Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia
Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia | |
---|---|
![]() Bragaglia in 1942 | |
Born | (1894-07-08)8 July 1894 Frosinone, Kingdom of Italy |
Died | 4 January 1998(1998-01-04) (aged 103) Rome, Italy |
Occupation(s) | Film director Screenwriter |
Years active | 1933 - 1963 |
Relatives | Anton Giulio Bragaglia (brother) Arturo Bragaglia (brother) |
Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia (8 July 1894 – 4 January 1998) was an Italian film director whose career spanned from the 1930s to the mid-1960s. He mainly directed adventure pictures and popular comedies, including some starring Totò. His 1942 film Non ti pago! was shown as part of a retrospective on Italian comedy at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.[1]
Life and career
Bragaglia was born in Frosinone, Latium, and was a veteran of World War I.[2] Together with his brother Arturo, Bragaglia started his career as a photographer, specialized in portraits of actresses, and began to experiment avant-garde photographic techniques like "fotodinamica".[2] He later founded with his other brother Anton Giulio the Casa d'arte Bragaglia, which quickly became a popular attraction for Rome artists, and an independent theater, "Teatro Sperimentale degli Indipendenti" (1923-1936).[2] After having served as stage director in his theather, in 1930 Bragaglia was put under contract by Cines Studios as set photographer, also undertaking a short apprenticeship as an editor and assistant director, and collaborating with Alessandro Blasetti, Gennaro Righelli and Guido Brignone.[2]
After directing a few documentaries, in 1932 Bragaglia made his feature film debut with Your Money or Your Life, based on a radio play by Alessandro De Stefani.[2][3] The film was greatly inspired by René Clair,[2][3] while his lead actor Sergio Tofano basically reprised his comic strip character Signor Bonaventura.[2] Following the moderate success of the film, Bragaglia specialized in the Telefoni Bianchi genre, with a few exceptions like the realist dramas Tomb of the Angels and The Prisoner of Santa Cruz and the surreal Totò comedy Mad Animals.[2] After the war he continued his career, being active in various genres, including sword-and-sandal and swashbuckling films.[2]
Upon his 100th birthday in 1994, the Locarno Film Festival showed a film retrospective of his works. Being that he lived well into his second century Bragaglia became known as a famed storyteller who provided a wealth of information and anecdotes concerning the early days of Italian cinema. He died in Rome in 1998 after a fall which fractured his hip.[4]
Filmography
- Your Money or Your Life (1932)
- Non son gelosa (1933)
- Bad Subject (1933)
- Quella vecchia canaglia (1934)
- Unripe Fruit (1934)
- Amore (1936)
- Tomb of the Angels (1937)
- Belle o brutte si sposan tutte... (1939)
- Mad Animals (1939)
- L'amore si fa così (1939)
- Un mare di guai (1939)
- Two on a Vacation (1940)
- Alessandro, sei grande! (1940)
- Una famiglia impossibile (1941)
- La forza bruta (1941)
- The Prisoner of Santa Cruz (1941)
- Barbablù (1941)
- The Happy Ghost (1941)
- Due cuori sotto sequestro (1941)
- La scuola dei timidi (1941)
- Se io fossi onesto (1942)
- Violets in Their Hair (1942)
- La guardia del corpo (1942)
- Non ti pago! (1942)
- After Casanova's Fashion (1942)
- Music on the Run (1943)
- La vita è bella (1943)
- Non sono superstizioso... ma! (1943)
- Il fidanzato di mia moglie (1943)
- Tutta la vita in ventiquattr'ore (1943)
- Torna a Sorrento (1945)
- My Widow and I (1945)
- Hotel Luna, Room 34 (1946)
- Pronto chi parla? (1946)
- The White Primrose (1947)
- The Other (1947)
- Totò Le Mokò (1949)
- Il falco rosso (1949)
- Toto Looks for a Wife (1950)
- Bluebeard's Six Wives (1950)
- Figaro Here, Figaro There (1950)
- 47 morto che parla (1950)
- Una bruna indiavolata! (1951)
- The Secret of Three Points (1952)
- I'm the Hero (1952)
- Don Lorenzo (1952)
- At Sword's Edge (1952)
- Orient Express (1954)
- Il falco d'oro (1955)
- Queen of Babylon (1955)
- Lazzarella (1957)
- Io, mammeta e tu (1958)
- Tuppe tuppe, Marescià! (1958)
- Caporale di giornata (1958)
- The Mighty Crusaders (1958)
- The Sword and the Cross (1958)
- Le cameriere (1959)
- Hannibal (1959)
- The Loves of Hercules (1960)
- Amazons of Rome (1961)
- Ursus in the Valley of the Lions (1961)
- Pastasciutta nel deserto (1961)
- The Four Monks (1962)
- The Four Musketeers (1963)
References
- ^ "Italian Comedy - The State of Things". labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 1 August 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Carpiceci, Stefania (2017). "Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, l'artigiano che venne da una casa d'arte familiare e sperimentale". Ai margini del cinema italiano: soubrette e maggiorate fisiche, artigiani e autori di film minori. Pacini editore. pp. 11–29. ISBN 978-88-6995-164-0.
- ^ a b Poppi, Roberto (2002). "Bragaglia, Carlo Ludovico". I registi: dal 1930 ai giorni nostri. Gremese Editore. p. 70. ISBN 978-88-8440-171-7.
- ^ Bignardi, Irene (5 January 1998). "Ciao signor Cinema". La Repubblica. p. 35.
External links
- Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia at IMDb
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- Your Money or Your Life (1932)
- Bad Subject (1933)
- Unripe Fruit (1934)
- Tomb of the Angels (1937)
- Mad Animals (1939)
- Two on a Vacation (1940)
- The Prisoner of Santa Cruz (1941)
- After Casanova's Fashion (1942)
- Violets in Their Hair (1942)
- Music on the Run (1943)
- Come Back to Sorrento (1945)
- The Other (1947)
- The White Primrose (1947)
- 47 morto che parla (1950)
- Figaro Here, Figaro There (1950)
- Bluebeard's Six Wives (1950)
- Toto Looks for a Wife (1950)
- Una bruna indiavolata! (1951)
- At Sword's Edge (1952)
- Don Lorenzo (1952)
- I'm the Hero (1952)
- Orient Express (1954)
- The Queen of Babylon (1954)
- The Mighty Crusaders (1958)
- The Sword and the Cross (1958)
- Tuppe tuppe, Marescià! (1958)
- Hannibal (1959)
- The Loves of Hercules (1960)
- Amazons of Rome (1961)
- Ursus in the Valley of the Lions (1961)
- The Four Musketeers (1963)