Alberto De Martino
Italian film director
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Alberto De Martino (12 June 1929 – 2 June 2015) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Born in Rome, De Martino started as a child actor and later returned to the cinema where he 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.[1] These films were specifically created films in Western, horror and mythology genres which were developed for the international market.[1] The Telegraph stated that his best known of these film was probably The Antichrist.[1] The Antichrist capitalized on the box-office appeal of The Exorcist (1973) and in its first week in the United States earned a greater box office than Jaws.[1]
Alberto De Martino | |
|---|---|
Alberto de Martino on the set of one of his peplums | |
| Born | 12 June 1929 Rome, Italy |
| Died | 2 June 2015 (aged 85) Rome, Italy |
| Other name | Martin Herbert |
| Occupations | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1959–1985 |
Life and career
Alberto De Martino was born on 12 June 1929 in Rome.[1] De Martino was the son of a film make-up artist.[2] He started his career as a child actor.[2]
On attending university, De Martino studied law.[1] Martino returned to a career in cinema working as an editor, screenwriter and assistant director.[1] Martino stated he was encouraged to be a director by Federico Fellini for whom he supervised the dubbing for La Dolce Vita.[1] De Martino was also very active in the field of dubbing, and he was dubbing director for more than 1,500 films.[2]
De Martino was one of the active directors in the Italian genre cinema between the 1960s and mid-1980s; his films spanned different genres, including Peplum, Eurospy, Spaghetti Western, Euro War, Poliziotteschi, and Giallo films.[2][3] A real life friend of Sergio Leone, he was second unit director in Duck, You Sucker![3]
The films he made in the 1980s were all made for the foreign markets. [4] These films were all made with a pseudonym of Martin Herbert as De Martino said he felt "a little ashamed" of them.[4] In 1980, De Martino nearly lost his home when his film The Pumaman failed at the box office.[1] Pumaman was followed by a few more films, concluding his career with Miami Golem.[1] Martino left the production of Miami Golem before its completion, saying that "What you see in the film is shot by me, but nothing of the editing process and post-production is mine."[4]
Selected filmography
- Note: The films listed as N/A are not necessarily chronological.