Buon' Compleanno, Mario Bava!

Today would have been Mario Bava's 93rd birthday. To mark the occasion, here's the exquisite Spanish poster art by "Mac." [Macario Gomez] from one of his most important photographic assignments of the 1950s: Pietro Francisci's ORLANDO E I PALADINI DI FRANCIA (1956), released theatrically in this country as ROLAND THE MIGHTY. I wish this poster could have been used in MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK, but it came into my possession after the book was completed. So consider this birthday treat as an exclusive.

ORLANDO was the last feature Bava photographed before the tide of his career began to turn with his next two assignments, I VAMPIRI and HERCULES, both made in 1957.

It may interest you to know that I'll be remembering Bava this week (like I could forget him!) by recording the next round of audio commentaries for Anchor Bay Entertainment's THE MARIO BAVA COLLECTION, VOLUME 2 and another stand-alone Bava release, à la KIDNAPPED. I'm not at liberty to provide titles or release dates yet, but you can probably figure them out.