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Darkening the Italian Screen
Interviews with Genre and Exploitation Directors Who Debuted in the 1950s and 1960s
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Book Presentation:
The birth and rise of popular Italian cinema since the early 1950s can be attributed purely to necessity. The vast number of genres, sub-genres, currents and crossovers and the way they have overlapped, died out or replaced each other has been an attempt, in postwar years, to contain the invasion of U.S. product while satisfying the demands the American industry had created in Italy.
The author explores one of the most multi-faceted and contradictory industries cinema has ever known through the careers of those most closely associated with it. His recorded interviews were conducted with directors and actors both well-known and upcoming.
About the Author:
Eugenio Ercolani is a film scholar and documentarian. For the past decade he has alternated these activities with those of assistant director and screenwriter. He is responsible for dozens of extras and featurettes, for both American and European labels. He lives in Rome.
Press Reviews:
• "This is what I love about this book, that it brings light to more than a few people that had connections to some of the films we love, but maybe didn’t know as much about them. There is a lot I learned from this book…. It really will give you a better insight to these unsung heroes of Italian genre."—Kitley’s Krypt
• "Whilst film historian, Eugenio Ercolani’s impressive text on the directors of Italian genre cinema is titled Darkening the Italian Screen, if anything, his tome serves to illuminate the key figures of the industry who debuted and worked in its postwar heyday. An insightful and extensive treatment of its subject, Ercolani’s book is a much needed account of the prominent individuals who worked during this period, cataloguing their experiences and recollections and shedding light on the arduous production experiences they encountered and the central figures they worked with. In Darkening the Italian Screen, Ercolani makes the cinema he details come alive."—Rachael Nisbit, Hypnotic Crescendos
• "detailed and informative study"—DVD Choice
• "Be sure to pick up a copy of Eugenio Ercolani’s Darkening the Italian Screen…splendid…a wonderful read"—Dark Side
• Anyone who has an interest in Italian cult cinema needs to purchase a copy of the new book Darkening the Italian Screen by Eugenio Ercolani. …this book is absolutely a must-buy"—Dread Central
See the publisher website: McFarland & Co
> From the same author:
Darkening the Italian Screen II (2023)
Interviews with Genre and Exploitation Directors Who Debuted in the 1970s
> On a related topic:
Fame Amid the Ruins (2025)
Italian Film Stardom in the Age of Neorealism
The Celluloid Atlantic (2025)
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The Geopolitics of Postwar Italian Cinema
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A History of Italian Film Censorship, 1913–2021
Orienting Italy (2023)
China through the Lens of Italian Filmmakers
Women and Migration in Contemporary Italian Cinema (2023)
Screening Hospitality
Cinema Is the Strongest Weapon (2023)
Race-Making and Resistance in Fascist Italy
Wandering Women (2022)
Urban Ecologies of Italian Feminist Filmmaking
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