In an eclectic career spanning four decades, Italian director Riccardo Freda (1909-1999) produced films of remarkable technical skill and powerful visual style, including the swashbuckler
Black Eagle
(1946), an adaptation of
Les Miserables
(1947), the peplum
Theodora, Slave Empress
(1954) and a number of cult-favorite Gothic and horror films such as
I Vampiri
(1957),
The Horrible Dr. Hichcock
(1962) and
The Ghost
(1963). Freda was first championed in the 1960s by French critics who labeled him "the European Raoul Walsh," and enjoyed growing critical esteem over the years. This book covers his life and career for the first time in English, with detailed analyses of his films and exclusive interviews with his collaborators and family.