Mario Bava Wiki, Biography, Age, Net Worth, Contact & Informations

Mario Bava
Wiki, Biography, Age, Net Worth, Contact & Informations

Here you can learn about Mario Bava’s career and curiosities about the private life, read the latest news, find all the awards won and watch photos and videos.

PERSONAL DATA OF MARIO BAVA

Born in: SANREMO, Imperia (Italy)
Born on: 07/31/1914
Dies at: Rome Italy)

BIOGRAPHY OF MARIO BAVA

Film director. Son of Eugenio, sculptor, photographer and set designer for silent cinema. He abandoned his studies very early, at the age of twenty he got married and began working as a titlist for the Italian versions of American films. In 1937 he began his career as a director of photography with two short films by Rossellini “La vispa Teresa” and “Il turacchino prepotente”, a profession that led him to collaborate with other great illustrious directors of Italian cinema – “Quel bandito sono io” (1949 ) by Mario Soldati; “Guards and Thieves” (1951) by Steno and Mario Monicelli; “The Passaguai family” (1951) by Aldo Fabrizi; “Avenue of Hope” (1952) by Dino Risi) – highlighting himself not only for his technical skills but also for his ability to solve problems of staging. For example, in “I vampiri” (1957) by Riccardo Freda he manages to perfectly render the obsessive and decadent climate inside the house where the action takes place and he takes care of the special effects with great skill (he is the technique used to the aging of Gianna Maria Canale, made without mounting cuts, with the help of colored lights and greasepaint), also in “Caltiki, the immortal monster” (1959) again by Riccardo Freda he takes care of the special effects, using tripe to make the monster protagonist of the film; instead with “The labors of Hercules” (1958) by Pietro Francisci he collaborated in the start of the ‘peplum’ vein. In 1960 he is now recognized as a highly renowned technician and operator, and made his directorial debut with the feature film “The Mask of the Demon” defined as the first Italian gothic horror, starring Barbara Steele, launched by this film as a star of the genre. The film collects little on its release (about 139 million lire), but soon becomes a classic. Bava also takes care of the photography and special effects. From that moment on he explored different genres, shooting what he likes, but always taking into account the taste of the public – “Hercules in the center of the earth” (1961), peplum contaminated by horror atmospheres, with a noteworthy ‘villain’: Christopher Lee , at the time successful Count Dracula; “The girl who knew too much” (1962), the first example of an Italian thriller – but it is always with horror that it has the greatest success. In 1963 he directed an episodic film, “The three faces of fear”, in the final part of which Boris Karloff appears on a wooden horse, the set and the operators, thus showing the fiction of the cinema to the viewer, this can be considered one of the early cases of metacinema. The film also inspired the name of one of the most important rock bands in history, the Black Sabbath: bassist Geezer Butler proposed the name to the group after seeing the film, which in English has the title “Black Sabbath” . The following year he directed “Six women for the murderer”, which definitively encodes the Italian thriller, in fact the film shows various murders different from each other and brings on stage for the first time a murderer with a covered face who he is wearing a raincoat and a pair of black leather gloves. A few years later, in 1965 he directed his only science fiction film, “Terror in space” made with few means and sparse scenography. The director himself was able to tell on several occasions that he had only two large rocks available which he moved throughout the set. The film is also distributed in the United States, where it is received with some success. The following year he directed Franco and Ciccio in “The spies come from the semifreddo”, a commissioned work, considered however one of the best films of the couple. 1971, on the other hand, is the year of “Chain reaction”, which starts the genre called ‘slasher’ (from the English ‘to slash’, to hurt deeply with a sharp weapon; it refers to a type of horror film in which the undisputed protagonist is a homicidal maniac). The film is also known for its many experimentalisms, especially the bold use of out of focus. 1972 was the turn of “Lisa and the Devil”, presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the same year. Unfortunate film because, although the director’s genius and mastery for the plots and effects are sublimated, it first receives a cold reception and then is reassembled by producer Alfred Leone, with some scenes of exorcism. It comes out again in 1975 with the title “The house of exorcism”, a version from which Mario Bava will distance himself by refusing to sign it. In the last years of his life he shoots what is considered by some to be his masterpiece: “Angry Dogs” (1974) which, however, will never reach theaters due to the bankruptcy of the production company. Only in 1995 will it be distributed on DVD by Cecchi Gori Home Video, with the title “Semaforo rosso”. In 1980 he took care of some special effects for the film “Inferno”, directed by Dario Argento. On April 27, 1980, when his death occurs, at the age of 66, he is working on another science fiction film “Star Express”. Bava is appreciated for the innovations brought to cinema (the ‘photorealistic’ use of color; the use, judged disproportionate by some critics, of the zoom) and for the themes dealt with by many of the most popular directors of today, who they often refer to him in their works, including: David Lynch (“The secrets of Twin Peaks”, 1990-1991); Tim Burton (“The Mystery of Sleepy Hollow”, 1999) and Quentin Tarantino who declared that in every shot there is the genius of Mario Bava.