#giuseppe bassan

[luckypluckychair]

Suspiria | 1977 | Italy

Director: Dario Argento

Production designer: Giuseppe Bassan

[documentary-surrealist]

Suspiria | 1977 | Italy Director: Dario Argento Production designer: Giuseppe Bassan via: tumblr.com/luckypluckychair

[byneddiedingo]

Jessica Harper in Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)

Cast: Jessica Harper, Stefania Cassini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Barbara Magnolfi, Susanna Javicoli, Eva Axén, Rudolf Schündler, Udo Kier, Alida Valli, Joan Bennett. Screenplay: Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi. Cinematography: Luciano Tovoli. Production design: Giuseppe Bassan. Film editing: Franco Fraticelli. Music: Dario Argento, Goblin (Agostino Marangolo, Massimo Morante, Fabio Pignatelli, Claudio Simonetti). 

I've seen movies in which the sets were more interesting than what's going on in them, but I don't think anyone would say that about Dario Argento's Suspiria. At the very least, in the competition of setting and action for the viewer's attention, it's a draw. When Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) tells a cab driver to take her to Escherstrasse, I should have been alerted to the visual phantasmagoria that is to come. It's clear that Argento means us to pick up on the allusion to the Dutch artist M.C. Escher, known for his plays on perspective and visual puzzles; Argento has the surly cabbie force Suzy to repeat the street name twice before saying it himself. But Escher's work was in black and white; Argento's, and that of his production designer, Giuseppe Bassan, and his cinematographer, Luciano Tovoli, is in color -- the most lurid Technicolor seen in a movie since the heyday of the MGM musical. Not that Suspiria has much in common with those musicals: The dominant color in Suspiria is red, and a lot of that red is blood, often artfully splattered. (One large blood splat looks like a Rorschach test.) I can't say that I was shocked by anything in the movie, although the many murders in it verge on overkill. It's too gaudy and noisy -- the background music by Goblin is the aural equivalent of the decor -- to build much tension. I could wish the dubbing of the dialogue didn't have the depthless quality, the lack of ambiance, of speech recorded in a studio -- even the English-speaking actors were post-synched in the manner of many Italian films of the era. But then the dialogue doesn't matter much: It's nonsense about witches, and the plot is only a device to hang horrors on. Still, Suspiria is a one-of-a-kind movie -- maybe we should be grateful for that -- and a landmark in its genre. 

[sesiondemadrugada]

Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975).

[icollectimages]

Deep Red (1975)

Country: Italy

Directed by: Dario Argento

Written by: Argento & Bernardino Zapponi

Cinematography by: Luigi Kuveiller

Edited by: Franco Fraticelli

Produced by: Salvatore Argento

Music by: Goblin & Giorgio Gaslini

Production Design by: Giuseppe Bassan

[badgaymovies]

Deep Red (1975)

Deep Red starring #DavidHemmings, "One of #DarioArgento 's finest efforts", Today On MyOldAddiction.com

DARIO ARGENTO Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB Original Title: Profondo Rosso Italy, 1975. Rizzoli Film, Seda Spettacoli. Screenplay by Dario Argento, Bernardino Zapponi. Cinematography by Luigi Kuveiller. Produced by Salvatore Argento. Music by Giorgio Gaslini, Goblin. Production Design by Giuseppe Bassan. Costume Design by Elena Mannini. Film Editing by Franco Fraticelli. One of Dario Argento’s…

[ultrafabius]

The Colors in “Suspiria” - Blue

1 / 3

2 3

RED

YELLOW

PINK

[manganic-malaria]

Suspiria, 1977

[marcogiovenale]

i segreti del collezionismo (d'arte): il video di giuseppe e gianni garrera a palazzo taverna

i segreti del collezionismo (d’arte): il video di giuseppe e gianni garrera a palazzo taverna

[constantlybreakingdown]

“Susie, do you know anything about. . . witches?”

Suspiria (1977) Dir. Dario Argento

Cinematography by Luciano Tovoli

Production Design by Giuseppe Bassan

Special Effects by Germano Natali

The majority of Suspiria was shot at De Paoli studios in Rome, where key exterior sets (including the facade of the academy) were constructed.

Practical locations were shot in Munich, Germany.

[productiondesign]

Suspiria • 1977 • Dario Argento

“Through Pierangelo Cicoletti’s sleek and shiny costume design, Giuseppe Bassan’s over-the-top, painstakingly intricate, glossy production design, and Argento’s colorful set pieces amplified by Luciano Tovoli’s vibrant cinematography, the visuals emphasize extremely vivid, almost neon primary colors—particularly red—which makes the violent scenes simultaneously incandescent and terrifying. Interestingly, Argento tasked Tovoli with viewing Walt Disney’s Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937) so that he could emulate the film’s color scheme.”

[giallofever2]

1987

Rare Postcard (Official) of the Dario Argento’s Cult ...

Opera

Riprese

Le riprese cominciarono il 25 maggio 1987 e terminarono il 14 ottobre dello stesso anno.

La pellicola fu girata fra Lugano, in Svizzera, Roma e all'interno del Teatro Regio di Parma, ambientazione delle scene d'opera del film. La protagonista del film doveva essere, prima ancora che le riprese iniziassero, Giuliana De Sio poi rimossa per la scelta di Argento e lo sceneggiatore Ferrini di dare un'età più "verde" al personaggio principale e venne sostituita dalla meno nota Cristina Marsillach, che si rivelò però altrettanto valida.

Michele Soavi aiuta Argento nella regia del film come regista in seconda unità.

Durante le riprese avvennero sul set fatti strani, che convinsero Argento del fatto che il suo film fosse stato preso di mira dalla cosiddetta maledizione del Macbeth (in realtà esistente solo nel teatro di prosa per il dramma di Shakespeare, detto scaramanticamente dramma scozzese, mentre l'opera di Giuseppe Verdi non gode di nessuna fama infausta nell'ambiente operistico).

Accoglienza

La pellicola ebbe molto successo tra il pubblico, arrivando al 12º posto della classifica dei film dal maggior incasso in Italia nella stagione cinematografica 1987-88 (in totale incassò 7.207.592.000 £).

Riconoscimenti

1990 - Festival internazionale del cinema di Porto

Nomination Miglior film a Dario Argento

1988 - Ciak d'oro

Miglior manifesto a Renato Casaro

Nomination Miglior scenografia a Davide Bassan

Nomination Migliori costumi a Lia Francesca Morandini

Nomination Miglior montaggio a Franco Fraticelli

Dario Argento - authorized page

Cast

Cristina Marsillach: Betty

Ian Charleson: Marco

Urbano Barberini: Santini

Antonino Iuorio: Baldini

Daria Nicolodi: Mira

Coralina Cataldi Tassoni: Giulia

Antonella Vitale: Marion

William McNamara: Stefano

Barbara Cupisti: sig.ra Albertini

Carola Stagnaro: madre di Alma

Francesca Cassola: Alma

Maurizio Garrone: Maurizio

Cristina Giachino: Maria

György Gyõriványi: Miro

Peter Pitsch: assistente di Mara Cekova

Bjorn Hammer: poliziotto

Sebastiano Somma: poliziotto

Dario Argento: narratore

Michele Soavi: Daniele Soave

[brokehorrorfan]

Blu-ray Review: Suspiria

No one will argue that Suspiria is the greatest story ever told. It's plot - about a dance school run by a coven of witches - is dreamlike (or, more accurately, nightmarish) at best and borderline incomprehensible at worst. But many - myself included - believe that it's perhaps the most gorgeous horror film ever put on celluloid. Between the colorful lighting, the opulent production design, and the extravagant set pieces, any frame of Suspiria could be hung on a wall and appreciated as a piece of art.

Suspiria is directed by Italian master of horror Dario Argento (Deep Red, Tenebrae), who co-wrote the script with his then-partner and frequent muse, Daria Nicolodi. Both before and after his 1977 opus, Argento predominantly made films in the giallo genre, the Italian murder-mystery thrillers that he helped popularize. Stylistically, Suspiria feels like an extension of his giallo work, down to the elaborate murder sequences. Rather than an intricate procedural story, however, Suspiria explores the supernatural and embraces a fairy tale-style narrative.

The simplistic plot follows Suzy Bannon (Jessica Harper, Phantom of the Paradise), an American ballet student who enrolls in a prestigious German dance academy. The moment she arrives, a pair of students are viciously murdered in the elaborate opening set piece. Odd occurrences continue to revolve around Suzy throughout the film, ranging from death and disappearance to maggots and razor wire to drugs and witchcraft. While Harper carries the film with her childlike innocence, other notable faces in the cast include Joan Bennett (Dark Shadows), Udo Kier (Blade), and Rudolf Schündler (The Exorcist).

Suspiria has been painstakingly restored and remastered in 4K from the uncut Italian 35mm camera negative by Synapse Films. Director of photography Luciano Tovoli (Murder by Numbers, Single White Female) supervised the process, which included a new, more accurate color correction. The film's memorable lighting has never shone so vibrantly. Inspired by Disney's classic animated version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Luciano bathed the frame in vibrant primary colors.

Although not mentioned quite as often as the lighting, Giuseppe Bassan's (Deep Red, Tenebrae) production design is equally as stunning and integral to the majestic beauty of Suspiria. The particular wallpaper patterns, M.C. Escher-style geometrical murals, ornate architecture, and unique props that adorn each room in the academy make every set interesting to look at before a character even steps into frame. The baroque details are even more apparent in the new transfer.

Beyond a visual masterpiece, Suspiria's individuality extends to its sound design. The diverse soundtrack by frequent Argento composers Goblin (Dawn of the Dead, Deep Red) includes grooving prog rock, pounding tribal music, screeching synthesizers, wailing voices, ominous whispers, and the lullaby-esque main theme, which is peppered throughout the film. The enveloping audio is presented in a 4.0 English-language LCRS sound mix, not heard since the original theatrical release, along with the Italian 5.1 surround sound mix.

Like most Italian pictures of the era, Suspiria was largely filmed without sync sound. This allows for production to work at a more efficient pace, but it necessitates all of the voices to be dubbed in during post-production. Harper thankfully provided her own voice, but the majority of the other actors - several of whom spoke in their native Italian or German on set - were dubbed by American actors. This disconnect, despite occasionally adding unintended camp to the performances, only furthers the film's surreal quality.

Synapse released its long-awaited Suspiria restoration as a limited edition SteelBook in late 2017. It quickly sold out, so the company has re-issued the transfer as a two-disc Blu-ray edition. It includes all the same special features sans the bells and whistles (no SteelBook packaging, soundtrack CD, or collector's booklet). It features cover art by Joel Robinson, with the original poster art on the reverse side. Standard, single-disc Blu-ray and DVD versions are also available.

In addition to the option to play the film with either the original Italian or English opening and closing credit sequences via seamless branching, the first disc of Synapse Films' Blu-ray set offers two new audio commentaries. One features expert/author Troy Howarth, while the other has scholars Derek Botelho and David Del Valle. Despite some overlap in content, both are well-researched and informative listens.

The second disc is dedicated to extras. Actress Barbara Magnolfi, who plays Olga, is the only cast or crew member involved, but she gives a solid interview. A new, 27-minute retrospective finds various experts - ranging from journalists to authors to industry professionals - analyzing and appreciating the film. There's also a thorough, 30-minute visual essay by Michael Mackenzie; a featurette highlighting the film's German shooting locations and connections; original trailers, TV spots, and radio spots; and the alternate U.S. opening credits featuring the memorable "breathing letters."

In the aforementioned visual essay, the author waxes poetic about being unable to replicate his first viewing of Suspiria. While it's true that being engulfed by Argento’s sensory overload is a singular experience, watching Synapse Films' presentation is like seeing Suspiria for the first time again. More than just one of the best Blu-ray releases of the year, this remarkable restoration marks a milestone of the format.

Suspiria is available now on Blu-ray and DVD via Synapse Films.

[filmforthought]

Suspiria

Starring Jessica Harper Rating: ★★★

Put yourself in Suzy’s ballerina shoes for a second.

Finally, after years of hard work, you’ve made it! You’ve received an offer to perform ballet at a dance academy in Germany, and couldn’t say yes quicker. You pack up your bags, and fly over to Germany without looking back.

When you arrive, it’s pouring rain. After getting soaked by the downpour, you eventually find a taxi that’ll get you to the academy.

Once your long, traitorous journey comes to an end, you’ve finally arrived at the celebrated academy. You approach the door, but suddenly, someone comes running out screaming obscenities.

It’s befuddling, but you ring the doorbell because you’ve come this far. A person behind the door tells you to go away. In disarray, you find a hotel to shack up for the night.

The next day, you’re back at the academy and it’s a 180 from yesterday: the sun’s shining, people are friendly, but something’s off-putting. Remember that lady you saw screaming out the door last night? It turns out she was stabbed to death and hung from the ceiling of an apartment complex.

This can’t be your normal dance academy, right? Well, Suzy finds that out the hard way.

While Suzy has a terrifying time at the academy, it’s an entertaining experience for the audience. Director Dario Argento brings horror to the screen that’s cheesy and over-the-top, yet unique and engrossing.

Most of today’s horror consists of special graphics and believable gore, but Argento embraces corniness with the murders that look like something out of the movies I can pull off with my buddies. When someone is killed in Suspiria, they go out gloriously.

One death includes someone getting stabbed in the heart, literally. The killer stabs his victim in the chest, where Argento zooms in on a bleeding heart. After that scene, you’ll have a hand over your chest and the other over your mouth.

It also freaked me out to the point where I was checking my hair for lice. As the critters crawled throughout the academy, I sifted my fingers through my hair hoping I wasn’t the victim. Luckily, I was all clear. However, it was a little weird when my head got a little itchy later in the evening.

While Argento packs in the thrills, he throws in some good laughs too. Argento is aware of the wackiness, so he puts in eccentric characters who talk or act obscene. For example, Argento himself plays a mute butler who looks ugly as sin, but he just got his teeth replaced. Let’s just say he may need more than new teeth.

Argento’s character is peculiar and so is the set design by Giuseppe Bassan. If the stabbings in the heart and lice from the ceiling don’t freak you out, the blue velvet walls and long corridors dressed in red might.

Bassan’s production immerses the audience in this upside-down world. The academy appears to be a pleasant place dedicated to the art of dance, yet it’s unsettling. It’s reminiscent of Blue Velvet, where director David Lynch turned a gleeful song into an eerie tune.

At first, it might not be in your best interest to slip on Suzy’s ballet shoes. Attending a dance academy notorious for its record of murders doesn’t sound appealing.

However, if you’re in the mood for some thrills, the shoe will fit.

[moviesandsets]

Suspiria - 1977 - Argento

In this beautiful movie directed by Dario Argento in 1977, the space is one of the most important character of  the storyline. Suspiria, considered as one of the goodest movie from Dario Argento, is a surnatural thriller with a lot of violence. At the time, the director asked to his artistic director to watch few movies like “Snow White”, “The Wizard Of Oz” or “Alice in Wonderland”. These references are clear : as in “Snow White”, a young girl is trapped in a place. The forest from “Snow White” is like the house (the dance school) in Suspiria. 

The movie is build like a fairy-tale, but in an horror and in a more violent way. The set design, by Giuseppe Bassan, is constructed around three primars colors : red, yellow and blue. Furnitures, lighted by Luciano Tovoli are luxurious, fairy-like but also almost fetishistic. Filmed in a wide and transversal manner, highlighted by Luciano Tovoli as a leading man, the spectator loses himself between oppressive walls and an architecture without landmarks.  

Following Suspiria, Giuseppe Bassan will work with Argento in the continuation of his witch trilogy on Inferno and Darkness. Luciano Tovoli, the director of photography, also participated in the second part of Argento's trilogy. Moving away from thrillers, he worked on several big French, Italian and American films such as “La Cage aux Folles”, “Vanille Fraise” from Gérard Oury, “Le Dîner de con” from Veber and also “La donna della domenica” from Luigi Comencini.