Antonio Margheriti
1930 - 2002Antonio Margheriti (19 September 1930 – 4 November 2002), also known under the pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson, was a prolific Italian filmmaker. He was born in Rome and died in 2002 from a heart attack in Monterosi, Viterbo, near Rome at the age of 72.
Margheriti started out in the Italian film industry in 1956 as a screenwriter. He started directing in 1960, his first film being "Spacemen" (aka "Assignment Outer Space"). Margheriti is known for his science fiction, horror, spaghetti western and action movies. He was the director of such cult movies as Cannibal Apocalypse, Castle of Blood, The Virgin of Nuremberg, Assignment Outer Space, Wild Wild Planet, Naked You Die, Mr. Super Invisible, The Last Hunter, Battle of the Worlds and numerous others. Most of his films were directed under the pseudonym of Anthony M. Dawson. He stopped using his real name in the USA early in his career, when he realized the English translation of the name "Antonio Margheriti" was "Anthony Daisies", and he thought it sounded too effeminate.
He was the only Italian director who worked directly for American production companies like MGM, United Artists, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, etc. with films like: Yor, the Hunter from the Future, Take a Hard Ride, Killer Fish, etc. Margheriti said his action/adventure films were his favorites, and his least favorite movies were the sword-and-sandal peplum films he made in the early 1960s (such as "Devil of the Desert" and "Giants of Rome").
For years, director Richard Morrissey disputed Margheriti's claim that he had directed "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein" in the early 1970s, saying that Margheriti was mostly just a technical advisor on that film. Morrissey said Margheriti did however direct a very, very brief segment of the movie (mostly the scenes involving the two children roaming around in the lab).
Margheriti worked with many well-known genre actors such as Lee Van Cleef, John Saxon, Claude Rains, John Morghen, Klaus Kinski, Barbara Steele, Reb Brown, Donald Pleasence, Yul Brynner, David Warbeck, Luciano Pigozzi, Marvin Hagler, Terence Hill, Fred Williamson, Christopher Lee and many others. Most of his later films were shot in the Philippines (especially his war films). Margheriti also collaborated on the special effects in two Italian cult films which he did not direct, Sergio Leone's "Fistful of Dynamite" (1971) and Aldo Lado's "The Humanoid" (1979).
Margheriti retired from filmmaking in 1996 at age 66. He died in 2002 of natural causes. Margheriti's son Edoardo and his daughter Antonella are both also involved in filmmaking. Eli Roth's character in the 2009 Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Bastards took Margheriti as his namesake.
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Io ti amo
Antonio Margheriti
Dalida, Alberto Lupo
During an air trip, Prince Tancredi, a well-known abstract artist, gets to know air hostess Judy and is charmed by the young woman. When he asks her to pose for him Judy accepts. Following a few negative remarks on her part about his work Tancredi is driven to question himself artistically. Now, Judy has to leave but she promises to see Tancredi again, which they do. Their mutual attraction soon turns into a burning passion.
I Love You
Castle of Blood
Antonio Margheriti
Barbara Steele, Georges Rivière
A writer accepts a wager that he cannot spend the night alone in a haunted castle on All Soul's Eve. Once night falls at the castle, several who had been murdered therein return to life, reliving their deaths and seeking to kill the writer for his blood in a vain attempt to stay alive beyond that one night.
Castle of Blood
The Long Hair of Death
Antonio Margheriti
Barbara Steele, George Ardisson
In a 15th century village, a woman is accused of witchcraft and put to death. Her beautiful older daughter knows the real reason for the execution lies in the lord's sexual desire for her mother.
The Long Hair of Death
Schreie in der Nacht
Antonio Margheriti
Joachim Fuchsberger, Marianne Koch
During a thunderstorm, a group of members of London's high society seek refuge in a remote mansion in the countryside. They are received by Uriat and his mother, who appears to be able to communicate with the dead. The guests engage in a séance, but it will reveal each and everyone's darkest secrets.
The Unnaturals
Nude... si muore
Antonio Margheriti
Mark Damon, Eleonora Brown
A woman is strangled in the bath by a black-gloved killer who disposes of her body in a large trunk. The trunk is delivered to St. Hilda College, an exclusive finishing school. Betty-Anne, one of the female students, is strangled in the school cellar. The police, led by Inspector Durand, are called in to investigate. Suspects include La Floret, the voyeuristic gardener; Di Brazzi, the new swimming instructor; Mrs. Clay, the summer school French mistress; an old professor who collects birds; and a philandering young teacher called Richard. The murders continue but Jill, a keen amateur detective, helps the police identify the unlikely killer...
The Young, the Evil and the Savage
El kárate, el colt y el impostor
Antonio Margheriti
Lee Van Cleef, Lo Lieh
During a hold-up in the Wild West, Dakota kills a rich old Chinese man, Wang. Later, he is captured, sentenced, and is about to be hanged - and he never profitted from Wang's death, has he buried him with the photographs of his four widows, and a few worthless papers. Meanwhile, Ho comes to America in search of his uncle's fortune, and must get Dakota free, as he his the only man who can lead him to Wang's tomb. They open the tomb, retaking the pictures of Wang's widows. It happens he reads the papers and knows that Wang had one quarter of a map tattooed in each of his women's buttocks. Now, the difficult part will really start... Treasure hunt.
The Stranger and the Gunfighter
Take a Hard Ride
Antonio Margheriti
Jim Brown, Lee Van Cleef
After his cattle rancher boss dies, right-hand man Pike is given the job of returning $86,000 to some families who live across the border in Senora, Mexico. Honest Pike is joined on the trip through the wilderness by a dishonest gambler named Tyree.
Take a Hard Ride
Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye
Antonio Margheriti
Jane Birkin, Hiram Keller
In a small Scottish village, horribly murdered bodies keep turning up. Suspicion falls upon the residents of a nearby castle that is haunted by a curse involving a killer cat.
Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye
Nella stretta morsa del ragno
Antonio Margheriti
Anthony Franciosa, Michèle Mercier
Alan Foster, a professional American journalist, travels to London to meet with Edgar Allen Poe for an interview. While in London, Alan soon finds himself in the company of Lord Blackwood, and Alan accepts a bet to spend a night in his castle
Web of the Spider
