of course, you can find

so many different films. I mean, one of the first, films that come to mind is

soldier blue by ralph nelson and he gives a terrific performance i mean it's

of those careers that seems to touch pretty much every possible european

every sort of director and and sub genres and big roles and smaller roles

a very difficult career in many ways to dissect or summarize uh which makes him

even more fascinating and uh qualified for the cult status he has.

In Italy, yes, I mean, he did a number of films, also,

strangely enough, comedies as well.

The director of Nothing Underneath, Sotto il Vistito Niente, Carlo Vanzina,

director of mostly, actually, comedies, which only...

really kind of directed Nothing Underneath, and another couple of films

kind of move away from comedy, one of which is actually the sequel to

Nothing Underneath, not Sotto Vispiriniente Due by Dario, Nothing

or Too Young to Die by... Too Beautiful to Die by Dario Piana, but...

the way more recent film starring Richard E. Grant in the early

2000s. And Cavalbantina also directed Donald Pleasance in a

kind of sort of like Wall Street parody slash

comedy called Billions with Billy Zane in the early, yes,

I believe 1990.

And this is one of the elements.

Most of the Italian directors that worked with Donald Pleasence really

him all the time. They always tried to cast him over and over again.

And over the years, interviewing many of these directors from the 80s, Donald

Pleasence pops up so many times as being the...

Number one candidate. Most recently, director Ryan Alessandro Capone, who

directed in 1988 Witch Story, Strega, with stars Ian Bannon,

told me that his initial choice was Donald Pleasence. And Donald Pleasence

accepted. He was going to do the film.

But then the film, I think, slid two months and Donald Pleasence was not

available anymore.

So Donald Pleasant seems to be very much in demand.

And he did another anomalous film called The Metropolitan Animals, Animali

Metropolitani, directed by, in fact, one of Lucio

Fulci's kind of cinematic fathers, Steno, Stefano Vanzina,

father of...

Carlo Mancina, that directed Nothing Underneath.

And, of course, one of the masters of the Commedia l 'Italiana, Donald

Pleasence, appears in one of Steno's lesser films. In fact, it's a pretty

example of Steno's work in the 80s, which generally wasn't very good, but

a particularly...

Particularly bad film, let's be honest.

But the Donald Bledsoe shines pretty much wherever you put him, even in the

infamous Fatal Frames.

Yeah, he's one of the few...

in that film that retains his kind of dignity.

He comes away with his dignity intact, let's say.

Speaking of people who wanted them, I mean, Lucio Volci, after Peter Cushing

bowed out of doing The Black Cat, Peter Cushing was going to do it, and then

Donald Pleasance was set to do it. But I think that was around the same time,

too, that John Carpenter had wanted him for The Thing, and he was busy on a

film, Race of the Yankee Zephyr, which was directed by David Hemmings, another

actor with significant Italian connections.

went over budget and over schedule and so forth, and so Pleasance was obliged

pass on that. Although I have to say, I think in that case, the right man got

the job.

We ended up with Patrick McGee giving really his last great starring role

performance. I mean, there was an actor who definitely could, you know, if you

couldn't get Donald Pleasance through Peter Cushing, Patrick McGee was

no great shame to end up with. So, yeah, again, Pleasance's career is certainly,

as you say, incredibly exciting. eclectic, encompasses all kinds of

course, famous as the original face of Blofeld in You Only Live Twice, the

time we see Blofeld as anything other than a pair of hands stroking a cat. In

the earlier films, it was the hands of Anthony Dawson, the actor. Anthony

Dawson, not Antonio Margheriti, our good friend director, known as Anthony M.

Dawson, so as not to get confused with the English actor of the same name.

You know, and various other career... Highlights abound.

He worked with Luigi Cozzi on Paganini Horror in terms of Italian credits as

well. And, yeah, I mean, just always dependable. Even as those Halloween

got more and more preposterous and more and more shoddy, there he was, you know,

just offering a great comforting presence in the midst of all the mayhem.

somebody who's terribly missed. And it's really one of the elements that makes

it very clear, the recent Halloween films, that they just can't quite

the magic.

absence of Donald Pleasance. Yeah, I absolutely agree.

Speaking of horror films that Donald Pleasance made in Italy in the 80s, how

it's impossible not to mention Nosferatu in Venice, which

actually connects various names we mentioned.

I mean, Luigi Cozzi did the

did the optical effects for that film.

And we find even Christopher Blummer there, another actor that had been

by Kotze in Star Crash.

So, yeah, no, I mean, it's...

It's quite a remarkable career.

Michael York doesn't even come close to the deep -rooted connections with Italy

Pleasance had, but he did work subsequently again in Italy after

the Davos film with Alberto Negrin. Alberto Negrin

is probably not the flashiest Italian...

when it comes to directors, but some people might remember him for having

directed Enigma Rosso with Fabio Tetti,

which was, of course, supposed to be directed by

Massimo Dallamano, as you obviously know very well, Troy.

Yeah. Yeah, no, he ended up taking over that film, obviously, after Dallamano

had passed away. Dallamano had been involved in writing the film and helping

develop it with Franco Farini.

But, you know, tragically, he had cancer and ended up passing away before that

could happen.

Kind of a continuation of the themes found in Dallamano's earlier films. What

have you done to Solange and what have they done to your daughters?

So kind of an unofficial trilogy of schoolgirls in peril films.

But as you say, Michael York definitely doesn't have that deep of a connection

with the Italian film scene, certainly not the genre film scene, although he is

often listed as having been very seriously considered and nearly having

the lead for Dario Argento in Four Flies and Grey Velvet.

There's some disagreement over that here and there, depending on whether that

was actually...

accurate or had it been misreported or whatever.

But I believe Argento has indicated in at least one interview that, yeah,

Michael York was certainly on the short list of people that were, you know,

considered along with the likes of John Lennon and Ringo Starr and various other

people before they ended up with Michael Brandon, of all people. But there you

go. That's just how these things work out.

You know, he's obviously a tremendously

sympathetic actor, and I think that's one of the things that works greatly in

his favor for this film, because he's playing a character that could be

incredibly off -putting and incredibly unsympathetic, but he makes him tragic,

he makes him human, and he makes us kind of care about him, which is unusual in

a Giallo -style film.

To have a killer that we actually have that degree of empathy with. So that

gives the film a slightly more melancholy and a slightly more tragic

Because usually when the killer is unmasked in the last reel, they just

to be some shrieking madman or madwoman or whatever. And they're, you know,

they're pretty much just there to be dispatched at the end of the film.

and kind of destroyed by circumstances outside of his control, obviously this

terrible illness.

This is Katerina Barato, by the way, playing his mother here.

You may remember her for appearing as the mysterious woman in Eight and a Half

by Fellini, Susan Salo for Pasolini, but she also shows up in Baba's Diabolic as

the woman whose emeralds are stolen from her during one of the film's big action

sequences. So, very familiar face.

Lots, as I said, lots of familiar faces. in this film, and it's a movie that

evidently had some money behind it. I mean, the casting that we have, the

locations in Venice, the overall production value. I mean, there must

a fair amount of money put into this particular film.

It certainly doesn't appear to have been a profit. No, absolutely not.

By the way, the film I was about to mention, directed by Bertone

Green.

is The Secret of the Tsar, El Segreto del Tsar, made for television, because

Negrín then later on, pretty much for most of his directing career after

Rings of Death, pretty much only works for the small screen.

No, it wasn't absolutely not a cheap film by any means.

It's a film that I believe Clary Shee and Manino really believed in. I think

they believed in the potential it had as a film that

could kind of unite, could be a kind of an auteur genre.

I don't know if this was really Del Dato's territory. I think he does a good

job. I don't know if this was the right kind of film for Del Dato in this

specific moment in time.

But it's definitely a certain...

attention to detail when it comes to the story and the dialogue, at least in the

Italian version.

So, I mean, you can definitely feel this. This is a heartfelt film when it

to Claudio Giammanino. This is not a film done cynically by any means.

And I think Luciano, I think Luciano Giammanino believed, must have believed

quite a bit in the film because Edwidge Fenwick, by the time Of Balance comes

along,

She was trying away from her work as an actress. She was trying to do as few

films as she could. And in fact, pretty much will leave her acting career

shortly after this film.

She will reappear here and there, mostly for films she...

participated in as a producer, because then that's really what she will do for

most of the 90s. And right until recently, she's going to be

appearing in Pupi Abadi's next film, which is being shot in

Bologna.

Now as we speak in fact and right into these weeks. I think there are two weeks

into filming But yeah, so I think if if she decided to participate in balance I

think she she herself and Luciano Martino must have believed in the strong

potential of the project

So, yes, and even we find an illustrious composer, you know, Donaggio, doing the

music. And, of course, Donaggio and...

No doubt I'd already worked together.

The Barbarians, for example, first one that comes to mind.

But, yeah, Pino Donaggio was mostly associated with Brian De Palma around

time. I mean, their collaboration was very strong. They already had so many

films. Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Blowout, Under the Belt. I mean, home movies.

So, there was...

He was a big international name, of course. Pino Donato just started out as

singer and songwriter and really actually turned

down to be a composer out of pure chance. He stated

this many times. He was not looking to get into films, although some of his

songs... had appeared in films, he was not openly looking to become a composer

and, through circumstances, happened to cross the paths with Nicholas Roig. And,

you know, he ended up composing the wonderful music for that absolute

masterpiece called Don't Look Now.

And the rest, really, is history.

He's never stopped since.

Very perfect.

and possibly even more so in any way than Morricone, really kind of becomes

nearly an American. That's the way he's perceived, at least within the Italian

industry, really as an American composer.

He works pretty much throughout the 80s as many American films,

actually a lot of German films, a lot of also German television there in the mix

as well. But a lot of American films, I mean...

The Fan by Ed Bianchi and Deja Vu by Anthony B. Richmond and Going

Bananas by Boris Davidson and, of course, De Palma. He does a bunch in the

80s, a bunch of horror films, among which Haunts by Herb Freed and David

Schmuller. You know, he has a lot going there.

Works a lot in Italy, but really will start working more often for Italian

productions, more in the mid -90s. Throughout the 80s, he is perceived very

as an Italian working in the States, or working for the States mainly.

Yeah, from Nicholas Rogue to...

crawl space, you know, in one fell swoop. He's done it all.

Of course, also Dario Argento in the 90s starts using him on things like Two

Evil Eyes, Trauma, and came back later on for Do You Like Hitchcock?

Joe Dante used him on The Howling, of course, and Piranha.

So he's done a little bit of everything. He was just doing all kinds of little

low -budget films around this time too, tourist traps and sort of alternating

big assignments with little assignments. So he had that kind of Morricone work

ethic, which just seemed to be if the money is there, I'm there. I don't care

it's a big film or a small film. And he always gave it a big sound no matter

what. He's a composer who has a very busy style, so it's not a style that

for every film that he composes for.

There is a sense sometimes of the music working. against the imagery on some of

the films that he works with, not here, but certain films that he's done where

the music is really frenzied and it doesn't really quite fit too well, which

why he works extraordinarily well for directors like Brian De Palma in

particular, because De Palma's style really suits him like a glove.

As you mentioned prior to this, he had worked on...

Actually, Del Dotto's previous film, the one he did right before, that's almost

precisely a year before, in the summer of 1986, he saw The Barbarians, which is

a canon production.

Then he does this film in August and September of 87, and DiNagio's back. And

later on, he did a TV project called Ocean, which I've never seen, but which

a very impressive cast list, includes Mario Adorf, Martin Balsam, and Lou

Castel. So, yeah, very, very...

Yes, Irene Pappas.

The recently departed Irene Pappas, as a matter of fact.

So an extremely impressive cast list. I've never seen it, but I would imagine

that it's certainly worth a look based on that cast alone.

It's pretty good.

I mean, it's not...

It pretty much disappeared.

It's off the radar.

But if one manages to kind of find a copy of the TV movie,

TV miniseries to be precise, it's well worth a watch.

It's very unlike what Del Dato has done for cinema.

but it's more of a kind of an epic family drama, which has

some beautiful scenery, and as you say, it has an impressive cast.

Personally, Dildato has always stated he considers it his best film as a

director.

Although, I mean, to be fair, I've interviewed Grugio many, many, many,

times over the years,

Yeah, he tends to change opinions about pretty much everything all the time. So

I don't know how reliable. I mean, you know, us now, he'd

maybe say, well, I love this film.

Well, we all know that's true, of course.

Yes.

No, yeah, it's true. I mean, but to be fair, I think that's probably true of

most directors. I mean, Argento for years would say phenomena.

Then once or twice he said opera, and once or twice he said the Stendhal

syndrome. It just depends on, you know, what mood they're in and how defensive

they are sometimes, depending on how a film went over. I mean, we know that

Lucio Fulci, for example, was very protective towards films that didn't do

like The Psychic, Seven Notes in Black.

It was a big flop in a movie he always defended and always called maybe his

film, depending on certain times he said that.

So, yeah, I think that's something that happens on occasion. Now, we've talked a

little bit about Gianfranco Clerici and Vincenzo Menino, but just to give some

sense of the kinds of career that these writers had.

either alone or in tandem as a sort of writing team.

Their body of work is impressive. As I said, New York Ripper.

originated as a script that was heavily revised by Fulci and Sardinus and Ketzi.

But Kaleri Sheets also involved in the writing of Don't Torture a Duckling, for

example. We have the collaboration with Del Dotto on films like Cannibal

Holocaust, Jungle Holocaust, House on the Edge of the Park. Worked with

Lenzi several times, notably Violent Naples, which is possibly Lenzi's finest

film.

Little seen, at least in the U .S., Massimo Dallamano's sexy comedy with

Faneck, tying it back to the cast of this film, called Innocence and Desire.

a bad film if it ever got revived.

It might be a little problematic, let's say, but it's worth seeing.

Alberto De Martino on films like The Antichrist and Strange Shadows in an

Room or Blazing Magnums.

And Castellari on High Crime. So really these two writers, if we

liken them to an octopus, their tentacles have touched just about all

directors who worked in the Italian popular cinema of this period. So their

is involved in quite a few significant films.

Yes.

I can speak for Vincenzo Mannino particularly, because I've written about

Mannino quite a few times, and he's seemed to come and pop up a lot in my

especially recently.

But Vincenzo Mannino starts his career really thanks to direct Alberto De

Martino.

In fact, De Martino and Mannino went to school together.

and Manino initially took a completely different direction, whereas Alberto de

Martino really kind of throws himself in the trenches of late

1950s cinema, Italian cinema, which was booming.

Vincenzo Manino becomes a journalist.

And he actually worked as a journalist for a certain amount of time.

And as other journalists, Antonio Truisio, for example, is somebody who

mind, who wrote an incredible amount of films. He's also one of the writers of

Beyond the Door by Ovidio Giassonitis and the OP Roberto del Torre Piazzoli.

Like Truisio, Mannino...

kind of starts gravitating towards film and really gets introduced to the

business thanks to Alberto de Martino, who by that time was working and was a

prominent figure within the industry.

Mannino, when I interviewed Umberto Lenzi about Mannino, he described

Mannino as somebody who was very meticulous. He would research.

He would research the films, especially the crime films.

I'm thinking of such things as The Cynic Around the Fist or Syndicate Statist.

He would research the kind of the, as the French would say, the milieu, the

of the substrate,

social substrate in which these criminals would work in.

He would talk to police.

And his scripts, he said, would often not have quite the right rhythm. They

would not think of the spectacle that the film should incorporate.

But they were always very precise in describing a certain criminal

Whereas, as Lenzi mentioned, Sacchetti had somebody who would hand in a

script.

stained with tomato sauce.

Yes. No love lost there.

But that's not surprising if we know anything about both of those

Two bulls in a china shop.

Yeah, Violent Naples, he said, was essentially just a collection of

that Menino had managed to collect from the Neapolitan mob scene and so forth.

And the film bears that out. I think kind of a masterpiece of its kind. It's

such a great...

story as such but it's strung together with such precision and such energy that

it works It is very episodic. You know, it's not something that tells a great

sort of rhythmic tale from beginning to end. It's just, you know, this happens,

this happens, this happens, all kind of tenuously connected.

But it's done with such energy.

Who cares? I mean, it just works beautifully. So that's definitely the

I can definitely believe that with regards to a project like Violent

which is really one of the great Policieski of the 1970s, a movie

unavailable in a truly comprehensive special edition due to rights. issues

hopefully someday

we will have that set right.

I should mention, too, that this is obviously, particularly in this new

that Cauldron has put together for this release, a very handsome -looking film.

As I mentioned before, production values are quite good, but cinematography is

very good, and we have a cinematographer on this film, Giorgio Di Patista, who

is not one of the great big names in Italian cinema as far as cinematography

concerned, didn't have a particularly high profile. career as a

As a matter of fact, I believe this is the only movie he shot for Rosario Del

Dato, but he had been a camera operator going back to the late 60s,

and had worked on some interesting films. Not always great films, but

interesting films. He did a Gallo -style film in the late 60s for Rosario Brasi

called Psych Out for Murder, which was completely mutilated for the U .S., and

they added in some soft porn scenes and whatnot, but the original version is

certainly not without interest.

He worked on one of Antonio Margheriti's very best films, And God Said to Cain,

Western starring Klaus Kinski. One of the relatively few Kinski movies where

Kinski is front and center for the entire film.

It's not one of his just doing a little scene at the beginning, a little scene

at the end, and getting all of his scenes done in under a week.

He actually carries that movie. And a not very good, but kind of endearing

for Ricardo Freyda called Tragic Ceremony.

So he's had some interesting collaborations in his background as a

operator, but as a cinematographer, didn't really seem to have a tremendous

career, but I think did a very good job on this particular film. Yes, I would

definitely agree with that.

And seeing we are digging into kind of the crew, cast and crew of this film,

worthy of mention is Pietro Innocenzi, who is the third producer.

We mentioned, obviously, extensively, but Pietro Innocenzi is the...

kind of closes the trio.

Pietro Vincenzi was born, artistically speaking, within the

Luciano Marquino world and, in fact, was very much probably a

friend, I would imagine, but definitely somebody who knew Edwidge Fennec well,

who had worked on a number of films starring Edwidge Fennec, for the most

comedies.

And Pietro Ioncenti starts within Dania and Luciano Martino as a

production manager, a very prolific one, with quite an impressive

filmography as a production manager. I mean, he really works with pretty much

everybody. Luperto Lenzi,

Stelvio Marsi, Lucio Pulci is the production manager of Conquest, 1983

fantasy.

the only fantasy film directed by Lucio Fulci.

And the film I personally kind of find endearing. I find it a fun

little film.

It's definitely unique.

I don't know if the cinematography quite works as well as it should.

And it definitely...

has issues let's say but it's it's um it's an interesting film and far from

being one of his worst um as a producer he's definitely less uh prolific

and has less of a prestigious career but it's worth mentioning he directs

um very weird complete absolute flop in 1984 antonio

bido which most people remember as a jungle director

Bloodstained Shadow, and Help Me Out. What's the other one? Watch Me When I

Kill. Yes, Watch Me When I Kill. Or The Cat With The Jade Eye. Yes, that's how I

know it. That's the literal translation from Italian.

And he produces Be Dozomi Comedy in 1984, which turned out to be

a massive flop and pretty much has disappeared since.

He produces for Sergio Martino, Casablanca Express, I believe shortly

Balance, I think possibly the year after, two years after, between 1988 and

1989, another film that is kind of forgotten, although the cast is there,

believe Donald Pleasance is in it as well, alongside Glenn Ford, of all

And also produces two very strange... Well, actually

produces three films with Monica Guerritore, Gabriele Labia's wife at the

two of which kind of border into the Giallo -F territory, and they were both

directed by...

Her husband, Gabriele Labia, which obviously everybody knows for Deep Red

Zeder, and he's a very prestigious, very well -known Italian stage actor,

which are Fences and Scandalosa Gilda, which were both done pretty

much back -to -back between 1985 and 1986.

But, interestingly enough...

In the 90s, although never really becoming prolific, Pietro Innocenzi

reaches national success with Palermo -Milan, One Way, Claudio

Fragasso's massive undertaking,

his biggest film.

the biggest film in his career, starring Giancarlo Giannini and Stefania

Sandrelli and a number of high -profile actors.

And in 2016, also kind of reunited with Ruggero

Del Dato and produced his Palette in Blood.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. Well, I mean, you know, as far as Deodato himself is

concerned, you know, in terms of where his career was at the time, you know,

it's worth talking a little bit about his background and so forth, obviously.

He's somebody who came up through the ranks, as it were, had been an assistant

director, had assisted Roberto Rossellini, for example, had been, you

somebody who had very significant connections with Sergio Cobucci,

Django and various other films as well, before getting into directing films, as

many people of his generation did in the 60s, mostly with Peplum and Spaghetti

Westerns, things like that, that were very popular at the time before he

established himself. which is himself in the 70s.

Cannibal Holocaust, as we all know for obvious reasons, is a scandalous movie,

incredibly controversial, banned in some places, heavily censored just about

everywhere else, a movie that really caused a great deal of difficulty.

But at the very same year that that movie comes out, he makes an arguably

nastier film called House on the Edge of the Park, which doesn't have any real

violence in it. It doesn't have the notorious scenes of animal violence.

But in terms of its exploration of what people are capable of doing to each

other, it's probably even a darker and uglier film in many respects.

And a film that has a connection to this one, of course, we're going to be

seeing our old friend Giovanni Lombardo Radice here in short order, who made his

film debut in House on the Edge of the Park. He comes back here to play a role

as a priest in this film.

But kind of affected his progression of his career in a certain sense. He was

having some difficulty getting employment for a period of time.

various different projects kind of stalled and so forth.

But this is during a period of time when the Italian film industry in general,

as we've talked about on many occasions, is starting to go through a bit of a

collapse. Things are starting to really slow down, this tremendous period of

great prolific creativity that yielded not just big arthouse sensations, but

also these great beloved genre films that we know and love so much.

It's all kind of coming to an end during this period of time.

As I mentioned, this one was shot in August and September of 1987.

So it's really, this is kind of getting into the last year or two where there's

kind of respectable kind of production given to movies of this nature during

this period of time. Dario Ageno, of course, comes out with Opera during this

time, which is a big film.

But, you know, things are going to be changing in very short order.

After this film, he follows up with a very strange, let's say, supernatural

horror. film called dial help um it has its moments it has its pleasures uh

certainly uh not a an unworthy film but then he comes back to the jallo in 93

with a movie i am very very fond of called the washing machine um a movie

probably been hurt by its title more than anything else i mean it's not an

appetizing title and it doesn't have any big stars in it which probably also

doesn't help.

But I think a really accomplished movie. Actually, I think in some respects a

more interesting film even than this one, but not a movie that's ever really

a tremendous amount of exposure. Again, I suspect because you don't have the big

names in the cast and the title itself is kind of, let's face it, a little bit

off -putting.

But that would be his last genre feature until Ballad of Blood in 2016.

So a lot of TV work in between and more benign type of subject matter. But, you

know, his run of kind of genre work is kind of coming to a close around this

time. Yes, I mean, Ruggero Del Dato is really kind of the quintessential

technical director.

I mean, he really is somebody who I...

I think probably has the longest career as

an AD.

Definitely among the ones of his generation, I would probably say the

prolific AD in the 60s. I mean, and as you said, he works with...

Pretty much everybody.

I mean, from Sergio and Bruno Corbucci, both of them, to obviously Roberto

Rossellini. I mean, he really gets his start with Rossellini

for his... Really, actually, because he was Rossellini's next -door neighbor.

They lived in the same area in Rome, Parioli, which is very upper class.

part of the city where Ruggero D 'Adato still lives to this day, and

creates a very strong bond with Roberto Rossellini's son, well, one

of many, Renzo, Renzo Rossellini, who later is still alive, still with us. I

know he's not doing very well, though.

health -wise, but he will become the president of the Goumon company

in the late 70s. And in fact, it's the man who greenlit Zeta by Pugliavati.

And of course, he was an accomplished AD and then also directed and now

really is the kind of canter of his father. He's written more than one book

participated in more books on on various books on his father but so uh that are

really kind of um

worked in the trenches of cinema. I mean, he works on an incredible variety

genres and different directors.

Antonio Margheriti as well, somebody he worked with.

And he was somebody who knew the trade. I mean, he was a reliable director

and also helped a lot by publicity. I mean, a lot of the gaps

in Deodato's career are filled with...

uh tv commercials uh he does a lot of them and i would say that in a

way he dildato kind of stumbled into his uh kind of imagery kind

of in into his um filmic philosophy or his his uh his style i

mean

I'm not saying that he didn't have some sort of style, of approach, narrative

traits he would return to often, but it's really when he kind of

finds cannibal movies, I mean, Last Cannibal World first, and obviously

Hulk House, is really when he kind of

finds his...

poetics you know he that kind of bittersweet concoction of

violence and but also of melancholy he finds so many

of within that sub -genre he finds so many of his collaborators he'll use

Rizzo Tolani, of course, which is a composer that will return numerous

And even that whole idea of using very sweet, very sad music of

scenes of incredible violence.

And, you know, so much, so many of the ingredients that were pre -existing in

his career really come together when he discovers the cannibal movies. And I

think it's one of those cases where...

A film kind of reshapes the career of a director. It's a little bit like, I

would say, Brian Eustace's first film, in that case, Society.

That blueprint can just be found throughout his career, even if he did

completely different films.

subject matters. Cannibal Hulk has never really disappeared in his career. It

can be found in one way or another in pretty much everything he's done for

cinema since.

I think it really kind of created a strong imprint.

But yes, he was a reliable director that kind of had a

soft spot for controversy.

I mean, he's somebody who didn't mind tackling

difficult subject matters or, you know, being, you know, being

in dangerous territories. But to be fair, he never got, I mean, some of his

films are problematic, especially with, you know, watching them now.

Some films, you know, have questionable...

questionable elements to them. But he never really gets tacky. His films

have a certain elegance.

Because he knows his trade. He knows how to

manipulate well his

audience. And he does it with a fair amount of style most of the time.

Yeah, you can always tell the people who've never seen Cannibal Holocaust by

comments that they make. Oh, it's badly made. It's badly acted. It's this, it's

that. which is enough to pretty much tell you, you probably haven't seen it.

You've probably read about it and thought it sounded reprehensible, and

just decided you're going to attack it without actually seeing it.

It's actually an extraordinarily well -made film, extraordinarily well -shot

Sergio Dovizzi.

As you mentioned, a beautiful score by Rizzottolani and, you know, tremendous

contrast between the beautiful music and the grim imagery and so forth.

This is not accidental or sloppy or slapdash filmmaking.

It's an extremely well -made film.

really interesting in its own way, the earlier Jungle Holocaust, or Last

Cannibal World, which has an extraordinary central performance by Maz

That's another film that really makes it very clear this man knows exactly what

it is that he's doing.

And throughout the various different genres that he's dipped in and out of,

obviously going into the Policieski with Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man, which

is a really completely over -the -top, deranged film with very strong

homoerotic undercurrent or overcurrent even in the relationship between Ray

Lovelock and Mark Farrell that informs the central part of that film.

And really, you know, in all the various other films, as you say, even a movie

like House on the Edge of the Park, which is an extremely dark and extremely

nihilistic and at times deeply unpleasant film, I would agree, it's

It's extremely well shot, again by Del Fizzi, as a matter of fact, and, you

know, again with the Ortolani soundtrack.

So it's a lot of the same collaborators coming back, as filmmakers tend to do.

They obviously find people that they work with extremely well, and you can

it throughout various filmographies. I don't care whether you're John Ford or

Lucio Fulci.

There are the same collaborators who come back over and over again for good

reason.

So his films are always distinguished by that sense of craftsmanship, which is

something that he learned as an AD, working alongside various different

directors of both big and small calibers.

But I think that this kind of notion, this fantasy that Cannibal Holocaust is

just a sort of slapped -ass, sloppy excuse to shock the viewer is not at all

fair, not at all supported by the movie itself, which really demonstrates a

tremendous... of cinematic language.

Yes, and speaking of other important figures

within the crew of this film, I think, I mean, this is definitely not

superficially a special effects heavy film,

especially compared to what Del Dato directed.

But it is a film where special effects are, in fact, pivotal.

I mean, the transformation, the mutation that Michael York goes through is

something that only works thanks to the special makeup effects of somebody who

never gets really mentioned often despite an incredibly prolific career,

distinguished, which is Dino Gagliano.

Now, Dino Gagliano...

is often working alongside more well -known

names. I mean, Dino Galliano worked with Carlo Rambaldi, although only on one

film, but then worked numerous times with Giannetto De Rossi, with...

Presto Pino. I mean, he really kind of works with all the major special

the effects masters of that time.

But also did quite a bit also by himself.

And he can be found,

well,

obviously in a lot of Dania films. We've understood that this is a very kind of

Dania forged.

film. In fact, he's responsible for the special effects of, special makeup

effects, of course, we're talking about here. So, the violent professionals and

violent action, a number of Polizetti, many of which also

were directed by Bertolensi, syndicate status come to mind as well.

He really works with everybody.

I mean, impressive are the special effects he did for Island of the

aimed by Martino, but he works with Castellari, Corbucci, Steno, Antonio

Margheriti, numerous times, in fact.

He works alongside, I think, some of his most impressive work is with Alvaro

Passeri, also known as simply Al Passeri, on Wild Beasts.

by Franco Prosperi, which is an incredibly

well -made, quite bizarre, bizarrely

lit and bizarrely short, but very effective echo vengeance horror directed

one of the Mundo Masters, Franco Prosperi.

Not to be mistaken with the other Franco Prosperi, Francesco Prosperi, who was

just a straight director of fiction, of films.

And Nino Gagliano also did responsible the special makeup effects

of Four Flies and Grey Velvet.

by Dario Argento. So we're looking at somebody who, or And God Said to Cain by

Antonio Margheriti, which is one of my favorite Westerns, starring Klaus

So, I mean, he is somebody who really knows what he's doing. And by the time

reaches Off Balance or Phantom of Death, he's somebody with about 20 years

career, 20 years spanning career behind him.

So yeah, Dino Gagliano definitely deserves tip of the hat for what I think

pretty good special effects.

They work.

Oh yeah.

The aging makeup, I think, on Michael York is quite good. I'm pleased to see

that in a high -definition transfer, they hold up. I mean, sometimes you get

these films cleaned up and get a better look at them, and you can start to see

the seams and so forth. But I think that the makeup bears close scrutiny, which,

of course, it needs to.

That would have been something that Deodato was well aware of because of the

he was planning on covering scenes.

You know, you couldn't just film Michael York in a long shot and expect to sell

the idea that he had aged. You're going to be able to need to get up close. and

so forth. So the makeup is very good. There's some very good splatter effects

too, which is definitely Deodato kind of tipping his hat to his newfound legacy

as a purveyor of cinematic shocks.

So the murder scenes perhaps aren't as elaborately choreographed and

fetishistically sort of staged as what you would get in an Argento or Fulci

film. But in terms of delivering the red stuff, they certainly don't.

They don't hold back. There's a fair amount of arterial spray and so forth

we get in the film. So very, very effective.

And going with our deep dive into the crew and with Dania, we could also

mention our editor here, Daniele Albizzo, who is a very prolific editor

the 1960s. He's worked with...

You know, so many of these people that we've been talking about off and on. Of

course, Deodato, he'd worked with previously on Jungle Holocaust, did a

of the films that Lindsay did for Dania, including Syndicate Status and The

Tough Ones.

He also cut Nightmare City for Lindsay.

You know, don't call it a zombie movie.

It's one of Lindsay's most purely enjoyable films, however you want to

it. Also did Massimo Dallamano's first yellow, very interesting film from the

late 60s called A Black Veil for Lisa.

The original Italian title, Blue, translates to Death Has No Sex, another

that was kind of mutilated and reconfigured for U .S. consumption,

reshuffled and so forth.

The Italian version is much better. And did a very interesting film for Armando

Caspino as well, Autopsy, with Mimsy Farmer.

So, yeah, I mean, he's obviously somebody else whose career is quite

and intersects with many of the major directors and some of the big cult films

of the period.

Yeah. And on my side, to conclude, the crew members

worth mentioning, we have also Octaviano de Lacqua, the

stunt coordinator.

This is not a stunt -heavy film, but there are a few falls and

definitely moments where a stunt was needed.

When I interviewed Octaviano de Lacqua about the film, he mentioned having had

very small role in it, although I have to admit, I did not notice him.

While seeing the film, I've never noticed him, which I mean, he probably,

might remember just confused films or simply made

a mistake or that his kind of cameo appearance was cut and, you know, ended

on the

editing room floor.

But Ottaviano Dell 'Acqua, I mean, I think for most people, you know,

who doesn't really need any introduction.

I mean, he comes from a family of acrobats and circus performers.

One of the biggest Italian stunt families. I mean, I...

At some point, we all stopped, collectively stopped counting.

I mean, I think there are about 10, 11, the luck was...

working in films, different moments in time.

Ottaviano, obviously, is kind of the crown jewel of the family, if you will,

definitely the most famous abroad.

Of course, he is Eye Worm from Zombie Flesh Eaters, a .k .a. Zombie, by Lucio

Pulci.

which, and he always likes telling me that he is the most, he's beaten, I

don't know exactly what he means by that, but every time he tells me he's

Freddy Krueger with the role of I -Worm.

Beat Freddy Krueger. I don't know if he means that literally. I don't know. I

don't know. I've never really dug deeper.

But, yeah, of course, he's the eye worm from Zombie, and he is also the lead,

together with his colleague and very, very, very close friend, Massimo Banni.

He is the lead in Rats, Night of Terror by Bruno Mattei, which is...

Kind of a cult favorite of mine. I mean, I think it's wonderfully delirious.

If somebody's listening and hasn't seen Rap, I suggest, you know, just do

it.

blindly go towards the light, go towards rats.

It's well worth it. It was all shot on the same locations, you know,

the same production design of Once Upon a Time in America by Sergio Leone.

Those are the sets of Once Upon a Time in America.

So, I mean, it's an incredible film.

Directed by Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso.

that wasn't credited, though, as the director.

The list is infinite.

He's worked on, I think, officially probably a couple of hundred films,

but the list of uncredited work pretty much never ends.

He's fallen, tripped, been hit or hit someone else.

even if it's just for a very brief scene in many, many, many films. He even

participated in John Wick 2 and one of the

latest James Bond films that was shot in Rome.

So, I mean, he's just very much deserving

of his cult status.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

And speaking of cult status, I would be kicking myself furiously later on if I

neglected to bring this up. I didn't have the heart to cut in on you talking,

but we will acknowledge the scene that we just had with Donald Pleasance having

a full meltdown in the street and saying the F -bomb, I think, for the only time

in his cinematic career. I cannot remember the man ever using such vulgar

language in another film. He's part of that group of actors, that generation of

Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee.

Can you imagine these people saying the F -bomb in a film? I know I can't. So

Donald Pleasence saying, I'll fucking kill you is something worth noting. It's

probably the only time it ever happened in a film. Certainly, I can't say that

I've seen every single film he was ever in, but it's the only one I can remember

where that happened. So I had to point that out.

Yes, and now this scene was all

shot.

Adolgiata, which is an area ever so slightly out of Rome,

going north, and it's an area of kind of very

lavish, very kind of high -class villas

and kind of picket fences. It's very unlike what you'd associate to...

to rome um you know the small alleys and the big monuments and uh and it's

very upper class a very very not it's associated with a lot of snobbery and

of the themes are not supposed to be ojata but some of the themes towards the

end were shot there probably to match where they where they had shot

Yeah, well, that's one of those things that's lost on non -Italians, obviously.

But if you know the area, it's like seeing films that are shot in and around

York and so forth or any other major city, whether it be London or Los

or whatever.

You know, the imaginary geography that's constructed in some of these films can

be quite amazing sometimes where a short stroll in a film would really take you

many, many miles and many, many hours to complete in real life. So not an

unusual thing at all, it has to be said.

Now, this film, as I've mentioned a couple times before, was shot between

and September of 1987.

It appears that it was actually rushed through post -production pretty quickly.

pretty briskly because it had its first screening at MIFED just in time for

Halloween of 1987.

It did not go into general release, however, in Italy until March of 1988,

having been passed for release by the Italian censors at the end of January.

So, you know, fairly brisk post -production process involved in the

this film. Again, considering the fact that you get a composer like D 'Onozio

board and so forth, time was still of the essence, although...

You know, I'm sure DiNagio, like Morricone, was not a stranger to working

great duress. And probably like Morricone, I would imagine, you know, if

heard enough DiNagio scores.

And it's the same thing with all of these composers.

Silvio Cipriani is the most notorious example where you hear the scales all

time in his scores. I mean, it's the great kidnapping, rabid dogs, what have

they done to your daughters, you know, ad nauseum.

It's always the same music type that you hear over and over again.

DiNagio definitely has certain distinctive types of themes and so forth

hear, which we may presume probably he had a drawer of certain things he could

go to, suspense music, sad music.

things like that that he'd be able to pull out and recycle on a pretty

consistent basis.

Because like Morricone, he's insanely prolific. He's getting a lot of

films, again, as we said before, varying different sizes, big and small, going.

So, yeah, time is of the essence definitely in a film such as this.

And this whole thing here with the dog, by the way, as an animal lover, I always

find this particularly rather touching and moving. It's a side that you don't

get to see in many Dodo films, which are known to be rather more coarse and

rather more brutal and vicious. This movie has a kind of melancholy quality

it, which is probably one of the reasons that I rank it fairly highly in his

filmography.

Yes, I mean, it is a very sad film with a strong

melancholic streak going through it.

I mean, a lot of the people, I mean, if Del Dato does kind of have an ambivalent

relationship with the film, most of the people who worked on it actually

remember it pretty fondly. I mean, I know Gianni Lombardo Radice.

he has a special place in his heart for this film, although he has quite a small

role.

By the second half of the 80s, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, although working and

being still quite prolific, his role had gotten a lot smaller.

I mean, if we consider that between...

1980 and 1984.

He works on such films as The House on Virgil Park, where his role as Ricky,

although being, I believe, the fourth or even fifth name.

on the uh on the billboard is in fact is is the co -protagonist i mean ricky is

is just as important pretty much as david hess's character um but of

course even his role as bob in city of the living dead uh is is incredibly

important narratively speaking and the screen time is is okay it's pretty hefty

uh he definitely has some steel scenic moments in the film.

And of course, he had been the lead in Cannibal Ferox, his first 100 %

leading role in a film, Cannibal Ferox by Umberto Lenzi.

Umberto Lenzi's last effort within the cannibalistic subgenre.

Johnny Lombardo Radice, really in this period of time, he's working mostly, and

even out of the set, he is very much, he's bonded deeply with Michele Suavi,

and of course many people remember him in The Sect and The Church and Stage

Fright.

He was supposed to also appear in Della Morta dell 'Amore, but...

Pretty much there wasn't a role that was suitable for him and they couldn't

really kind of make it work for Radice.

But Johnny Omar Radice does have a very deep relationship with...

off balance and in fact describes the scene he had with Michael York as being

something close to mystical.

He has stated a number of times when I've interviewed him that he,

while acting and looking at Michael York in the eyes, he kind of felt this...

strange, mystical attraction, which he doesn't describe as sexual, but

nearly kind of sexless kind of force

pulling him towards Michael York.

Kind of a Stendhal syndrome actor's version.

That's kind of how he describes it.

um kind of being being completely enraptured in the moment and uh and

from it so um and he that that's the only time this kind of um

pseudo -intellectual uh emotional uh attraction this is the only time

he's ever felt that uh for another actor uh while working uh so um so yeah

so he he has the great

has greatly fond memories of this film in particular.

Yeah.

And the actor who was appearing opposite Donald Pleasance in that previous

scene, Familiar Face 2, Marino Massey, who we know from films like Santa Brave

as well as enormous productions like The Leopard, Belly of an Architect,

Godfather 3.

So very familiar face.

Quite recently, a couple of years ago. Yeah.

Yeah, as a matter of fact, it was this year, wasn't it, actually? I think it

earlier this year. I could be wrong, though.

Certainly. Somebody who left us recently, regardless, and had a long,

interesting career. But, you know, he's another one of those actors who just

comes in, probably worked for an afternoon on the film, and that was

But, yeah, I mean, referencing Lombardo Radice, of course, his notoriety is

something that he's embraced in more recent years. For years, he had a very

deeply ambivalent attitude about his relationship with Italian genre films

because he's a very serious stage actor.

always kind of kept the stage side and the film side separate. Very often he

billed as John Morgan in these films, whereas his quote -unquote legitimate

acting work on the stage was proudly under his own name.

He always told the story about Lucio Fulci having shown up at his house one

time for a party, and at one point... Fulci had to use the restroom, and he

into the bathroom and saw the poster for City of the Living Dead was hanging in

the bathroom. And Fulci came out and said, ladies and gentlemen, I'm in the

So he definitely had this kind of ambivalent attitude for a long time,

he's embraced it in recent years, has been going, participating in the

convention circuit, which is also lucrative, to be fair. I mean, I'm sure

has a lot to do with it. It helps you.

supplement his income.

But his first films, obviously, you know, doing films for Deodato, Fulci,

Margheriti, you know, Margheriti, of course, is known as a kind of gentleman

director. He's very calm, very quiet, very placid, respectful on set, not the

type of ferocious.

powerhouse on set that somebody like Lindsay is or Deodato or Fulci.

And Lombardo Boudicchi always has said and told me, as a matter of fact, that

liked Fulci.

He's very fond of Deodato, hated Lindsay with a passion, hated him with the heat

of a thousand suns and has said very numerous negative things about him,

when those things got back to Lindsay, Lindsay started replying in kind and

would say things like, oh, he's only known for my movie and for a little bit.

little cameo in one of Lucio Fulci's movies, which is not quite accurate

because, as you said, his role in City of the Living Dead can't be described as

a cameo.

It's a fairly substantial part and a very memorable one.

But a lot of bawling back and forth, insults and so forth infamously on that

film, which Lombardo Radice is not a fan of, putting it mildly. But he always

said that, you know, with Fulci, Fulci's kind of outbursts had a cause. They had

a purpose.

They were usually caused by prima donnas on the set or by people being lazy, not

doing what they were supposed to do, so he would flip out and kind of get

everybody back on their feet and doing what they were supposed to be doing. So

he always felt it was for a good reason.

Deodato, he felt, leavened his nastiness with a lot of humor, which he really

appreciated. He thought Deodato was a hysterically funny man, whereas he said

Lindsay was just flat -out mean. Lindsay was just a bully and a braggart and an

egomaniac and all that. all these other things so uh that was where he drew the

line you know even though he was aware that deodato had made this infamous

cannibal holocaust and i'm sure would be you know horrified by some of the

things in it um he has always maintained a very happy relationship with him

whereas going off with lindsey to make cannibal ferox was something that uh was

a uh well let's say a deeply unpleasant experience that he's never forgotten or

forgiven yeah Yes, indeed.

I mean, another director Radice has always criticized, and not quite as

vigorously as in the case of Lenzi, but definitely a director he was not fond of

was Fabrizio De Angelis, who directed

Radice, Lombardo Radice, in

Impatto Mortale.

Deadly Weapon, I believe the American title is, starring Bose, Venson, Fred

Williamson. And Manny Lombardo de Dica played one of the villains in the film,

one of the antagonists.

As he often did, he would always have these very ambiguous, both ambiguous,

sexually and also in their kind of goals and intent.

And yes, De Angelis was someone else for different reasons. De Angelis was,

according to Lomar de la Riche, very cynical. He was also the producer of the

film. So he kind of pretty much had free range and could do whatever he wanted.

And it was impossible to ask him anything or, you know, bring forward a

complaint or a suggestion. He would just shut everybody off.

unless they were the big stars of the film. In that case, they had kind of the

possibility of talking to him freely.

So, yeah, Johnny and Maradona always had a kind of a

difficult relationship when it came to genre films.

to be fair, cinema in general.

Although recently he did tell me, you know, if I had known that, you know,

were the films people were going to be talking about, I would have taken things

a lot more seriously and done a lot more of them.

Radice refused a lot of films around that time.

You know, he really saw these productions as a possibility of funding

his theatre.

pieces and his lifestyle he's often talked about um specifically referring

the early 80s and the period in which he was um um acting in the cannibal ferox

uh he really needed money also because of his drug problem he's been very open

about his cocaine addiction um and and so i mean he he really did have um

yeah a difficult Difficult time. Let's remember also he is a writer, a

screenwriter as well.

He actually wrote,

although there wasn't a director attached to the project at the time.

So, you know, it came completely to a surprise that Lindsay ended up directing

it. But Radisha did write the... I mean, I don't know about you, Troy, but I

think it could be one of...

I mean, it's definitely in my book, one of Lindsay's worst films, which is

Daughter of the Jungle. I have great difficulties finding redeeming elements

that film.

Well, don't forget, even bad Umberto Lindsay films are still masterpieces.

Yeah, indeed.

How could I forget?

No, it is pretty bad. It has some interesting, if you dig deep, some

interesting sort of subtextual kind of social commentary going on, which may be

a stretch. I don't know.

It is enough to elevate it a little bit above something like the Perino comedy

that Lindsay did, which is probably the absolute bottom of the Lindsay barrel.

But yeah, Lindsay and comedies were not necessarily a great mix.

No, no, well, Radice, you know, wrote that, although he's often stated that

original script was completely taken apart and very, very little remains of

original story. He also wrote Por Duccio d 'Ezzari, Aeroporto

Internazionale, a TV series for television, and of

course...

probably most people listening will know, he did write a script for House on

Edge of the Park Part 2, which was never made.

And there's a lot to say about that never -made

project. But Radishu did write more than one version of the script that saw

his character as the lead.

Ricky was supposed to be the...

at the center of the story.

But, yes.

Dildato was interested in directing it, but it was supposed to be a British

production initially. First, there was a hint from Germany, a hint of interest,

but then it was supposed to be a British production. But, yeah, it wasn't

supposed to be.

It's one of those things I've read about it and I've heard about it enough that

I think, I don't know, it may be just as well it didn't happen. I'm not entirely

sure.

Recapturing that magic all those years after the fact, in the same way that

there was talk of years of there being a cannibal holocaust part two, it's kind

of like after a certain point, it's probably a good idea not to go back to

because...

trying to revisit this sort of subject matter so many years on might not be the

best of ideas. But you'll never know, of course.

Maybe it could have been a remarkable piece of work. I'll never know because

it's never been made.

But, yeah.

You can never tell how these things are going to turn out.

Obviously, there was no talk of a phantom of death or off balance part

would be very difficult. The thing is how our killer is unfortunately now

leaving us. I guess we could have done the further adventures of Inspector

Dottie, which I should say.

The fact that his name is, well, Daddy, it's pronounced Daddy. It does sound

slightly funny on the English track, even though it is Michael York. And, you

know, there is a fair amount of production audio on this film, as far as

tell. It does very often sound like he's calling him Daddy, which could be an

interesting little bit of subtext into this film that we have not explored.

The killer's daddy issues here with Donald Pleasance.

looking at him very disapprovingly as the son who has let him down.

God, I think we have to redo this and just analyze that

route. I'm sure many would agree with you.

Yes, well, we're coming close to the end.

I mean, it's quite a sad ending.

It's very... Yeah, very melancholic.

It's maybe not completely surprising. The film was not a massive hit in Italy.

It did well over time, thanks to VHS and television, and it kind of

managed to recoup most of the money, but it was not a success by any means,

which is not surprising, I think, for the genre it's part of, and possibly for

the... quite depressing main theme and kind of just general story.

Yeah, no, it probably wasn't destined to be a big box office hit, although it

had to come just a few years earlier. Who knows? It may have done well.

As we said, Donald Pleasance had been a part of Nothing Underneath just a few

years before, which did do extremely well.

But perhaps that was slightly more commercial in some respects.

But anyway, here we are all these years later looking back at this film that I

think is a very interesting example of a genre, one of the last really kind of

good, slick, well -crafted Italian genre films of its period.

and it's been a lot of fun talking to you about it.

Absolutely, same here.

Hope everybody enjoyed that, and yes,

here we go.

Until next time, ciao.

Ciao.