Happy Birthday, Franco Prosperi! Born today in 1928 as Franco E. Prosperi, this Italian editor, screenwriter and documentary producer and film director is best known for his lasting collaboration with Italian documentary film director Gualtiero Jacopetti in the mondo film genre.
Born in Rome, Lazio, Italy, Prosperi began his career as an assistant director to Italia filmmaker Mario Bava ('Black Sunday'). It was also with Bava that Prosperi wrote several screenplays.
In the late 1950s, Prosperi served as assistant director and 2nd unit assistant director on William Wyler's epic 1959 American Eastman Color historical drama/adventure film 'Ben-Hur'. However, Prosperi went uncredited.
Three years later, Prosperi co-wrote and co-directed the film of which he was best known.
This was the 1962 Italian Technicolor horror/documentary film 'Mondo Cane' ('A Dog's World').
The film's title is a mild Italian profanity; also known in the United States as 'Tales of the Bizarre: Rites, Rituals and Superstitions').
Collaborating with Prosperi were Italian documentary film director Gualtiero Jacopetti and Italian screenwriter and film director Paolo Cavara.
The documentary (or shockumentary) was the first in the Mondo Cane series that stunned many viewers at the time of its release.
'Mondo Cane' consists of a series of travelogue scenes that provide glimpses into cultural practices around the world with the intention to shock or surprise Western film audiences.
Scenes are presented with little continuity, as they are intended as a kaleidoscopic display of shocking content rather than presenting a structured argument.
Despite its claims of genuine documentation, certain scenes are either staged or creatively manipulated to enhance this effect
The film presents vignettes from across the globe that feature strange rituals.
These include animal slaughter and bizarre religious ceremonies are among the many events in the feature, which also exhibits cuisine that is highly unconventional to the Westernized palate.
The collage-like production covers a lot of ground, both literally and figuratively, in depicting unusual cultural practices from around the world. Italian actor and voice actor Stefano Sibaldi served as narrator.
One sequence in the film has a cameo appearance by Italian actor Rossano Brazzi, having his shirt torn off by a crowd of female fans hunting for his autograph.
Upon the film's completion, 'Mondo Cane' was later presented at the 15th Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year.
However, it lost to Brazilian actor, screenwriter and film director Anselmo Duarte's 1962 Brazilian black and white drama film 'O Pagador de Promessas' ('Keeper of Promises' or 'The Given Word').
The following year, 'Mondo Cane' was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song (Riz Ortolani and Nino Oliviero).
However, the song lost to "Call Me Irresponsible" from George Marshall's ('Destry Rides Again') 1963 American Technicolor comedy-drama/comedy film 'Papa's Delicate Condition'. This occurred at the 35th Academy Awards in early April 1963.
The song for 'Mondo Cane' was "Ti Guarderò Nel Cuore" ("I'll Look At You In Your Heart"), later released under the international title "More", of which became the film's theme.
Although "More" was scored by Riziero "Riz" Ortoliana and Oliviero, it was later given new lyrics in English by English record producer Norman Newell.
Uopn release, 'Mondo Cane' was an international box-office success, earning $2 million through United States and Canadian rentals.
It later inspired an entire genre of mondo films in the form of exploitation documentaries, many of which also include the word "mondo" (meaning “world”) in their title.
A mondo film is an exploitation documentary film, sometimes resembling a pseudo-documentary and usually depicting sensational topics, scenes, or situations.
Common traits of this film genre include portrayals of foreign cultures (which have drawn accusations of ethnocentrism or racism), an emphasis on taboo subjects (such as death and sex), and staged sequences presented as genuine documentary footage.
Over time, the films placed increasing emphasis on footage of the dead and dying (both real and fake).
Later that same year after the Oscars, Prosperi co-directed the 1963 Italian Technicolor horror/documentary film 'Mondo Cane 2'.
Sibaldi returned to narrate, while Peter Ustinov served as co-narrator. Oliviero returned to co-compose. However, Cavara nor Ortolani had nothing to do with the second installment.
The official sequel to the original shockumentary, the film presented new and bizarre behavior from around the world, including cruelty, graphic gore, and strange rituals.
Three years later, Prosperi made his directorial debut. Credited under the pseudonym Frank Shannon, this was the 1966 Italian/French Technicolor thriller crime drama film 'Tecnica di un omicidio' ('Professional Killer' or 'The Hired Killer').
Over the years, Prosperi built a solid reputation as a director of crime-action films.
He also occasionally directed comedies with Italian theatrical, film and television acto Lando Buzzanca of Italian TV impersonator and actor Alighiero Noschese.
Among his credits of the 1970s, Prosperi is known for directing the 1973 Italian/French comedy film 'L'altra faccia del padrino' (internationally released as 'The Funny Face of The Godfather'). The film is a spoof of 'The Godfather', released a year prior.
In the final stage of his career, at the beginning of the 1980s, Prosperi made several low-budget sword and sorcery films.
In the early 1980s, Prosperi directed his only fictional film. This was the 1984 Italian horror film 'Belve feroci' ('Wild Beasts').
Prosperi had been active from 1955–1988.
