According to Thomas Weisser’s book, Gianni Garko starred in a movie called His Name is Holy Ghost (1970), otherwise known as Lo Chiamavano Spirito Santo, Blazing Guns, and They call Him Holy Ghost.
In 1971, Garko starred in a sequel called Forewarned, Half Killed…the World of Holy Ghost, otherwise known as Uomo Avvisato Mezzo Ammazzato…Parola di SPirito Santo, also directed by Carmineo.
However, when I looked it up in imdb, both movies seemed to be listed under one title. There are several unoffical holy ghost sequels but according to Weisser, Garko starred in two official ones directed by Carmineo. The two films were apparently shot back to back.
However, even this website only lists Garko starring in one, which appears to be the sequel. This sequel seems to be the only acknowledged official holy ghost movie. The original movie seems to have dissappeared completely.
Read the topic about Weisser’s book[url]http://www.spaghetti-western.net/forum/index.php/topic,797.0.html[/url]. It’s full of mistakes. There is no Sequel to Holy Ghost (at least no sequel with Garko). Forewarned, Half Killed…the World of Holy Ghost is the alternative title for His name is Holy Ghost.
[quote=“Bill san Antonio, post:3, topic:732”]Oh, what I meant with “sequel with no Garko” was that there’s a series of Holy Ghost films directed by Roberto Mauri with Vassili Karis as Holy Ghost:
I haven’t seen any of them though. Any opinions?[/quote]
Just to confuse things more … I’ve got an old Italian poster for ‘Bada Alla Tua Pelle Spirito Santo!’ that’s for a 1972 film - so you’d think it’s for ‘Gunman and the Holy Ghost’/‘Return of the Holy Ghost’ … being directed by Roberto Mauri and starring Vassili Karis. But, imdb don’t have this italian title (but some other) and the poster mentions Ray O’Connor (alright so far) but also Jose Torres and Craig Hill ?? which does not compute with imdb - but does with Weisser!? So - has Weisser got this one right? I’d like to see the film but I can’t track it down - and I bet there’s no English version.
Anyway - it’s a great looking poster and it’s framed up on the kitchen wall.
Of course my confusion could stem from a wee dram of the spirito of a different kind this eve - a new batch of communion wine to be quality controlled …
There are 3 Spirito Santo films (aka “Holy Ghost”) with Vassili Karis as “Spirito Santo/Holy Ghost”. *Hey guys I helped Weisser with material for his book and was extremely disappointed at the final product. Weisser has seen maybe, maybe 1/3 of the films he writes about and the rest is from Italian, Spanish press clippings and alot of guess work on his part. So please use his book as a loose guide and do your own research or this board for additional information. The only good thing with his book is it’s in English for us poor gringos who have little resources for Euro/Spaghetti westerns in English.
This is my file on the above mentioned film:
Bada alla tua pelle Spirito Santo – Italian title
Le magnifiche canaglie West – Italian title
Return of the Holy Ghost – English title
A 1972 Italian production [CEPA Cinematografica (Rome)]
Producer: Franco Vitolo
Director: Robert Johnson (Roberto Mauri)
Story: Roberto Mauri
Screenplay: Roberto Mauri
Cinematography: Pino Pinor (Giuseppi Pinori) [Eastmancolor, Cinemascope]
Music: Carlo Savina
Running time: 92 minutes
Story: A crook masquerading as an Army Colonel in charge of gold shipments, replaces gold ingots with fakes. Spirito Santo is recruited to solve the case and make sure the gold gets through.
Cast:
Lieutenant Albert Donovan/Spirito Santo/Holy Ghost - Vassili Karis (Vassil Karamesinis)
Colonel John Mills - Craig Hill (Craig Fowler)
Diego D’Asburg - Ray O’Connor (Remo Capitani)
Elizabeth/Suomi - Daria Norman
banker - Jose Torres
‘Il Garibaldino’ - Ken Wood (Giovanni Cianfriglia)
‘The Pirate’ - Augusto Funari
‘The Priest’ - Omero Capanna
Thomas ‘Il Piccolo’ - Gaddo Gelli
Caccola - Aldo Berti
Margaret - Lilian Tyrel
Carmelo - Salvatore Billa
with; Fortunato Arena, Tom Felleghy, Vittorio Fanfoni, Lina Franchi, Lorenzo Piani, Mafisa Macelloni
Tom, do you have any information about english-language releases of Roberto Mauri’s Spirito Santo films? IMDb has english titles for all of them but that’s it. No video releases, no english-language bootlegs, no theatrical posters, no nothing. Were these movies really dubbed into english? I have two on them (Spirito Santo e le 5 magnifiche… & E lo chimarono Spirito Santo) on DVD-R, taped-off italian tv. I don’t know if they were released on VHS even in Italy. Same goes to Corte marziale, which is, as far as I know, just a bunch of scenes from E lo chiamarono… & Bada alla tua pelle… thrown together + some new scenes + new dub.
It is interesting to note that, release dates to hand, the first film of Roberto Mauri’s mediocre trilogy … e lo chiamarono Spirito Santo preceded Uomo avvisato mezzo ammazzato… Parola di Spirito Santo with Garko.
Quote from …e lo chiamarono Spirito Santo Forum topic
Beginning of Roberto Mauri Spirito Santo trilogy. [b][i]At the beginning of the film we see how a woman gives birth to a child. A white dove comes and the boy is called Spirito Santo. Of Course, a white dove reminiscent of the eponymous character, played by Gianni Garko[/i][/b] (Uomo avvisato mezzo ammazzato... Parola di Spirito Santo / Director: Giuliano Carnimeo). But both films have nothing in common.
Other than that, the films have in common only the presence of the “Beast in Heat” Salvatore Baccaro (no mustache version) in a small role.
The second film Bada alla tua pelle Spirito Santo!, despite Craig Hill and a pretty interesting villain (Diego D’Asburgo) played by Remo Capitani, is a below average and vulgar SW with an unusually bad Italian dubbing.
Silver Wolf - I don’t think any of the Holy Ghost films were released in English. Possibly the were released with sub-titles but I doubt that also. Many of these films are given direct translated titles from Italian to English or in the case of Weisser just fabricated. These were 2nd or 3rd tier films so I’m guessing they were released in smaller Italian towns and never made it overseas at the time of release. Later they were probably taped off of Italian TV and released on video and then transferred to DVD. At this time they were probably assigned English titles.
Curiously in Mauri’s And His Name Was Holy Ghost the sheriff played by Mimmo Palmara - at the end of his night conversation with the old man inside the abandoned mine - says “Uomo avvisato è mezzo salvato…”: four months later “Uomo avvisato mezzo ammazzato… parola di Spirito Santo” will be the original title of His Name Was Holy Ghost with Garko.