Jesus Franco

Jesús Franco Manera, also known as Jess Franco (Málaga, May 12, 1930-Málaga, April 2, 2013), was a film director, Spanish actor, producer, screenwriter, composer, editor and director of photography.

With more than 200 films to his credit, Jesús Franco is considered the most prolific Spanish director of all time. The filmmaker from Malaga, author of "Gritos en la noche", died at the age of 82 at the Clínica Pascual in Malaga, on April 2, 2013.

He is considered one of the most prolific directors of the European exploitation genre and an outstanding figure, along with Paul Naschy, Narciso Ibáñez Serrador and Amando de Ossorio, of Spanish horror films of the 70s. His character of Doctor Orloff has been considered "one of the myths of Iberian fant-terror".

As a director he came to film around 200 films in which lesbian, erotic or pornographic sequences abound and the fantastic, science fiction and horror film genres, but only once, by the way, the spaghetti western: The Ranger (1963). His work as a director of vampire-themed films, with titles such as Count Dracula (1970), Las Vampiras (1971), Killer Barbys (1996) or Killer Barbys vs. Dracula (2002) earned him great popularity.

Franco worked in countries such as France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy or the United States, making co-productions or filming for the producers who hired him. To adapt to local tastes, his films included sexual scenes of various kinds, depending on of these regional preferences. He also signed his works with pseudonyms so as not to saturate the market with his production.

Biography

Jesús Franco (in a wheelchair) in the tribute given to him in 2008 by the Fantastic Film Festival of Gérardmer (France)

Born into a wealthy family in Málaga, Jesús Franco was the brother of the music critic Enrique Franco, brother-in-law of the philosopher Julián Marías, through his sister Dolores Franco Manera, uncle of the writer Javier Marías, the economist and critic of cinema Miguel Marías, art historian Fernando Marías Franco and also film director Ricardo Franco.

Lina Romay, who was his sentimental partner and whom he married on April 23, 2008, became his main muse from the early 1970s until her death in 2012. Jesús Franco passed away on April 2, 2013 in Malaga due to an ischemic stroke.

“ In our relationship, both Lina and I have had freedom to make love with other people, and look, we're still together, nothing happened to us. “

Jesus Franco, on his relationship with Lina Romay (2012) [3]

Interested in music since he was a child, after the Spanish Civil War he entered the Madrid Conservatory where he studied piano. He finished his studies at the Ramiro de Maeztu Institute in Madrid and graduated in Law. After this stage he entered the Institute for Cinematographic Research and Experiences (IIEC), where he stayed for two years, while writing detective novels under the pseudonym David Khunne. He also combined his work as a theater director and actor during this time, as well as dedicating himself to playing jazz in clubs in Madrid and Barcelona and, later, in France and Belgium.

Professional career

Training and first jobs

After a stay in Paris (France), where he studied directing techniques and regularly went to see films at the university film library, he returned to Spain where he began his career as a film composer and assistant director. He worked under directors such as Juan Antonio Bardem, León Klimovsky, Luis Saslavsky, Julio Bracho, Fernando Soler, Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent or Luis García Berlanga. He was also hired, as a writer and representative, for Ágata Films S.A.

His first works as a director produced cultural films, usually short documentaries, with Spanish historical themes. He soon applied his experience and knowledge in making his first feature film, the comedy We are 18 years old (1959) starring Antonio Ozores and Terele Pávez.

"I already know that I am a marginal, a outsiderA director who makes some weird movies nobody sees but everyone judges. "

Jesús Franco, about his film aesthetics (Version Española, RTVE) [4]

1960s and early 1970s: Consolidation

After this debut, he directed films of little importance such as Vampiresas 1930 (1962). The same year he achieved some success with the horror film, a genre that was rarely addressed in Spanish cinema at the time, Screams at Night (1962). In this film, the iconic Doctor Orloff appears for the first time, played by Howard Vernon, a mad scientist who would recur in Franco's films until the 1960s 2010. Other notable films from this early period are Death Whistles the Blues (1964), A Dead Man's Hand (1962) and Rififí in the city (1963).

"I was lucky to speak languages, speak French and speak English. And then I was going and tied up with a German producer and I could do some movies in Germany. And when that started to come down, I went to France, to Paris, which is the place where I lived most."

Jesus Franco about making cinema abroad (Spanish Version, RTVE) [5]

Acclaimed by fans of the horror genre, he soon became an enemy of Francisco Franco's dictatorship and had multiple problems with film censorship. However, the good reviews received for his works from this early period did not materialize in financial help so that he could continue. He went into exile and continued to work abroad.

"You [the terror] seem like a gilipollez and piss you off laughing when talking about mysterious castles and black cats. And that's where you don't mess with anything while you don't see a tit. »

Jesus Franco to the Censorship Board [6]

Out of Spain, Franco found support in producers that allowed him to play all kinds of genres: comedy, drama, musicals and even pornography. His knowledge of English allowed him to work as a secondary unit director for Orson Welles in Chimes at midnight (1965). With Welles he would repeat in the unfinished projects of the American filmmaker Treasure Island and Don Quixote.

"Orson Welles wanted to take a director for the second unit Midnight Bells. (...) In Paris some friends showed him fragments of Death whistles a blues and some Screams at night. "

Jesus Franco, about his encounter with Orson Welles (Spanish Vision, RTVE) [7]

The film with which he gained international recognition was Necronomicon (1968): shot in Germany and presented at the Berlin Festival, the plot presents a nightclub dancer (Lorna Green) who Gradually, he allows himself to be influenced by the character he plays in a performance with sadomasochistic overtones that ends with a simulated murder.

"In Spain it was created as a kind of moral prohibition of my existence. That is, in the times of Francoism, I did not exist. He didn't show up on directors' lists. I didn't show up in movies-guides or stuff. "

Jesus Franco, about his disputes with censorship (Version Española, RTVE) [8]

Christopher Lee entrusted the Dracula Count in the version led by Jesus Franco in 1970.

In the early 1970s, two of the most important films in the director's entire filmography came to light: Count Dracula (1970) and The Vampires (1971). In the first case, it was one of the first adaptations that accurately reflect Bram Stoker's novel and featured an international cast headed by Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski, Herbert Lom and Soledad Miranda. The case of Las vampiras, premiered in Spain at the 1973 Sitges Festival two years after its official premiere in West Germany, the cast is led by Soledad Miranda and Ewa Strömberg and represents a new perspective about the myth of Dracula embodied by a woman.

"The soundtrack is beautiful. The two Berlin authors made a very modern music for that time. "

Jesus Franco, about the soundtrack Vampiras. (Version Española, RTVE) [9]

Klaus Kinski participated in several films directed by Franco in the 60s and 70s. [2].

Late 1970s and 1980s: Ostracism

The films of Jesús Franco were not always well received by critics or the public. A good part of the critics and the public began to reject or despise his proposals.The filmmaker specialized in shooting low-budget films for infinite production companies, creating his own production company –Manacoa Films–, and coming to release several titles in the same year. Due to his enormous production capacity in his films, it is verified that sometimes the cast of a shoot participated in new projects, using the same material and reusing scenes already shot, with the surplus budget from the previous project.

“He is one of the most prolific directors in the history of world cinema. (...) He has made cinema with crisis and without crisis, with money and without money, with clothes and without clothes. (...) He has made everything but surrender”

Santiago Segura, about Jesus Franco (Goya Awards, 2009) [10]

He also specialized in making double or triple versions of his films depending on the market for which they were intended. This way of working led him to release films under pseudonyms, on the recommendation of the production companies, so as not to saturate the film market. But the fundamental reason for the use of pseudonyms was the search for a better sale of the film with euphonious names and that sounded new in the international market. Some of his works are signed as David Khunne, John O'Hara, Clifford Brown or Pablo Villa.

"I put a few names that are very recognizable because they were all of dead jazz musicians. Then I have been added more."

Jesus Franco, on his pseudonyms (Spanish Version, RTVE) [11]

During the 1980s many of his films were rated X by censorship committees in various countries. Versions of his films were released with footage cut to up to 40 minutes. Together with Lina Romay, his partner and later his wife, he responded with forays into purely pornographic cinema, something that many of his followers did not understand either.

"From Tim Lucas I can tell you that the first thing he wrote about me is that he was the worst film director I've ever seen and the worst films ever made. And I'll go with him. "

Jesus Franco, on Critics (Spanish Version, RTVE) [12]

During this decade he continued shooting horror films such as The Collapse of the House of Usher (1982), Macumba Sexual (1983) or The Mansion of The Living Dead (1985). He also made very free adaptations of the Marquis de Sade such as Justine (1969), Eugenie, story of a perversion (1980) or Moans of pleasure (1983) based on Philosophy in the boudoir. He even signed action films such as Dark Mission (Operation cocaine) (1988) starring Christopher Mitchum, Cristina Higueras and Christopher Lee, set in Colombia but shot in La Manga del Mar Menor. his erotic-pornographic films such as Sexual Aberrations of a Married Woman (1981), The Voyeur and the Exhibitionist (1986) or the tandem Phollastía - Falo Crest (1987), which parodied in a pornographic code the television series Dynasty and Falcon Crest, the ones that win the bulk of your work. Carmen Carrión and Muriel Montossé are two of her favorite actresses from that decade.

In 2018, the Spanish Film Library recovered a lost film from 1980, What a honeymoon, based on The Golden Beetle, by Edgar Allan Poe.

"I do not believe in this of importance, the importance is given to the public. (...) There are some who like staff and others who do not. (...) One of the important things in the cinema is that one surrenders totally but one cannot calibrate when something is going to work or not."

Jesús Franco, about his cinema (Version Española, RTVE) [13]

1990s and 2000s: revival and vindication

At the beginning of the 90s, the State Society for the Universal Exposition of Seville in 1992 contacted Jesús Franco to compile the material and edit the film that was released with the title Don Quixote by Orson Welles (1992), a film that the American director shot over decades and left unfinished. After a long time of work and editing, the film was released with poor reception from critics. Some critics emphasized the fact that the Expo society was unable to collect a third of the footage shot by Welles due to financial disagreements with his heirs. Thus, Franco's version does not have one of the most famous images in the film: a sequence shot in Mexico in which Don Quixote sees himself in a cinema and attacks his own image with his spear, destroying the screen. room.

"Orson Welles is one of the geniuses of cinema that has been worse treated by industry and humanity in general."

Jesus Franco, about Orson Welles (Spanish Version, RTVE)

With Killer Barbies (1996), played by the homonymous group, the cinema of Jesus Franco returned to the big screen for a new generation of spectators. In the photo Silvia Superstar, singer of the punk group.

After years in which Franco's films could occasionally be seen in Spain through video editions, the theatrical release of Killer Barbys (1996) starring the musical group namesake, Santiago Segura and by cult figures such as Aldo Sambrell and Maria Angela Giordano, meant a revitalization of his career. It coincided with a tribute given to him in New York where he received an award for his career from Roger Corman.

Thanks to this, a general vindication of his work was made that culminated in the delivery, on February 1, 2009, of the honorary Goya Award. Given by Santiago Segura, who made a fiery defense of Franco's cinema, The collection of the prize was one of the most emotional moments of the ceremony. In addition, the General Society of Authors of Spain produced a retrospective of all his filmography.

"I want, as it is logical, to offer this Goya to about four thousand or around young chavelas and chavales who are with their short film in the pocket looking for someone to help them do so."

Jesus Franco, during the collection of the Goya Award of Honor (2009) [14]

Subsequently, Jess's production dropped significantly, although she continued filming until she practically passed away. His last film, Al Pereira vs. The Alligator Ladies , premiered in 2013, the year of her death.

“I can be many things, and I can have done many things, but what I have never done has been a trick film. I all did, and I do, with what I carry in the guts.”

Jesus Franco, about his cinema (2012) [15]

Other jobs

In addition to his work as a director, Jesús Franco worked as an actor in several films and television series. His most remembered performance is in the cult film The strange trip (1964) directed by Fernando Fernán Gómez and considered one of the best Spanish films of all time. In it Franco plays one of the bachelor brothers, repressed and scared, members of a wealthy family in decline who live in a gloomy town house under the tyranny of their older sister.

"The first thing I did in this trade was to be a theatre actor with the company of Luis B. Arroyo. I love it.

Jesús Franco, about his work as an actor (Version Española, RTVE)

In addition to participating as an actor in his own films, Franco also frequently appeared in films directed by his collaborators. Serve as examples Kárate to the death in Torremolinos (2003) or They stole Hitler's dick (2006) directed by Pedro Temboury. He also acted in the television series Carnival Tuesday (2007) directed by José Luis García Sánchez and the last work of the late screenwriter Rafael Azcona.

"A film director is a entertainer, a showman, and then it's no more important than, I say in quotation marks, than a choreographer. (...) I think film is a show.

Jesús Franco, about the cinema (Version Española, RTVE)

Producer

Throughout his career Franco produced or participated in the production of a good number of his own films, such as Rififí in the City (1963), Trip to Bangkok, coffin included (1985) or The Crypt of Cursed Women (2008).

However, he also worked as a producer for other filmmakers, such as the only film directed by actor Ricardo Palacios, the acclaimed ¡Biba la banda! (1987), performed by Alfredo Landa, Fiorella Faltoyano and Óscar Ladoire in their main roles.

Composer

Franco has accredited, with his name or under a pseudonym, 71 soundtracks for various films. Although the bulk of his production is found in the compositions for his own films, he also composed for other filmmakers. Serve as an example Comedians (1954) by Juan Antonio Bardem, Lisbon Mission (1965) directed by Federico Aicardi and Tulio Demicheli or Cuadrilatero (1970) by Eloy de church.

There are at least two compilations on CD with some of his musical works. In 1997 Subterfuge Records released three discs dedicated to the music of Jesús Franco performed by the so-called Jess Franco and His B-Band: the compilation of soundtracks The Manacoa Experience, the single (later CD) Exoteric Jess Franco and the compilation The Crazy World of Jess Franco. In all of them the inclusion of jazz is evident.

He also collaborated with other artists from different genres. In 2003, he recited a narration of cosmic horror for the introduction of the second album by the Malaga rap group Hablando en Plata Squad entitled Supervillanos de Alquiler. Later, in 2006, he sponsored the Spanish collective Digital 104 that defends the production in digital format versus celluloid.

Pseudonyms

The list of pseudonyms he used to sign his films is unusually broad in the realm of filmmaking. It includes (in alphabetical order of last name): Joan Almirall, Rosa María Almirall, Clifford Brawn, Clifford Brown Jr., Clifford Brown, Juan G. Cabral, Betty Carter, Candy Coster, Terry De Corsia, Rick Deconinck, Raymond Dubois, Chuck Evans, Toni Falt, Dennis Farnon, Jess Franck, J. Franco, James Franco, Jesse Franco, Jess Franco, Jesús Franco, A.M. Frank, Adolf M. Frank, Anton Martin Frank, Jeff Frank, Jess Frank, Wolfgang Frank, James Gardner, Manfred Gregor, Jack Griffin, Robert Griffin, Lennie Hayden, Frank Hollman, Frank Hollmann, Frarik Hollmann, B.F. Johnson, J.P. Johnson, Yogourtu Ungue, James Lee Johnson, James P. Johnson, David J. Khune, David Khune, D. Khunne Jr., D. Khunne, David J. Khunne, David Khunne, David Kuhne, David Kunne, David Kühne, Lulu Laverne, Lulú Laverne, Franco Manera, J. Franck Manera, J. Frank Manera, Jesús Franco Manera, Jesús Manera, Jeff Manner, Roland Marceignac, A.L. Mariaux, A.L. Marioux, John O'Hara, Cole Polly, Preston Quaid, P. Querut, Dan L. Simon, Dan Simon, Dave Tough, Pablo Villa, Joan Vincent and Robert Zinnermann.

Filmography as a director

Documentary shorts

Feature films

Video Clips

• 2000 - The Planets: Generational Hymn #83. Edited on VHS The Planets. Video (viacarla.com, 2000), as extra content on the DVD Meeting with entities (RCA BMG Ariola, 2002) and DVD Basic Principles of Astronomy (Sony BMG, 2009).
• 2003 - Speaking in Silver: Kings of the Horrorcore.

Documentaries about Jesús Franco

• Call him Jess. (Carles Prats, 2000).[16]
• The Life and Times of Jess Franco (José Luis García Sánchez, 2006).
• Jesus Franco, way of living (Kike Mesa, 2007).[17]
• Uncle Jess. (Víctor Matellano and Hugo Stuven, 2012).[18]
• Jess Franco's latest film (Pedro Temboury, 2013).[19]
• At Jess's pace (Naxo Fiol, 2013).[20]
• Call him Jess redux. (Carles Prats, 2014).[21]

Discography

• The Crazy World of Jess Franco (Subterfuge Records, 1997)
• The Manacoa Experience (Cripple Dick Hot Wax, 1998)

Awards and distinctions

San Sebastian International Film Festival