THE OUTSIDER--THE CINEMA OF ANTONIO MARGHERITI

 

One of the new additions to the Tubi streaming channel is the 2013 documentary THE OUTSIDER--THE CINEMA OF ANTONIO MARGHERITI. 

I have a huge home video collection, and if you sorted it out by director, you'd find there's quite a few titles helmed by Antonio Margheriti. Better known under the moniker "Anthony M. Dawson", Margheriti made films of all genres over a 40-year career, including many that have gone on to achieve cult status. 

The documentary's title comes from Margheriti's sci-fi outing BATTLE OF THE WORLDS, where Claude Rains refers to a galactic menace as "The Outsider". This film tries to suggest that Margheriti was an outsider in the world of Italian cinema because he made adventures and thrillers for a general audience--although personally I don't think it makes that case. 

THE OUTSIDER was produced and directed by Margheriti's son Edoardor, and he appears onscreen, going over various aspects of his father's career. Instead of a straight narrative, the documentary breaks down Margheriti's work by genres, covering science fiction, horror, sword & sandal, westerns, and finally a series of jungle commando action movies the director made in the 1980s. Most of the movie footage comes from trailers of the actual films. 

A number of people who worked with Margheriti provide their memories, including Barbara Bouchet, Franco Nero, Richard Harrison, Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, Luigi Cozzi, and Ernesto Gastaldi. There's also plenty of vintage interview footage of Margheriti himself, where among other things he discusses his dealings with Klaus Kinski and Barbara Steele. (Unfortunately there's no footage of him talking about Christopher Lee, who he worked with on THE VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG.) 

Considering that THE OUTSIDER was made by the son of the subject, I expected much more detail and insight into the life and work of Antonio Margheriti than what is given. Only the most basic biographical info on Margheriti is presented, and what the man himself says doesn't reveal much. (There is an explanation of how Margheriti came upon his Anthony Dawson pseudonym.) The viewer finds out that he loved movies, loved making them, and didn't take his work (or himself) too seriously--and that's about it. (He also liked blowing things up, as a mere cursory examination of his directorial career will show. Margeriti was also a FX artist who worked extensively with miniatures.) 

At one point during THE OUTSIDER Margheriti is called a storyteller rather than an author. I think that's the best analysis of the director in this film. I believe what was meant by that is Margheriti was not an innovator, or an originator--he took familiar stories and popular genres and made dozens of movies that tried to entertain, and could be watched by anyone. In the end there's nothing wrong with that. 

THE OUTSIDER is only an hour long, and at times it feels like a rough cut of something that was meant to be longer and more extensive. It's not badly made, but it will be better appreciated by those who are just beginning to get into Italian cult genre cinema. THE OUTSIDER has given me a few more Antonio Margheriti titles to track down and watch.