The Three Fantastic Supermen
| The Three Fantastic Supermen | |
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| Directed by | Gianfranco Parolini |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Gianfranco Parolini[1] |
| Starring |
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| Music by | |
| Cinematography | Francesco Izzarelli[1] |
| Edited by | Edmondo Lozzi[1] |
Production companies |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 94 minutes[1] |
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The Three Fantastic Supermen (Italian: I fantastici tre supermen) is a 1967 superhero film directed by Gianfranco Parolini. The film was the first in a series of Three Supermen films
Cast
- Luciano Stella as Tony
- Brad Harris as Brad McCallum
- Aldo Canti as Nick
- Carlo Tamberlani as Professor Schwarz
- Jochen Brockmann as Golem
- Rossella Bergarmonti as Diana
- Gloria Paul as Havana
Production
The Three Fantastic Supermen was conceived during the period of a superhero film cycle during the mid-1960s in Italy.[2] The director Gianfranco Parolini had worked in several genres including sword-and-sandal films where there are more than one heroes helping each other solve their goals.[2] Gianfranco Parolini commented on the stunts in the film, noting that they were done on set with actor Aldo Canti having to jump out of 20 feet high window, jump into a trampoline and jump into a truck which was moving at full speed.[3] The film was entirely shot in Yugoslavia.[4]
Release
The Three Fantastic Supermen was released in Italy in 1967.[1] In his book Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema, Roberto Curti described the film as a "reasonable box office success in Italy".[4] The film spawned several sequels where the trio of heroes showing up in Japan (3 Supermen a Tokyo, 1968), Africa (Three Supermen in the Jungle, 1970), Hong Kong (Supermen Against the Orient, 1973) and the American West (The 3 Supermen in the West, 1973).[4]
Reception
In a contemporary review, the Monthly Film Bulletin noted that the stunt work of the title characters and their various stunt doubles "provide a welcome relief from the standard secret agent/judo syndrome" as well as that the "ingenuity of this comic strip adventure begins to pall after the first half hour, and the inevitable final holocaust in the master criminal's lair is brightened by the villain's diverting scheme to produce an army of robot villains who all look like the hero."[5]
From retrospective reviews, Roberto Curti described the film as a "mixed bag" taking too much material from its sources such as The Phantom, Zorro and Goldfinger.[2]
See also
- List of French films of 1967
- List of German films of the 1960s
- List of Italian films of 1967
- List of Yugoslav films of the 1960s
References
Footnotes
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Curti 2016, p. 78.
- 1 2 3 Curti 2016, p. 79.
- ↑ Curti 2016, p. 80.
- 1 2 3 Curti 2016, p. 81.
- ↑ "Fantastic Three, The (I Fantastici Tre Supermen)". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 35 no. 408. London: British Film Institute. 1968. pp. 118–119. ISSN 0027-0407.
Sources
- Curti, Roberto (2016). Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1-936168-60-6.