Eugenio Martín

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In this
Spanish name, the first or paternal surname
is Martín and the second or maternal family name is Márquez.
Eugenio Martín
Born
Eugenio Martín Márquez

(1925-05-15)15 May 1925
Universidad de Granada
Occupation(s)Film director and screenwriter

Eugenio Martín Márquez (15 May 1925 – 23 January 2023) was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He was known for the low-budget

Hammer Films. Though never remarkably successful either at the box office or among critics, Martín's films, particularly Horror Express, have achieved cult status.[1] The popular horror film magazine Fangoria
included Horror Express in its book, 101 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen: A Celebration of the World's Most Unheralded Fright Flicks.

Early life and first films

Martín was born on 15 May 1925 in Ceuta. He was a child when the Spanish Civil War broke out. Since the uprising first broke out among Nationalist generals in Spanish Africa,[2] the African port city of Ceuta was immediately embroiled in violence. Following the death or arrest of friends and family members, Martín's family fled to Granada on the Spanish mainland. After publishing a volume of

Francoist Spain for a less censorious environment, he eventually decided to stay in Spain, accepted into the "Institute of Cinematic Investigation and Experiences" in Madrid. At the institute, Martín made a series of well-regarded short films and documentaries before making his first feature film Despedida de soltero ("Farewell to the Single Life"), in 1957.[3]

International collaborations and commercial success

When European film crews began frequently using Spain as an affordable site for

1960s cinema, by many accounts among the most fertile and creative periods in film history.[4][5]

In 1966 Martín directed

Westerns he was to create. The director maintained that the concept behind his film antedated and influenced the Sergio Leone film For a Few Dollars More, worked on by Duccio Tessari - a mutual acquaintance of Martín and his friend and former teacher José G. Maesso.[3]

Martín made several

auteur in every genre", per the subtitle of a recent biography. The director's filmography and competence in English led American producer Philip Yordan to contract him for three films, which remain among his better-known works: Bad Man's River, Pancho Villa, and Horror Express.[3] These films have decidedly uneven critical reputations, but the latter especially remains a favorite among fans of its lead actors, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing
.

Martín's international profile dropped significantly after his 1973 film, A Candle for the Devil, released in North America as It Happened at Nightmare Inn. After this release, most of his work was in Spanish-language television.

On 11 October 2017, he was honored for the fiftieth anniversary of his film

El precio de un hombre (1967) at the 7th Almería Western Film Festival.[6][7]

Personal life and death

Martín died in Madrid on 23 January 2023, at the age of 97.[8]

Selected filmography

Further reading

  • Aguilar, Carlos and Anita Haas. Eugenio Martín, un autor para todos los géneros. Retroback & Séptimo Vicio. Spain: 2008.
  • Lukeman, Adam, ed. 101 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen: A Celebration of the World's Most Unheralded Fright Flicks. New York: Random House, 2011.

References

  1. ^ "Horror Express". Mondo Digital (in Spanish). 25 October 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  2. ^ Brenan, Gerald (1943). The Spanish Labyrinth. Cambridge University Press. p. 316.
  3. ^ a b c "Book Review: A Biography of Director Eugenio..." Cinema Retro. 11 January 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  4. ^ "STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY, THE". Music Box Films. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  5. ^ "Movies from 1960s were most creative in cinema history, study finds". CBS News. 14 October 2013. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  6. ^ Martínez, Evaristo (11 October 2017). "Siete disparos certeros: Almería Western Film Festival en siete claves". La Voz de Almería (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  7. El Periódico de Catalunya
    (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  8. ^ "Muere Eugenio Martín, director de 'Pánico en el Transiberiano' y maestro español de Tarantino". El Mundo. 23 January 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
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