During the 1950s, he studied architecture at the
University of Florence, after which he produced documentaries for scientific voyages of exploration, and emerged as a pioneer of underwater cinematography (one of these voyages was the important 1951 expedition to Ceylon along with Franco Prosperi documented by local news, that anticipated
Folco Quilici's
Sixth Continent experience). Next, Cavara worked on a series of Italian National TV films led by Giorgio Moser. He also worked as an assistant director (
Timbuctu and
Naked Maya, a 1958 production by
Henry Koster). In 1962, Cavara conceived with
Gualtiero Jacopetti and directed the first shockumentary in history:
Mondo Cane, while Prosperi was credited as second director. For the film, Cavara traveled to every part of the world, from Africa to Asia, Europe to Japan, putting his life continually in danger. He shot most of the film's footage. Cavara eventually met up with Jacopetti again in Las Vegas, and they were both involved in the automobile accident where British starlet
Belinda Lee lost her life. The film was presented at the
Cannes Festival. Following the success of the film, Jacopetti attempted to claim all the merits for himself, but left himself open to fierce media criticism. Although involved in the editing of the film, he had had little presence on set during actual filming. The next year,
La donna nel mondo (
Women of the World) was put together using inferior materials from
Mondo Cane.
Mondo Cane launched Cavara as an author and director. From then on, he continued to make films, nevertheless that experience left a sign for future projects. Having left his former associates, he directed the forwarding
Malamondo, an “” on European youth, and in 1967
The Wild Eye (with
Alberto Moravia and
Tonino Guerra screenwriters added), a definitive breakaway from the genre conducted with spectacular ability that anticipated reflections on
cinema making cinema with ambiguous and conscious perspective.
Wild eye won the
Atlanta Festival and was entered into the
5th Moscow International Film Festival. Cavara continued with the charming, inverted war-genre-formula drama,
The Ravine with
David McCallum as protagonist (a promise of '69 Venice Festival), and in 1971
Black Belly of the Tarantula, a cult thriller with a big cast, balanced between documentary scenes and an engaging performance by police inspector,
Giancarlo Giannini. Following many other European successes (comedies, Westerns, TV films), Cavara pursued film-making. A remarkable example is
Plot of Fear, (his second thriller) with
Michele Placido and
Eli Wallach, where Cavara displayed in a new and radical shape traditional elements of gothic, police film, and Italian giallo. Not identified as a conventional director, Cavara focused attention, over his not very long professional career, on controversial subjects and film characters, his trademark being the skillful interplay between and sensibility for visual contrasts. Cavara died in Rome in 1982. ==Selected filmography ==