Written
By: Edoardo Margheriti
I
have wanted to make something different apart from the usual biographies
which can be found in dozens of books and specialized websites. Being
the son of Antonio Margheriti (Anthony M. Dawson), and having worked
with him for over twenty years, I have the understanding to best
describe his professional life, omitting the things commonly known and
upon which much has been already written. I will not describe in detail
his movies, his personal style, the hundreds of Special Effects made, or
his passion for "contamination of film kinds"; but I want to
write about his beginnings, his passions, the unrealized dreams and the
films not made. The many satisfactions, as well as the delusions that he
had in life, work and friendships.
Of
his private life I won't tell much, because Antonio was a discreet and
timid person, and he never liked to let his life become public. He had a
sort of a “secret personal life”, so much so that some journalists
once called him: "The new invisible man", or like he once
defined himself in an interview "the Mysterious Beetle".
However,
for those who do not know anything about the Film Maker Antonio
Margheriti this biography will be complete with the detailed file cards,
which can be consulted by visiting the web page: “All
His Films”. There you will find over 120 pages about his movies.
Divided up by genre and complete with Technical Data, Plots, Notes,
Photo Galleries, and where available, Trailers and Video clips.
Additionally, other biographies may be read by clicking over the links
at the bottom of this page.
--------------------------
Antonio
Margheriti was born in Rome on September 19th 1930, within an
affluent family, notwithstanding the economically bad period of the
Italian history. He was a lively and creative child,
and since a young age he demonstrated great intelligence and a desire to
be creative. His brisk and curious little eyes, already promising him a
brilliant future. Luigi, his father, was a Railroad Engineer, a serious
and strict person. Pierina, his mother, a very sweet Italian woman. They
had four sons: Lydia, Adriana, Alberto and finally Antonio, the
youngest.
When he was a child they lived in Rome, in Monte Sacro, which at that
time was practically in the country, whilst today it has been surrounded
by the city and has become almost defined as “downtown”. At the
beginning of the War, he transferred with all the family to live in
Verona, where they remained for almost ten years. There, Antonio
attended the high school and played sports. When the World Conflict
ends,
a young 
and
sporting Antonio Margheriti attempts, with discrete success, the career
of soccer player. He even plays for the Verona Soccer Team, which at
that time was in the third division. He played but only one season. In
fact he was forced to retire after an accident during a game. At the end
of 1940 all the family traveled back to Rome, and Antonio enrolled at
the university at the faculty of Engineering. Perhaps attempting to
follow on in his father’s job. He only attended the university for one
year, because he decided to make a dream come true and tries to find a
job in the movie business.
This
choice was obviously met with opposition from his family, whom consider
this work unsuitable and without a future. Effectively in the 50’s in
Italy movie making wasn’t a respectable job, except for those few
"Artists" selected by the critics. But Antonio had already
made his decision and despite all of the difficulties which he
encountered along his path, he never went back upon his decision.
He
started to write novels and screenplays, and tried to become known for
directing some theatrical performances, advertising and documentaries.
One of these was a documentary entitled "Old Rome", an
homage to his city, reported and viewed through the eyes of an old man.
An old man
walking by the city, seeing streets and monuments like they were in the
past. With this short film, he demonstrated an efficacious talent, but
still found it not easy to enter into “show business”.
In
those years he met Miranda Bonardi, the
woman which he would marry in 1953 and whom would given him two children,
Antonella, borne in 1954, and finally I, in 1959. A short while after
the marriage, Antonio begins to have luck, and he succeeds in working
for a few small Movie Productions, starting to become known. He also
begins his timid incursions into the world of special effects, where he
gained the title of "expert of effects". He even collaborated
with Mario Bava, who at that time was working as a cameraman, for some
advertising company. He had to wait until 1953 to be called upon to
handle the special effects for "The Five of Adamello" , by
Pino Mercanti. A film produced by Otello Colangeli.
(who was an Editor, owner of "Cinemontaggio" , a post
production company which also produced a couple of films). Otello was
the first one to notice the technical and artistic qualities of Antonio
Margheriti, and in the future, he went on to work with him in dozens of
films, as editor or producer.
Neither
Antonio’s technical capabilities or the determination he put into his
job, were not enough to let him work on the big productions. Once, he
told me an amusing story: in 1955, every morning for several months he
would walk in front of the entrance of Titanus, (one of the biggest
Italian production companies owned by Goffredo Lombardo),
just on schedule with which Gilberto Carbone,
line producer of that company, arrived at the office. And every morning
Antonio greeted him, pretending to be there for work or just passing by:
"Good morning Mister Carbone.." and so, every day for weeks
until Carbone, who was really a very funny man from Naples, began to
answer back to the greetings. First in a formal way, then in a more
conducive manner. At the end, after several months, they became friends, going to the coffee shop together where Carbone would listen
with amusement to the thousand ideas of a young and enthusiastic Antonio
Margheriti.
Meanwhile
he continued to write, and finally one day Carbone offered him the
opportunity to collaborate on the screenplay of "Presentimento"
a film he produced for the Titanus company , under the direction of
Armando Fizzarotti. After that film, always with thanks to Gilberto
Carbone, some of his screenplays ended up on the desk of Goffredo
Lombardo, and he decided to produce them. Antonio wrote "Classe
di Ferro" (1957) a musical comedy, to be directed by Turi
Vasile, (who was a director, producer and writer). With Turi
Vasile begins a real
friendship, one of the few Antonio has in his life, which lasted for
over forty years. Antonio worked with Vasile as a screenwriter and
assistant director in three other film: "Gambe
d’oro" (1958) a comedy with Totò. Based upon a soccer
team, a world which Margheriti knows very well; "Promesse
di Marinaio" (1958) and "Roulotte
e Roulette" (1959) two musical and sentimental comedies.
Turi Vasile, was also a producer with the company Ultra Film. Knowing
the extraordinary ability of Antonio to realize spectacular special
effects he proposed to him a project he had had in mind since a long
time. A film based upon the Messina’s earthquake , entitled "The
night the earth 
trembles",
a story about the catastrophe that truly happened in 1908 and the
actions of heroism of a few people at the forefront of the disaster.
Antonio, enthusiastic as usual, started work immediately and in just a
few weeks built some miniatures which would be used to shoot for a show
reel for Titanus. Mixing up with simple tricks scenes with actors would
be shot amongst the miniature settings and they would be collapsed. The
test results were very successful and the effects really impressive. But
that kind of film, in an epoch were still far from the “disaster
movies”, and a risky business. A risk that no producer felt prepared
to face. The project was abandoned, but never by Antonio. Several years
later he would try to make it, with a new script by Ernesto
Gastaldi, for Carlo Ponti, with Sofia Loren as lead actress in
one of the episodes. (Cont.)
Continue:
[Page 2] - [Page
3]
