# Riccardo Freda

Riccardo Freda (24 February 1909 – 20 December 1999) was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror, giallo and spy films.
Freda began directing I Vampiri in 1956. The film became the first Italian sound horror film production.

## Biography

Riccardo Freda was born in 1909 in Alexandria, Egypt to Italian parents. Freda attended school in Milan where he took art classes at the Centro Sperimantale. After school he took on work as a sculptor and art critic.

### Film career

Freda first began working in the film industry in 1937 and directed his first film Don Cesare di Bazan in 1942. Freda began directing I Vampiri. I Vampiri was the first Italian horror film of the sound era, following the lone silent horror film Il mostro di Frankenstein (1920) A wave of Italian horror productions did not follow until Mario Bava's film Black Sunday was released internationally.
Freda died on 20 December 1999 in Rome.

## Filmography

| Title | Year | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as | Notes | Ref(s) |
| Title | Year | Director | Writer | Editor | Other | Notes | Ref(s) |
| Lasciate ogni speranza | 1937 | | Yes | | | | |
| L'allegro cantante | 1938 | | Yes | | | | |
| Fuochi d'artificio | 1938 | | Yes | | | | |
| La voce senza volto | 1939 | | Yes | | | | |
| Piccoli naufraghi | 1939 | | Yes | | Yes | Assistant director | |
| Il cavaliere di San Marco | 1939 | | Yes | | | | |
| In the Country Fell a Star | 1939 | | Yes | | Yes | Collaborator to direction | |
| Fascino | 1940 | | | Yes | | | |
| Il barone di Corbò | 1940 | | Yes | | | | |
| La granduchessa si diverte | 1940 | | Yes | | | | |
| Cento lettere d'amore | 1940 | | Yes | | | | |
| Lucky Night | 1941 | | Yes | | | | |
| Caravaggio, il pittore maledetto | 1941 | | Yes | | Yes | Collaboration to the making | |
| L'avventuriera del piano di sopra | 1941 | | Yes | Yes | | | |
| Don Cesare di Bazan | 1942 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Producer | |
| L'abito nero da sposa | 1945 | | Yes | | | | |
| Non canto più | 1945 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| Tutta la città canta | 1945 | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Story | |
| 07... Tassì | 1945 | Yes | | Yes | | | |
| The Black Eagle | 1946 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Story | |
| Les Misérables | 1948 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| The Mysterious Rider | 1948 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Story | |
| O caçula do barulho | 1949 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Story | |
| The Iron Swordsman | 1949 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| Guarany | 1950 | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Story | |
| The Gay Swordsman | 1950 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Story | |
| L'astuto barone | 1950 | Yes | Yes | | | Short film | |
| Magia a prezzi modici | 1951 | Yes | | | | Short film | |
| Double Cross | 1951 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| Tenori per forza | 1951 | Yes | Yes | | | Short film | |
| Revenge of Black Eagle | 1951 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Story | |
| See Naples and Die | 1952 | Yes | | | | | |
| La Leggenda del Piave | 1952 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| Sins of Rome | 1953 | Yes | | | | | |
| Theodora, Slave Empress | 1954 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Story, general manager | |
| I mosaici di Ravenna | 1954 | Yes | | Yes | | | |
| Da qui all'eredità | 1955 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| Beatrice Cenci | 1956 | Yes | | Yes | | Story | |
| I Vampiri | 1957 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Actor (Autopsy doctor) | |
| Trapped in Tangiers | 1957 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Story | |
| Sheba and the Gladiator | 1959 | | | | Yes | 2nd unit director–battle scenes | |
| The White Warrior | 1959 | Yes | Yes | Yes | | | |
| Caltiki – The Immortal Monster | 1959 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| The Giants of Thessaly | 1960 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| The Mongols | 1961 | | | | Yes | Director–battle scenes | |
| Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan | 1961 | Yes | | | | | |
| Caccia all'uomo | 1961 | Yes | | | | | |
| Marco Polo | 1962 | | | | Yes | Director–battle scenes | |
| Alone Against Rome | 1962 | | | | Yes | Director–Arena sequences | |
| Seven Seas to Calais | 1962 | | | | Yes | Editor–naval battle scene | |
| The Witch's Curse | 1962 | Yes | | | | | |
| The Horrible Dr. Hichcock | 1962 | Yes | | | | | |
| The Seventh Sword | 1962 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Story | |
| Gold for the Caesars | 1963 | | | | Yes | 2nd unit director | |
| The Ghost | 1963 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| The Magnificent Adventurer | 1963 | Yes | | | Yes | Story | |
| Romeo e Giulietta | 1964 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| Genoveffa di Brabante | 1964 | Yes | Yes | | Yes | Story | |
| The Two Orphans | 1965 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| Coplan FX 18 casse tout | 1965 | Yes | | | | | |
| Trap for the Assassin | 1966 | Yes | | Yes | | | |
| Mexican Slayride | 1967 | Yes | | | | | |
| La morte non conta i dollari | 1967 | Yes | | | | | |
| Double Face | 1969 | Yes | Yes | | | | |
| Tamar Wife of Er | 1970 | Yes | | | | | |
| L'iguana dalla lingua di fuoco | 1971 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Story | |
| Tragic Ceremony | 1972 | Yes | | | | | |
| Murder Obsession | 1981 | Yes | Yes | Yes | | | |
| Un tour de manège | 1989 | | | | Yes | Actor (Riccardo the film director) | |
| Revenge of the Musketeers | 1994 | | | | Yes | Based on "an idea by Freda and Éric Poindron | |