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When
Titanus abandoned the film, Turi Vasile, who became a kind of
“mentor” for Antonio, convinced Goffredo Lombardo to produce another
film directed by Margheriti. An innovative movie which Antonio wrote
with Ennio De Concini. It was a Science
Fiction film, a new genre for the Italian 
productions,
in fact during this time Sci-fi was an exclusive territory of the
American or British market. This time Lombardo liked the project and
produced, together with Ultra Films, "Spacemen"
(US title: Assignment Outer Space) (1960), the first film
directed by Antonio Margheriti. The production was made in record time
(less
than 20 days), and with a very small budget (30.000 US$), but the result
was amazing. Titanus sold it all over the world, and, for obvious
commercial reasons, Margheriti was forced to use an American pseudonym,
(like he was to use at that time and as it would turn out, right up to
the mid '90’s.). Antonio chose an almost literal translation of his
name: Anthony Daisies, but he had to change
it for the American release to Anthony Dawson,
(due to the distributors stating that “daisies” sounded a little
like a gay name) and after few years he was forced to transform it into Anthony
M. Dawson, the pseudonym which he later then used in all of his
films. But this is a known story..
After
"Spacemen" Antonio wanted to make a film about prehistoric
creatures, and so realized another screen test of special effects with
“home made” prehistoric monsters to submit to the Titanus. My father
had a real passion for the old masterpieces of the genre like: "The
Lost World" (1925) and "King Kong" (1933), and almost a
veneration for the work of the pioneers of fantastic movies, Ray
Harryhausen and George Pal. But even this project became cast to the waste bin. Thinking about the forty year career of Antonio, there was a
kind of “curse”, whenever he proposed a project, investing his time
and money, producing a show reel, photographic book, or building of the
miniatures and shooting a promo sequence. He never made one!. There are
dozens of films which he never made, only to then see them later
realized by somebody else. Sometimes they’ve been realized by
important directors like Steven Spielberg (which I
believe was the only director in the world, my father has envied),
but other times they were made by unknown and bad "directors",
that really made him upset and suffer.
Let’s
go back to "Spacemen". The film was a mixture of various
genres, a thing that Anthony has always loved to do, a sort of Sci-Fi /
Western /Adventure /Action film, also with a love story arising aboard
the spaceship (The contamination of genres in his
films was really his trade-mark, like most of critics said). The
film, even if it was realized during economic difficulties, came out a
big 
theatrical
success, and immediately afterward he got offered another Sci-Fi movie.
Again written with Ennio De Concini and produced by Turi Vasile, this
time for Lux Film: "Battle of the Worlds"
(1961) with a better budget to spend on the cast. In fact they hired an
American actor, Claude Rains (Notorious, Casablanca, The invisible man),
an actor well known at that time. Another success, in Italy like in many
foreign countries. The career of Antonio was on its way, and it would
never stop for over forty
years. In 1962 a his first big opportunity came along, "The
Golden Arrow" a Fantasy film produced by Titanus for
Metro Goldwin Mayer. This was to be Antonio’s first American
production, and this time with a big budget at his disposal. The famous
battle sequences of the flying carpets, used as bombardiers against the
enemies, called upon Anthony a big effort, but the result left even the
American producers amazed. More used to that kind of special effects
they will thereafter remember Antonio’s ability in SFX, and several
years later, they offered him the special effects supervision, together
with Douglas Trumball, of "2001, a space
Odyssey" by Stanley Kubrick. An offer which Antonio
refused to follow up other projects he had the opportunity for as
director. (In reality, he was very tempted, but was an “author
film”, and Anthony wasn't feeling too confident with that “world”,
he maybe feared that he was not going to be good enough for a movie
which he had the intuition that it would have been the masterpiece of
the world’s Science Fiction genre. Later
he also refused the offer of Dino De Laurentiis to supervise the special
effects on the remake of "King Kong"
by John Guillermin, this time for character incompatibility with the
director. For both films Antonio could have won an Oscar award, and it
was easily apparent even before such realization. But Antonio was a shy
person, loving only to work, and he never gave any importance to such
acknowledgments. He used to say that he never repented for the choices
that he made (and who knows, maybe this was most
true).
Besides,
he didn't like to release special effects duties to other directors, for
the simple reason that he wanted to be the only one who decided
everything and the only judge upon the work as a whole. Apart from his
beginnings, in fact he relied upon special effects sequences only for a
few directors, which he considered good friends: like Sergio
Leone’s "A Fistful of
Dynamite", or Eduardo De Filippo for “Shoot
loud, louder.. I don't understand", and for Aldo Lado
(but
more for the producer Georgio Venturini) with "The
Humanoid".
Antonio
wanted to be fully independent in making a film his way, deciding
everything, from the story to the cast, to the set decorations, to the
costumes, to the inevitable special effects. Sometimes he refused some
good films because the producers or the authors were too "proprietary"
and wanted to decide with him like a sort of co-director. In the period
from 1960 to 1996, Antonio Margheriti imposed himself on the
international film market with his film, sometimes with very fragile
stories, but made wealthy by his imagination and by the amazing special
effects. Movies conceived to make the people laugh, dream, astound or
frighten them, and many of them became a part of movie history.
In
1963, after the experiences with Science Fiction, Peplum, and Fantasy,
an opportunity was offered to Antonio of another avenue, the
Horror-Gothic genre. His friend director Sergio
Corbucci, for which he had made some effects in the past,
calls upon Antonio for a film which was
written for him, but which he could not direct because of other
commitments. It was a story written by his brother Bruno Corbucci and
Giovanni Grimaldi, for the actress Barbara
Steele, a true icon of that film genre. She had just finished
"The Mask of the Demon" by Mario Bava. The problem was that
the film should have been made immediately, almost without preparation,
because of the agreements with the distribution company, but “more
important” to be able to use before they pull down, the construction
made for: "The Monk of Monza". A film by Sergio Corbucci with
Totò. (Frequently these were the reasons why
producers were convinced to make a film, to save money on some
constructions, or to use again costumes and furnishings. It’s a shame,
I know, but these were their reasons at that time… And now it is even
worse. NdA)
Antonio
read the script (probably one of the best scripts ever to fall into his
hands) and he accepted
immediately. Directing the film which probably to this day remains his
masterpiece: "Castle of Blood"
(1963). The film was shot in only two weeks, using three or four
cameras,
and running from one set to another, without any rest even for the
actors, and despite of this it still turned out a masterpiece. In fact,
one of the good teachings I’ve had from my father, is that: "work
quickly does not mean work badly, in a movie nothing is impossible, you
can achieve almost miracles, it’s important that you have clear ideas,
knowing exactly what you want, and have the final cutting of the film in
your mind. Do not shoot the unnecessary; it’s useless to repeat the
whole scene ten times from ten different angles, if you decided to use
one from a short part of a close up, just shoot that little piece."
and Antonio really had clear ideas, combined with an incredible and
absolute mastery in film techniques. Every morning he arrived at eight
on set, and within ten minutes he had explained to everybody all the
forty or fifty shots to be made that day "at the eight twenty we’ll
be ready in order to do this shot... and at the eight forty this other
shot." and I swear that you can set your clock when he said
“action” was exactly at that time. However it was not easy working
with him, on set he was very "tough", raising up his voice
often and with everybody, but afterward said sorry immediately at the
end of the working day. As much as he was serene and nice in his life,
he was tough and resolute in his job. A kind of doctor Jeckill and Mr.
Hyde, it was enough to just show him a camera in order to assist him in
his metamorphosis. But this was his character, he didn't mean it. It was
his sense of responsibility to those front of the camera, working for
him came before any other thing, and when he shouted it was because
something didn't function properly. Working with him was extremely
tiring and stressful, but it was sufficient for a single film spent with
him to learn more things than in a film course of two years in any
academy.
Notwithstanding
Anthony made movies in almost all of the possible genres of film, giving
his best on each one, Science Fiction and Fantasy were his favorites
genres. By the end of 1960, he decided to attempt the ways of
production, making a company: the Edo Cinematografica, (he used the
abbreviation of my name) with which he co-produced one of his best film:
“The Unnaturals” (1969). Immediately after, he tried to
conquer the International film market even like a true producer, placing
four aces on the table: a Fantasy Comedy in a perfect Disney
style. The actor Dean Jones, icon of the Disney films of those years, a
trained dog identical to that of the one used in a Disney film; and with
his direction always filled with amazing special effects. He succeeded
in getting agreements with an American distributor, a German and a
French production, and finally he could start 
shooting:
"Mr. Super Invisible"
(1970). A family comedy film, the story of a scientist who, casually,
drinks a potion which makes him invisible, and lead to a set of
hilarious adventures. As producer-Director, Antonio made the best film
possible, and the film came out at a very high cost compared with
others.
Because of delays in the deliveries, or maybe because the kind of humor was too
Italian, the American distributor drew back, rescinding upon the
agreement and forcing Antonio to sell all his percentages to others in
order to complete the film. The film came out very nice, having a good
success all over the world, but Antonio had sold out all of his Rights.
It was not easy to start again, after a setback which cost him over
400.000 US$ personally, but he still did not lose his mind. Abandoning
any idea of producing again, he dove immediately into his work, making
within just a few months "Web of the
Spider" (1971) a remake of his Gothic masterpiece: "Castle
of Blood". In this way Antonio added another achievement
to the Guinness book of records: the only director in the world to have
remade a film he once made himself before.
The
opposite to what usually happens, this film became considered by the
critics to be a lot better than the first one, something that Antonio
disagreed. (Cont.)
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