Mario Landi

Mario Landi
Born(1920-10-12)12 October 1920
Messina, Sicily, Italy
Died18 March 1992(1992-03-18) (aged 71)
Rome, Lazio, Italy
NationalityItalian
OccupationDirector
Known forLe inchieste del commissario Maigret

Mario Landi (12 October 1920 – 18 March 1992) was an Italian director known for his giallo movies such as Giallo a Venezia and his television series Le inchieste del commissario Maigret.[1]

Life and career

Born in Messina, Sicily, Landi attended the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome, graduating in direction in 1944.[2] He began his career in theater, working with the best actors of his time, in particular being one of the most active protagonists of the "Diogene" cultural circle in Milan, a reference point for the Italian theater in the 1950s.[2] He made his debut as a film director in 1950, with the musical film Canzoni per le strade, but soon his interests shifted to the new medium of his era, the television;[2] he is regarded as a pioneer of Italian television, for which he worked since 1952, when RAI started experimental broadcasting before starting the regular TV service.[2][3] From 1955 to 1979 he directed a very large number of television movies and series, occasionally directing a few variety shows, including an edition of Canzonissima.[2][3] He was less active in cinema, in which he sporadically directed a number of low-profile genre films.[2]

Reception

The films of Mario Landi were not well received. Paolo Mereghetti, author of Il Mereghetti, wrote of Maigret a Pigalle: "the direction is slovenly",[4] while of Giallo a Venezia he wrote that it:[5]

"deserves (or perhaps does not deserve) to be remembered as one of the most idiotic Italian thrillers ever made, a collage of soft-porn sequences and dismemberments of rare brutality that fall into the void, in a childish attempt to astonish."

Filmography

As actor

As director

As Screenwriter

References

  1. ^ Louis, Paul (2004). Italian Horror Film Directors. McFarland & Company. p. 1979. ISBN 0786418346.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Roberto Poppi (2002). I registi: dal 1930 ai giorni nostri. Gremese Editore, 2002. ISBN 8884401712.
  3. ^ a b Aldo Grasso, Massimo Scaglioni. Enciclopedia della Televisione. Garzanti, 1996 – 2003. ISBN 881150466X.
  4. ^ Mereghetti, Paolo (2003). Il Mereghetti: Dizionario dei Film 2004. Vol. Le schede. Milano: Baldini Castoldi Dalai. p. 1357. ISBN 88-8490-419-6. la regia è sciatta.
  5. ^ Mereghetti, Paolo (2003). Il Mereghetti: Dizionario dei Film 2004. Vol. Le schede. Milano: Baldini Castoldi Dalai. p. 987. ISBN 88-8490-419-6. merita di essere ricordato (o forse non lo merita) come uno dei thriller italiani più cretini mai realizzati, collage di sequenze porno-soft e di squartamenti di rara efferatezza che cascano nel vuoto, nel puerile tentativo di stupire.
  6. ^ a b c Mereghetti, Paolo (2003). Il Mereghetti: Dizionario dei Film 2004. Vol. Gli indici. Milano: Baldini Castoldi Dalai. p. 997. ISBN 88-8490-419-6.
  7. ^ Jaworzyn, Stefan (1994). Shock Xpress: v.2: Essential Guide to Exploitation Cinema (Vol 2). Titan Books Ltd. pp. 70, 71, 73. ISBN 1852865199.
  8. ^ "There's Always Room for Giallo: Giallo a Venezia (Giallo in Venice)". MovieFone. Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
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