Giorgio Ferroni

Giorgio Ferroni was renowned for 1930s documentaries like "Pompeii" when he joined Cines studio to assist Gennaro Righelli and Carmine Gallone. He made his fictional debut with "The Three Wishes" in 1937. But while he remained busy during World War II with diverse films like the cod Western "Il Fanciullo del West" and the pulp thriller "Macario Against Fantomas," critics were surprised when he released such accomplished postwar works as the sentimental drama "Without Family" and the neo-realist "Pian delle stelle" and "Tombolo, paradiso nero." Even more dramatic was the transformation that followed a 1950s return to actuality. In 1960, Ferroni made the cult horror "Mill of the Stone Women" and followed the Euripides adaptation "Le Baccanti" with the Steve Reeves sword`n' sandal saga "The Wooden Horse of Troy" and the Gordon Scott trio of "Hercules Attacks," "Thunder of Battle" and "Arm of Fire." However, Ferroni wasn't resting on his laurels and moved into the Spaghetti Western with the Civil War story "Un Dollaro bucato," which he directed under the pseudonym Calvin Jackson Padget. He reunited with that film's star, Giuliano Gemma, on "Fort Yuma Gold" and "Wanted," but quit the genre after "Two Guns and a Coward" to experiment with the urban crime drama in "New York chiama Superdrago," the war movie in "The Battle of El Alamein" and the swashbuckler in "L'Arciere di Sherwood." In 1972, Ferroni returned to horror with "Night of the Devils."