Luigi Batzella
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Luigi Batzella is an Italian Z-movie director, writer and former actor who used numerous pseudonyms. Some of them were Paolo Solvay, Ivan Kathansky, A.M. Frank, Gigi Batzella, Paul Hamus, Dean Jones, Paul Selway and several others. Although his films were generally inept, Batzella did get to work with a number of established B-actors of the time like Richard Harrison, Gordon Mitchell, Brad Harris, Rita Calderoni and Mark Damon. There is some conflicting information on whether his real name was Paolo Solvay or Luigi Batzella. According to the IMDb it's Batzella, according to Gordon Mitchell and Richard Harrison, it's Solvay.
Batzella was essentially a hack-of-all-trades, working in a variety of genres, directing spaghetti western (A Pistol for Django, 1971), war films (When the Bell Tolls, 1970), erotic horror (Nude for Satan, 1974), and most infamously, politically very incorrect Nazi-exploitation (Achtung! The Desert Tigers, 1977, and Beast in the Heat, 1977). He became notorious for working with very low budgets, using stock footage and recycling scenes from one film to another. Both Achtung! The Desert Tigers and Beast in the Heat feature footage from When the Bell Tolls.
Batzella's directing career ranged from the late 60's to the late 70's, after which he seems to have retired from film. Today, he's remembered mostly for the Nazi-exploitation films and being an Italian version of Ed Wood. Despite many of his films being in extremely bad taste, they hold a kind of naive charm similar to Wood.
[edit] Partial filmography
- When the Bell Tolls AKA Quando Suona la Campana (1970)
- A weak WW II film starring Brad Harris and Brigitte Skay, worth noting mainly for supplying footage for Solvay's later films.
- The Devil's Wedding Night AKA Il Plenilunio delle Vergini (1973)
- An erotic vampire film starring Mark Damon and Rosalba Neri, one of Solvay's better efforts.
- Nude for Satan AKA Nuda per Satana (1974)
- Arguably Solvay's best film, an experimental, erotic horror film starring Rita Calderoni. Although crude, it is strongly atmospheric, a quality lacking from all of his other films.
- Achtung! The Desert Tigers (1977)
- A mixture of a straight war film and sleazy Nazi-exploitation, with recycled scenes from When the Bell Tolls. Starring B-movie veterans Richard Harrison and Gordon Mitchell, featuring Mike Monty in a small role.
- Beast in the Heat AKA SS Hell Camp AKA La Bestia in Calore (1977)
- The film that made Solvay immortal. A thoroughly depraved Nazi-exploitation vehicle with torture, castration, rape and a simian man-beast (Italian character actor Salvatore Baccaro). An Italian cash-in of Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS taken one step further, Beast in the Heat is now a celebrated cult film in Z-movie fandom and was recently released on a high quality DVD. Featuring scenes from When the Bell Tolls.
- Black Gold Dossier (1979)
- An ultralow-budget, spy-action film set in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, starring Richard Harrison, Gordon Mitchell and Florence Cayrol, who spends most of the film in various stages of undress. Noteworthy for generous use of stock footage.
