0
Mario Bava was born on July 30, 1914, in San Remo, Italy. The son of cinematographer/special effects designer Eugenio Bava, young Mario grew up surrounded by film. So strong was his father's influence on him that Mario gave up his initial desire to be a painter to pursue a career as a cinematographer.
For a director whose name is so little-known by the general public, Mario Bava's films have had a tremendous impact on the development of modern cinema. In his native Italy, his efforts in the horror/giallo field influenced the works of Dario Argento (Deep Red, in particular, owes a debt to Hatchet For The Honeymoon) and Lucio Fulci.
Lucio Fulci (left) and Mario Bava
Bava's influence has even extended to the music scene. The cult rock group Black Sabbath have openly acknowledged that the American title of I Tre Volti Della Paura provided the name of their group.
The image of "the child as monster" established in Kill, Baby,Kill had a profound impact as far back as 1967. In that year, Federico Fellini re-created the image of the ghostly child in white in the short film "Toby Dammit, or Never Bet the Devil Your Head," which made up the final part of the three-part Edgar Allan Poe anthology Spirts of the Dead. In Bob Kelljan's The Return of Count Yorga (1971), the image crops up yet again as a little boy, complete with bouncing ball, carries out the orders from the title character played by Robert Quarry.
Martin Scorsese was also inspired by this image, presenting Satan in the form of a little girl in his controversial film The Last Temptation ofChirst (1988), while David Lynch used one of Kill, Baby, Kill's most memorable scenes -- a man chasing his double through a time warp -- in the finale of his cult TV series Twin Peaks.
Some awesome quotes from a great filmmaker:
"In my entire career, I made only big bullshits, no doubt about that.
"I shoot a film and then I run to the nearest bank to collect the cheque in order to pay the arrears, taxes and so forth, and guess what? It's a dud cheque, and I've worked for free."
"I think of myself as one who manages to get along. I don't care about being successful, I just want to go on and on. My father used to tell me this, and he was in the movies since 1906. I'll never be another Antonioni; I love to improvise, to solve problems, to create new scenes out of emergency... In my opinion a good director shouldn't do this: he should stick to the original script and schedule."
"My fantasies are always horrible. For example, I love my young daughter more than anything else in the world, but when I dream of her its always frightening. Do you want to know what character is haunting my subconscious? A violinist who serenades the woman he loves by playing on the tendons of his arms. Everyday life works on my imagination. Just this morning I found a letter, still sealed, from a friend who has since died, written to me ten years ago. It was like receiving a letter from a dead person. What would you do in my place? I burned it..."
''I watched La maschera (Black Sunday) again, five years ago, because an American production company asked me to shoot a colour remake of it. I refused because my son and I split our sides with laughter while watching it."
"I had a very good friend who was also a great actor, the best I think. For years we were very close: we saw each other three times a day. One fine morning he decided to send me a magnificent present: a pair of massive silver candlesticks! Not knowing how to thank him, I never called him again, never gave the slightest sign of life! I can't say why exactly. I wanted to do something for him, something extraordinary. Not knowing what to do, I simply disappeared."
Holy hell Awesome thoughts from a great mind!
These are his movies as a director. K.I.N.G and I will visit each one of these films and come back to this thread to talk about them.
1960
The Mask of Satan..... La maschera del demonio
1961
Hercules at the Center of the Earth..... Ercole al centro della terra
Erik the Conqueror..... Gli invasori
1962
The Girl Who Knew Too Much.... La ragazza che sapeva troppo
1963
Black Sabbath..... I tre volti della paura
The Whip and the Body..... La frusta e il corpo
Boris Karloff (left) and Mario Bava on the set of BLACK SABBATH (1963).
1964
Six Women for the Murderer.... Sei donne per l'assassino
Road to Fort Alamo..... La strada per Forte Alamo
1965
Planet of the Vampires..... Terrore nello spazio
1966
Savage Gringo.... Ringo del Nebraska
Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs..... Le spie vengono dal semi-freddo
Knives of the Avenger.... I coltelli del vendicatore
Kill, Baby, Kill!.... Operazione paura
1967
Diabolik (released January 1968)
1968
Hatchet for the Honeymoon..... Il rosso segno della follia (released June 1970)
1969
Four Times That Night... Quante volte. . . quella notte (released July 1972)
1970
Five Dolls for an August Moon..... 5 bambole per la luna d'agosto
Roy Colt & Winchester Jack
5 Dolls for an August Moon
1971
Bay of Blood,,,, Reazione a catena (Ecologia del delitto)
1972
Baron Blood..... Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga
Lisa and the Devil..... Lisa e il diavolo (premiered May 1973)
1974
Rabid Dogs,,, Cani arrabbiati
1977
Shock (Italian poster title: Schock -- transfert suspence hypnos)
1978
The Venus of Ille..... La Venere d'Ille (TV movie)
These quotes were taken from interviews with Mario Bava, which are featured in full in Troy Howarth's The Haunted World of Mario Bava, available from FAB Press.