Ugo Moretti
Ugo Moretti was an Italian novelist, journalist, art critic and screenwriter. He was one of the leading figures of neorealism and postwar Roman intellectual life.
Life
1949: ''Vento caldo''
Ugo Moretti had an obscure career, despite a promising debut with Vento caldo, which won the Viareggio Prize for Poetry in a tie in 1949 and was later translated in eight countries. This novel has been described as "the story of a Harlequin-like young man making a precarious living in Mussolini's Italy".The 1950s
In the 1950s, Moretti headed the art gallery Il Pincio in Rome around Via Margutta and Via del Babuino and was "a key presence in the Roman bohemian "Dolce vita" of the 1950s".His second work is the auto-biographic short story collection Gente al Babuino. It was turned into the film Run with the Devil in 1960.
In the late 1950s, and alongside the novels published under his own name, Moretti wrote crime novels, so-called gialli, under pseudonyms such as Maurice Gouttier, Victor Drug and George Sherman,. The first, Nuda corre la morte, originated from Moretti's bet with the publisher "that a writer can pen any kind of story, just like a painter can draw a battle scene or a fairy tale illustration; therefore, he could crank out a giallo novel with some predetermined elements in one week", which resulted in him winning the bet.
His last giallo and masterpiece in this field was Doppia morte al Governo Vecchio, which was published under his own name in 1960. Roberto Curti noted its "witty depiction of a daydreaming, absent-minded cop who is intrinsically neurotic ". In 1977, this novel was turned into the film Double Murder directed by Stefano Vanzina. Moretti's authorship of the aforementioned gialli became known in 1990 following a revival of this novel.
From 1960 to his death
Regarding his role in the cultural world of the 1960s and 1970s, Moretti has been described as a "countercurrent figure".Peaking in the 1960s, but starting already in the 1950s and through till the 1980s, Moretti collaborated on numerous screenplays. In 1965, Moretti also had a small acting role in the film Con rispetto parlando. He wrote his last screenplay for Joe D'Amato's erotic drama film The Alcove in 1985.
Moretti also continued to write fiction and poetry up until the early 1990s both under pseudonyms and under his own name, some of it pornographic, such as Erosparty.
Works
Novels and poetry
Vento caldo ; English translation: Rogue Wind Gente al Babuino ; English translation by William Weaver under the titles Artists in Rome: Tales of the Babuino and A Street in Rome Fortuna di notte Doppia morte al Governo Vecchio Nuda ogni giorno Nuda ogni sera Natale in casa d'appuntamento La maglia arancione Le poesie, a collection of Moretti's poetryRitratto d'amante, a collection of 29 erotic poemsErosparty, a pornographic novelChampagne di mattina La ragazza con la bicicletta. Racconti partigiani Gli ippogrifi 69 Images par tous- ''Il gabbiano nero''
Crime novels ("gialli")
Source:Nuda corre la morte as Ugo MorettiUn cadavere da mezzo milliardo as Maurice GouttierContro la Rossa la ragion non vale as Maurice GouttierUn cinese all'inferno as Victor DrugContratto mortale as George ShermanAssassinio per appuntamento as Victor DrugSangue sulla Eiffel as Maurice GouttierLa porta dipinta di rosso as Victor DrugUn demonio corre a Brooklyn as George ShermanLa Pietra di Paragone as George ShermanUn morto da ammazzare as Victor DrugLa morte non vuole Marimba as George ShermanBionda al cianuro as Victor DrugDoppia morte al governo vecchio as Ugo MorettiWorks as journalist
Più che donna, a non-fiction work on lesbianism- ''Etiopia, Eritrea, Costa dei Somali. La lotta dei popoli del Corno d'Africa''
Screenplays and stories for the cinema
', story and screenplay with Giovanni Gigliozzi, Sergio Tesei, Enzo Trapani and Piero VivarelliSlave Women of Corinth, screenplay with Mario Bonnard, Sergio Leone and Mario di NardoDevil's Cavaliers, dialogue only with Jean Blondel- '
Films based on his novels
Run with the Devil, based on Moretti's second novel Gente al Babuino ', based on his 1961 novel Nuda ogni giorno- '