Alberto De Martino (12 June 1929 – 2 June 2015) was an Italian
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
and
screenwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
. Born in Rome, De Martino started as a child actor and later returned to the cinema where worked as a screenwriter, director and dubbing supervisor. De Martino's films as a director specialised in well-crafted knock-offs of Hollywood hit films.
These films were specifically created films in Western, horror and mythology genres which were developed for the international market.
''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
'' stated that his best known of these film was probably ''
The Antichrist''.
''The Antichrist'' capitalized on the box-office appeal of ''
The Exorcist
''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on The Exorcist (novel), his 1971 novel. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller (play ...
'' (1973) and in its first week in the United States earned a greater box office than ''
Jaws''.
Life and career
Alberto De Martino was born on 12 June 1929 in Rome.
De Martino was the son of a film
make-up artist
A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and Prosthetic makeup, prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other simil ...
.
He started his career as a child actor.
On attending university, De Martino studied law.
Martino returned to a career in cinema working as an editor, screenwriter and as an assistant director.
Martino stated he was encouraged to be a director by
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...
for whom he supervised the dubbing for ''
La Dolce Vita
''La Dolce Vita'' (; Italian for 'the sweet life' or 'the good life'Kezich, 203) is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini and written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, and Brunello Rondi. The film stars M ...
''.
De Martino was also very active in the field of dubbing, and he was dubbing director for more than 1,500 films.
De Martino was one of the active directors in the Italian genre cinema between 1960s and mid-1980s; his films spanned different genres, including
Spaghetti Western
The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
,
poliziotteschi,
Peplum films and horror.
A real life friend of
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone ( ; ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema.
Leone's film-making style ...
, he was
second unit director
A second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming s ...
in ''
Duck, You Sucker!''
He was often credited as Martin Herbert.
In 1980, De Martino nearly lost his home when his film ''
The Pumaman'' failed at the box office.
''Pumaman'' was followed by a few more films concluding his career with ''Miami Golem''.
He died in Rome on 2 June 2015 at the age of 85.
Selected filmography
:Note: The films listed as N/A are not necessarily chronological.
References
Footnotes
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Martino, Alberto De
1929 births
2015 deaths
Italian film directors
Italian screenwriters
Italian male screenwriters
Writers from Rome
Male actors from Rome
Giallo film directors