Antonio Leonviola
Antonio Leonviola (also Leon Viola , real name Antonio Leone Viola ; born May 13, 1913 in Montagnana , † August 4, 1995 in Rome ) was an Italian film director and screenwriter .
Life
Leonviola's experimental film Fiera di tipi won a gold medal at the Venice Film Festival in 1934 . He then broke off his studies in Padua at the age of twenty and served in the Italian army in Ethiopia in the Abyssinian War . During his time in Africa he shot a lot of material which he put together to make documentaries. In 1939 Leonviola wrote the first screenplay for a feature film; several, albeit not very impressive, followed in the 1940s, in which he also made his debut as a feature film director ( Rita di Cascia from 1942 was praised by the critics primarily for the performance of leading actress Elena Zareschi ). In 1950 he wrote his most important contribution to film history, the screenplay for Il brigante Musolino for Pietro Germi .
He did not return to the director's chair until 1950 and directed Anna Maria Ferrero in one of the then popular melodramas . In 1952, the producer Leonviola's ambitious Sul ponte dei sospiri cut into a pure entertainment film; all subsequent films were subordinate to the public's taste. Siluri umani from 1954 was finished by Carlo Lizzani after Leonviola left production. His only film as a director after 1963 was the caper movie "I giovani tigri" with Helmut Berger in the leading role.
In 1983 he founded the "Libera Università del Cinema" with his wife Sofia Scandurra. His oeuvre as a whole is described as "unusual, original and arousing curiosity".
Filmography (selection)
- 1951: Angel or Sinner (Le due verità)
- 1952: Bianca's revenge (Sul ponte dei sospiri)
- 1953: Bitter Love (Noi cannibali)
- 1954: Torpedo men attack (Siluri umani)
- 1958: Marietto, Camilla and the love of God (Ballerina e buon Dio)
- 1961: Maciste, the son of Hercules (Maciste nella terra dei ciclopi)
- 1961: Maciste and the Queen of the Night (Maciste l'uomo più forte del mondo)
- 1962: Taurus - The Giant of Thessaly (Taur, re della forza bruta)
- 1963: Le gladiatrici
- 1968: I giovani tigri
Web links
- Antonio Leonviola in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Leonviola at mymovies (Italian)
Individual evidence
- ^ Roberto Poppi: Dizionario del cinema italiano. I registers. Gremese Editore, Rome 2002, pp. 241/242
- ↑ so the Cineteca Nazionale on the occasion of a retrospective
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Leonviola, Antonio |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Viola, Leon; Viola, Antonio Leone (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian film director and screenwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 13, 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Montagnana |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th August 1995 |
| Place of death | Rome |