Director Greats #1 Dario Argento

Dario with Daughter Asia Argento

Dario Argento (born 7th september 1940) in Rome, Italy, who can be discribed as the Godfather of Italian horror movies and and one of the leading directors of Giallo (which will be discussed in detail in a later post).He is very influential on slasher movies and even all the modern horror movies today.

The Bird With The Crystal Plummage (1970)

His Directing Debut was in 1970 with the classic The Bird With The Crystal Plummage, it was followed on in the 70's with  Deep Red (1975) and Suspiria (1977).Original camera angles that sometimes would surprise the viewer with the intensity and style used and usually backed by a soundtrack by the Italian progressive rock band Goblin, took the viewer on a journey that they wouldn't forget.The 80's brought Inferno (1980), Tenebre (1982), Phenomena (1985) & Opera (1987).All these films defined Italian Horror at its best and still inspire alot of directors today.Dario has a love of his art that has kept going into the 21st Century, with his latest project Dracula 3D due to be released in 2012, Undoubtedly not just one of the great Italian directors but one of the greatest directors with his use of music, colour, imagery and suspence.So check out his work if you haven't been so lucky not to have already.

Portrait Of Jennie (1948)

This is a forgotten and mesmerizing film from 1948 starring Joseph Cotton and Jennifer Jones
It was adapted from a novel by Robert Nathan and directed by William Dieterle.
It tells the haunting story of an artist who meets a girl in central park who becomes his muse
and  he meets her at different times and she appears to be getting older, things pave the way to a great romatic movie that could also be described as a ghost story but will not leave the viewer spooked in any way,maybe a bit eerie at times but full of that old time hollywood romance.
I saw this as a child and it has taking me nearly thirty years to see it again and it is still as good as the first time i saw it, if you are a fan of the Time Travelers Wife, you will love this.