Riccardo Freda
| Riccardo Freda | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 February 1909 Alexandria, Egypt |
| Died | 20 December 1999 (aged 90) Rome, Italy |
| Occupation | Film director |
Riccardo Freda (born in Alexandria, Egypt, February 24, 1909 - died in Rome, Italy, December 20, 1999) was an Italian film director. Best known for his horror and thriller movies, Freda had no great love for the horror films he was assigned, but rather favored the epic sword and sandal pictures. Freda's Sins of Rome (1953) was one of the first Italian peplums, predating Steve Reeves's "Hercules" by four years, and his classic Giants of Thessaly (1961) was theatrically released one year before Ray Harryhausen's famous Jason and the Argonauts. He directed Kirk Morris and Gordon Scott in two classic Maciste films in the sixties, in addition to directing several spy films, spaghetti westerns, historical dramas and World War II actioners.
He never finished either of the two horror films he was assigned in the Fifties ("I Vampiri" and "Caltiki"), but rather allowed his cinematographer Mario Bava to complete them. Bava's great effects work on Caltiki in particular launched him on a directing career of his own in 1960. Thus many fans regard Freda as Mario Bava's mentor in the film industry.
Freda's greatest horror films were his two 1960's titles, The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962) and The Ghost (1963), both of which starred Barbara Steele, but he really enjoyed doing the adventure films a lot more. He directed Anton Diffring and the legendary Klaus Kinski in giallos later in the decade, and then pretty much retired from filmmaking in 1972, inexplicably emerging from his retirement in 1981 (at age 72) to direct one last slasher film, Murder Obsession (aka Fear).
He died in 1999 in Rome of natural causes (at age 90).
Filmography [edit]
- Don Cesare di Bazan (1942)
- Tutta la città canta (1945) (Translation: The Whole City's Singing)
- Non canto più (1945) (Translation: I Can't Sing Any More)
- Aquila Nera (1946) (Translation The Black Eagle)
- Guarany (1948)
- Les Misérables (1948) (as Robert Hampton – U.S. prints)
- Il cavaliere misterioso (1948) (Translation: The Mysterious Rider)
- O Caçula do Barulho (1949)
- Count Ugolino (1949)
- Il figlio di d'Artagnan (1950) (Translation: The Son of D'Artagnan)
- Vedi Napoli e poi muori (1951) (Translation: See Naples and Die)
- La vendetta di Aquila Nera (1951) (Translation: Revenge of Black Eagle)
- Il tradimento / Treason (1951) aka Double Cross
- La leggenda del piave (1952) (Translation: The Legend of the Piave River)
- Spartaco / Spartacus (1953) aka Sins of Rome (as Robert Hampton)
- Teodora, imperatrice di Bisanzio (1954) aka Theodora, Slave Empress
- Da qui all'eredità (1955) (Translation: From Here to the Inheritance)
- I vampiri / The Vampires (1956) aka The Devil's Commandment (as Robert Hampton)
- Beatrice Cenci (1956)
- Agguato a Tangeri (1957) (Translation: Trapped to Tangiers) as Robert Hampton
- Nel segno di Roma (1959) (Translation: The Sign of Rome); aka Sign of the Gladiator (uncredited)
- Agi Murad il diavolo bianco / Agi Murad, the White Devil (1959) aka The White Warrior (as Robert Hampton – U.S. version)
- Caltiki – The Immortal Monster (1959) ( Italian: Caltiki – il mostro immortale) (as Robert Hamton)
- I giganti della Tessaglia (1960) aka The Giants of Thessaly, aka Gli argonauti
- I mongoli (1961) aka The Mongols (uncredited)
- Maciste at the Court of the Great Khan (1961) (Italian: Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan) aka Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World
- Caccia all'uomo (1961) (Translation: Manhunt)
- Maciste in Hell (1962) (Italian: Maciste all'inferno) aka The Witch's Curse (as Robert Hampton)
- The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962) (Italian: L'orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock / The Horrible Secret of Dr. Hichcock) aka Raptus (as Robert Hampton)
- Le sette spade del vendicatore (1962) (Translation: The Seven Swords of the Avenger) aka The Seventh Sword
- Oro per i Cesari (1963) (Translation: Gold for the Caesars) (uncredited)
- The Ghost (1963) (Italian: Lo spettro) (as Robert Hampton)
- Il magnifico avventuriero (1963) (Translation: The Magnificent Adventurer) aka The Burning of Rome
- Giulietta e Romeo (1964) (Translation: Juliet and Romeo)
- Les deux orphelines (1965) (Translation: The Two Orphans)
- Coplan FX 18 casse tout (1965)
- Roger la Honte (1966)
- Coplan ouvre le feu à Mexico / Coplan Opens Fire on Mexico (1967) aka Mexican Slayride (as Robert Hampton – Italian version)
- La morte non conta i dollari (1967) (Translation: Death Doesn't Count the Dollars) aka Death at Owell Rock, aka No Killing Without Dollars (as George Lincoln)
- Double Face (1969; Italian: A doppa faccia) aka Liz and Helen (as Robert Hampton)
- La salamandra del deserto (1970) (Translation: The Desert Salamander)
- L'iguana dalla lingua di fuoco (1971) aka The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (as Willy Pareto)
- Tragic Ceremony (1972) (Italian: Estratto dagli archivi segreti della polizia di una capitale europea / Taken From the Secret Police Archives of a European Capital) aka Tragic Ceremony at Villa Alexander (as Robert Hampton)
- Superhuman (1979)
- Murder Obsession (1981) (Italian: Follia Omicida) aka Murder Syndrome, aka The Wailing (as Robert Hampton)
External links [edit]
- Riccardo Freda at the Internet Movie Database
- http://www.santoandfriends.com (Mexican horror film site)
