text:
Talk:Alfonso XII

Some proposals
I suggest excising from the start of the article the doubts about his paternity, and together with some notes about his relationship to Elena Sanz, their offspring, and the juridical troubles of his will, move it to a (several) section in the text. Besides this, as Alfonso XII's memory is deeply ingrained in spanish popular culture, some data about it would be of interest

--Wllacer 10:37, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

I would change the "homosexual" of Francisco de Asis, since there are no evidences about it. Wikipedia should say what we know or we can prove it's true, and to this day, Francisco de Asis' sexual tendencies cannot be assured (it was told he got a lover -woman- too). I would say "presumed homosexual". --80.103.137.151 02:55, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Ancestor infobox
Cosmos666 has added a box which shows Alfonso's four grandparents and eight great-grandparents. This is certainly not usual for an encylopedia article (indeed, often not for a full-length book about the subject). I suggest removal. If not, what are the limits to this? Noel S McFerran 04:07, 27 October 2006 (UTC) I'd like to see the ancestry box return. Many of the other 'Monarch biographies' on Wikipedia have these boxes. They're useful for tracing historical genealogical relationships and present some useful information in a concise format. Thanks a.windemere ...Sorry, I just noticed that it's still there when the 'show' link is clicked.

Puigmoltó It´s not Puig y Moltó is Puigmoltó. Don Enrique de Puigmoltó y Mayans, son of the "conde de Torrefiel". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.40.41.187 (talk) 12:25, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Reign
Did Alfosono become King in December 1874 or January 1875? We need consistancy folks. GoodDay (talk) 21:53, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Massive unsourced additions
In July User:MJPE doubled the size of the article with this poorly written and completely unsourced edit. For some reason I can not understand, it has been allowed to remain. Unless someone wants to clean it up and add the required citations, I am going to replace it with what was there before the edit. Tad Lincoln (talk) 07:05, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

Alfonso's paternity
An American dental student was the biological father of the King? I don't know were that comes from. Sounds suspiciously incorrect. And as for Enrique "Puig y Molto," there is no such man; he was actually Enrique Puigmolto y Mayans (Iberian Studies: Journal of the Iberian Social Studies Association, Volume 10, p. 45 and Isabel II: Los Espejos de la Reina by Juan Sisinio Pérez Garzón, p. 53), son of Jose Puigmolto y Perez, Conde de Torrefiel, and his wife Pascuala Mayans y Enriquez de Navarra, a sister of Luis Mayans y Enriquez de Navarra, Spanish Minister of State in July 1854. The name (Puigmolto) must have been incorrectly transcribed by whoever first made that edition to King Alfonso's biography. Lordmarmont (talk) 07:18, 25 November 2012 (UTC) Lordmarmont

Clean up
What is the point of the split nation section? I am not doubting its accuracy but it seems out of place in a biography.--The Emperor's New Spy (talk) 19:59, 24 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I thought the same thing and removed it. All the events mentioned there took place decades before his birth. Surtsicna (talk) 10:01, 7 March 2013 (UTC)
 * The problem's root lies here.--The Emperor's New Spy (talk) 01:33, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Introduction
The introduction to the article, particularly the second paragraph, has a mistake. The 1868 Spanish Revolution (BTW, the link should be changed, as it currently links to an event that took place during the Spanish Civil War) was not led by Carlists, but by pro-democracy politicians and military men. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Milarqui (talk • contribs) 19:44, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

remove photographer's credit under image caption
The image caption says "Photograph by F. Voight, 1884", should the credit to the photographer be removed? I think Wikipedia credits photographers in their photograph's page, not in the photograph's caption in articles. Sofia Koutsouveli (talk) 17:26, 16 March 2014 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Amadeo I of Spain which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 23:01, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

post-Napoleonic restorations and revolutions which engulfed the West both in Europe [sic]
So the disruptions in Spain could have possibly been an historical and unexplained hidden cause of the discovery of America? 50.72.101.163 (talk) 22:25, 18 September 2022 (UTC)

Requested move 30 March 2023

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: No consensus as to whether or not WP:NCROY overrides WP:CONCISE in this case. I should've clarified that in my original close; my apologies.

Not moved. We have five article title criteria that were all brought up repeatedly. WP:CONCISE was against the move (though it was well noted that WP:CONCISE does allow certain exceptions for biographies), WP:CONSISTENT was repeatedly argued to be in favor of and against the move (with plenty of examples on each side!), WP:PRECISE isn't relevant, WP:RECOGNIZABLE was convincingly argued to be a nonfactor (if you're familiar with Alfonso XII, you'll recognize this article as being about him)... and WP:COMMONNAME was conclusively shown via Ngrams to be against the move. With no convincing reason to move, and one unquestioned reason to keep it here, the decision isn't hard. Red  Slash  04:41, 15 April 2023 (UTC)}}

Red  Slash  17:35, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

– Per WP:SOVEREIGN. Articles regarding monarchs should be titled "{Monarch's first name and ordinal} of {Country}". I know that these move requests are contentious (those asking to either add or remove the "of {Country} portion. Most arguments to remove the territorial designation arise from WP:CONCISE, which also states that "Exceptions exist for biographical articles", so that argument is moot. Estar8806 (talk) 01:03, 30 March 2023 (UTC) — Relisting. Aasim - Herrscher of Wikis ❄ 13:38, 7 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Alfonso XII → Alfonso XII of Spain
 * Alfonso XIII → Alfonso XIII of Spain
 * Juan Carlos I → Juan Carlos I of Spain
 * Felipe VI → Felipe VI of Spain
 * Support per nom. These are not household names to most readers, improves clarity. Walrasiad (talk) 04:01, 30 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Support per nom.--Ortizesp (talk) 05:29, 30 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose Without the unnecessary disambiguous description "of Spain", Alfonso XII, Alfonso XIII, Juan Carlos I and Felipe VI are still the most common, consise and disambiguous names of these Spanish monarchs. WP:CONCISE states that "exceptions exist for biographical articles", however we shouldn't be rigid. Alfonso XII and Alfonso XIII died, Felipe VI is still alive now, however they are monarchs of Spain, one of large sovereign monarchies in Europe. Their regnal names are the Spanish language names Alfonso or Felipe (Afonso and Filipe in Portuguese language, which lacks of the letter "l" from Alfonso, and change the second letter "e" to "i" from Felipe, in non-Iberian languages there is rare for both Alfonso/Afonso and Felipe/Filipe). Their regnal numbers are also very high (XII and XIII for Alfonso, XI for Felipe), which make them disambiguous. Juan Carlos I's regnal name is also unique and disambiguous. Thus, this moving proposal is unproper and unnecessary.--Joker Twins (talk) 05:59, 30 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Are they Spanish monarchs? Because there's no indication of that in the title.  I would think they were Leonese kings, or Kongolese kings, or Wallachian princes, or installments of a movie series or the name of a tactical sports formation? Wikipedia is written for a global audience. Why should they be expected to know how things are spelled in Spanish or Portuguese? Or that these spellings are in either of those languages and not, say, Romanian or Swahili?  "of Spain" clears it all up an instant. Walrasiad (talk)

 * Oppose per WP:CONCISE. 〜 Festucalex  •  talk  07:53, 30 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Support per WP:SOVEREIGN, which is further based on WP:CONSISTENT (see pretty much everyone else in Category:Spanish monarchs) and WP:RECOGNIZABLE: The title is a name or description of the subject that someone familiar with, although not necessarily an expert in, the subject area will recognize. I'm unimpressed by letter-counting in defending the "concise" case; to quote the policy The goal of concision is to balance brevity with sufficient information to identify the topic to a person familiar with the general subject area. The Alfonsos are not household names, and the two latest kings barely so. Even if I'm "familiar with the general subject area", I don't remember that the current king is Felipe VI and I don't see why he should be treated differently from Philip V of Spain. No such user (talk) 12:47, 30 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Are you sure the Alfonsos are not household names, and the two latest kings barely so? What is your reliable source as proof? Alfonso is a typical Spanish-language name (Afonso in Portuguese language, which lacks of the letter "l" from Alfonso, in non-Iberian languages there is rare for Alfonso/Afonso), with the very high regnal numbers (XII and XIII), it is so unique, disambiguous and recognizable for the regnal name Alfonso XII and Alfonso XIII. For the European monarchs since 19th and 20th century, the English modern social medias prefer the romanized name of the native name even if not anglicized. However, for the European monarchs before 19th and 20th century, the English historical materials prefer the anglicized name instead of the romanized name of the native name but not anglicized. Thus, there are Philip I of Castile, Philip II of Spain, Philip III of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Philip V of Spain (here Philip is the anglicized style of Spanish-language name Felipe), to distinguish from Philip I of France/Philip I of Macedon, Philip II of France/Philip II of Macedon, Philip III of France/Philip III of Macedon, Philip IV of France/Philip IV of Macedon, Philip V of France/Philip V of Macedon. However, as the monarch reigns in 21st century, Felipe VI is common for his native regnal name by the English modern social medias. With Philip VI of France and the pretended Philip VI of Macedon–Andriscus, Felipe VI is so unique, disambiguous and recognizable that can show his native language–Spanish language, and his motherland-Spain, even if without the unnecessary disambiguous description "of Spain".--Joker Twins (talk) 16:08, 30 March 2023 (UTC)
 * And we also have a unique Isabella II (if we discount an obscure Isabella II of Jerusalem, 13th century queen of HRE), yet her article is titled Isabella II of Spain, to be WP:CONSISTENT with WP:NCROY and pretty much every other article in the category. No such user (talk) 08:32, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
 * household name: A very well-known public figure. How many people would know who were Alfonso XII and XIII? Do you want me to conduct a survey of people on the street and publish it in a scientific journal so as to have a "reliable source"? WP:RS is about article contents, not about validating talk-page arguments (particularly of the "sky is blue" category). No such user (talk) 08:42, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

 * Oppose. There is no reason. The title is in its original language and there are no other similar monarchs, so it does not hurt or cause confusion. TheRichic Escudo de España (mazonado).svg  (Messages here)  15:19, 30 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. Not a household name. Having given this more thought, while being a household name is a motivating factor, Charles III (disambiguation) shows the standard wikipedia seems to be following: if the monarch is a household name that "everyone" knows or is constantly referencing, then don't attach the realm; for the 16 other nobles/monarchs who were also Charles III, they get held to a different standard. I think Charles III of the UK is preferable, and I think the mistake that has been made on his page should not extend to Felipe, Alfonso, etc. In short, whether a monarch is a household name or not should not be the reason why we simplify their title. Brevity is nice, but playing text golf is not the purpose of Wikipedia. MrSirGuyFriendBuddyOlPal (talk) 15:59, 30 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Charles III is equally the King of 15 kingdoms. "Charles III of the United Kingdom" would be inaccurate. Meanwhile, Felipe VI is only the King of one kingdom. Important distinction. Jèrriais janne (talk) 00:12, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * @Jèrriais janne That's not the point. The point is Charles III is immediately recognizable as King of the United Kingdom to basically anyone. Is Felipe VI immediately recognizable as King of Spain? Is Alfonso XII? Plus, Charles III of the United Kingdom is no less accurate than Charles III of Saint Lucia or Charles III of Canada, and I can say with all but 100% certainty that he is far more well-known as King of the United Kingdom than any of the other 15 countries. Estar8806 (talk) 00:22, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes thank you for the correction; regardless of where he is king over, text golf is not the only purpose of Wikipedia.
 * There are genuinely deep questions about the balance between WP:CONCISE, WP:SOVEREIGN and WP:RECOGNIZABLE. I tend to weigh less on recognizability, and would prefer to see where the individual is ruler over in the title, regardless of whether he/she is constantly in contemporary media sources or not. These discussions have plenty of precedent on Wikipedia (as others in this thread have noted wrt Charles III) and they veer into semi-political territory in addition to the democratic preferences and consistent standards issues. MrSirGuyFriendBuddyOlPal (talk) 17:31, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Talk:Charles III/Archive_6, in which ~240 editors came to a clear consensus to keep "Charles III" and overrule WP:NCROY, is illustrative that NCROY does not have the consensus level that supporters would like when it's truly put to wide community attention. And if anything, that case was the much harder one, with numerous other notable individuals named Charles III creating a serious question of primary topic and recentism. In our case here, there is only one Felipe VI (for instance). And there is no "household name" popularity clause in article title policy. The lesson cannot be that NCROY is the rule yet can repeatedly by consensus turn out not to be the rule when the person is popular (and not coincidentally, British). The lesson must be, simply, that the community applies the same criteria throughout, under which titles like Charles III and Charles II of England live together in harmony. Here, Felipe VI, etc., are unambiguous and clear. Explanation beyond that, even of the most basic facts, is the job of the article, not the title where it is unnecessary precision. Adumbrativus (talk) 06:01, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
 * The "household name" is just a shortcut for the WP:SOVEREIGN clause Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis, taking account of general article titling policy, e.g. Queen Victoria, Alexander Jagiellon. I don't think the exceptions are justified in this case, particularly for the Alfonsos. As you probably know, we used to have a successful "mutiny" against WP:SOVEREIGN, where an ill-attended RfC managed to change the naming convention so as to favor the shortest possible unique names (Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (royalty and nobility)/Archive 24) – which resulted in an absolute chaos in royal article titles, and was subsequently removed by an overwhelming majority at the well-attended Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (royalty and nobility)/Archive 24 – and I invite you to re-read the arguments in favor of the current NCROY wording, even if you disagree with them. If anything, the clear consensus to keep Charles III is only the proof that the community wants the current British monarch at the short title under the "household name" clause, not that we want to dive back into the chaos. No such user (talk) 08:32, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
 * The notion that case by case consideration applies only to "household names" is nowhere to be found in the quote Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis, taking account of general article titling policy. "Household name" is not even close to being a summary of that language or any RfC. Nor is it the standard set by any general article title policy. Joker Twins has validly raised case-specific considerations – for example, that Felipe is unanglicized Spanish, despite the obvious option to anglicize, and not a name shared by any other country's monarchy. The talk of mutiny and chaos is pure hyperbole. (If there's any concern about instability, I'll note that stability presumptively cuts in favor of not moving in any particular instance.) Adumbrativus (talk) 12:01, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * We have specialized naming conventions, such as WP:SOVEREIGN, for a reason, and this one clearly enjoys community consensus, as in the Regnal names RfC. You fail to explain why this particular set of monarchs should enjoy an exception made on a case-by-case basis, except that you apparently prefer the status quo (and don't like the convention). Speaking of "stability": this batch of articles was originally at "of Spain" titles and moved to the current titles at Talk:Amadeo_I_of_Spain, at the time when NCROY contained the "If the regnal name and number are unambiguous" clause. Since the clause was deleted in the 2021 RfC, they should be moved back to conform to the new (and the original) wording of NCROY. No such user (talk) 13:58, 5 April 2023 (UTC)

 * Not withstanding the fact that Charles III reigns in multiple realms, which is a large factor in why the page was not moved to Charles III of the United Kingdom. Obviously Charles III is the primary topic for his name, as are Alfonso XII, Alfonso XIII, Juan Carlos I and Felipe VI. But how recognizable are the Spanish monarchs names. You'd have to live under a rock to not know that Charles III is the reigning King of the United Kingdom. But how many people know that Felipe VI is King of Spain? Or that his predecessors names were Juan Carlos I, Alfonso XIII, and Alfonso XII? If these pages were moved, a primary redirect would still be left (as is the case for other Spanish monarchs, namely Ferdinand VI & VII), that way anyone familiar enough with the monarchs would still reach this page but those who are not would still find the added "of Spain" for clarity. Estar8806 (talk) 11:36, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Recognizability in article title policy is not a free-floating question of how many people know a person. (See also "not what first comes to mind".) To give an example, few people know who Melville Fuller is, what he's notable for, or even what country he's from, but recognizability doesn't mean we put any of that in the title. He is of course not royalty, but that doesn't affect the meaning of recognizability. No one contests that there are other considerations specific to royalty, but recognizability is not one of them. Recognizability is conditional on some basic familiarity. Most people haven't heard of Felipe VI, but then most people aren't looking up his article at all. The people who do look him up, though, will find and recognize that they have arrived at the article about him, and that the article calls him what he is commonly called. Adumbrativus (talk) 12:01, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * You're correct on that plenty of articles are not immediately recognizable, Melville Fuller being a fine example. But how would one make that more recognizable "Melville Fuller (U.S. Chief Justice)"? That's just wrong. But, simply changing "Alfonso XII" or, "Juan Carlos I" to "Alfonso XII of Spain" and "Juan Carlos I of Spain" makes it far more clear that this person was king (or at least some form of monarch) of Spain. Estar8806 (talk) 20:04, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * So if the goal is to be clear, why stop as the half-clear "Alfonso XII of Spain"? That could be a duke, a pretender, or a band. Why not go for "Alfonso XII, king of Spain"? Surtsicna (talk) 20:36, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Simple to me: most people probably don't know that there are any reigning princes or grand dukes in the world. And those who do would at least know that their are far more rulers with the title of king or queen. Estar8806 (talk) 21:12, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * But adding "of Spain" does not make it any clearer that they are kings. The ordinal makes it as clear as possible without explicitly saying they are kings, so the question still is: why not go all the way if clarity is the goal? Surtsicna (talk) 05:41, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

 * Support per nom.- Standard format to mention the country in which they reigned. Dimadick (talk) 20:29, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose. I do not see how the proposed expansion of the title with unnecessary disambiguation (therefore against WP:CONCISE) could be helpful to anyone. If we do not have Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany for the sake of recognizability, I do not see why we should have Alfonso XII of Spain. Unsurprisingly, "Alfonso XII" is much more common than "Alfonso XII of Spain", so the proposed move is contrary to our policy on article titles. Surtsicna (talk) 20:36, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Moving these articles is not necessarily against WP:CONCISE because it explicitly states that exceptions exist for biographical articles. While COMMONNAME is a fair point, "Henry I" or "Charles II" is the common name for any number of people, when in context. We could also argue the present title is in violation of article titling policy, as it almost certainly fails Recognizability (as I've said before, how many people know Alfonso XII or XII was King of Spain?) and Consistency, as Ferdinand VI of Spain, Ferdinand VII of Spain, Isabella II of Spain and Amadeo I of Spain all include the "of Spain". Amadeo I of Spain, was also explicitly rejected to be moved to Amadeo I (even though the Spanish king is the primary topic) by the same RM which moved the articles I've proposed to move to their present title, an RM that was also based on a now deleted clause of WP:SOVEREIGNS. Estar8806 (talk) 21:11, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * The title Alfonso XII does not fail recognizability any more than Frank-Walter Steinmeier does. How many people know that Frank-Walter Steinmeier is the president of Germany? It is not the job of the article title to define the subject, and if it were, then "Alfonso XII, king of Spain" would do so much better than "Alfonso XII of Spain". Surtsicna (talk) 05:41, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

 * Support per nom. The movement to strip the countries ruled over was over-done - it made sense for a few very specific cases like Victoria, but should not be the "default."  The default should include the country ruled over; clarity is more important than concision.  SnowFire (talk) 01:44, 6 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Support - as I prefer we return to the "Name # of country" page title style. GoodDay (talk) 02:57, 6 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose WP:CONCISE seems enough to keep already unambiguous titles as they are. "The default should include the country ruled over" Foo country under the yoke of King Foo Joe featuring as as a prize in the article of King Foo Doe just because the latter is a monarch reads like an awful principle to apply. These are biographies. They are people, after all. It is not "text golf", this is about titles of articles of monarchs being not about explaining the content of the article (particularly when they don't need disambiguation). Insofar there are no demands of disambiguation, Alfonso XII's article title does not need further explanation about the subject's activities than Sinach's article title does not need explanation of the subject being a Nigerian singer, songwriter and senior worship leader (that is the job of the article). In addition, if the ordinal already entails nationalist historical nonsense, the ordinal plus the country worded in such way makes such nonsense (the notion of 12 Alfonsos reigning over the country of "Spain") even more flagrant (Alfonso XIII, King of Spain unties the nonsense to some extent). Sadly there are policies (and to a lesser extent ambiguousness-creating endogamic practices) preventing us from using their family names (I suppose Alfonso of Bourbon and Bourbon in this case and Alfonso of Bourbon and Habsburg-Lorraine in the case of his son). I was persuaded to think that there also were degrees of recognizability worthy to ponder on such as Alfonso "XIII" being much more known than his father Alfonso "XII" in a global context, but I was apparently mistaken in light of some comments here wanting to shun the exploration of such nuances for any non-British monarch. In addition, there is little worth preserving for the sake of consistence.--Asqueladd (talk) 08:54, 6 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Strong support - These are their titles. Why anybody would want to remove this information from the titles for the sake of brevity I will never understand. Tim O'Doherty (talk) 14:18, 7 April 2023 (UTC)
 * The subject's title was "king of Spain". The regnal name was Alfonso XII. His full legal name was Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo de Borbón y Borbón. "Alfonso XII of Spain" was neither his title nor his name. He never called himself that. Surtsicna (talk) 16:01, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * "Alfonso XII of Spain" is far more common than "Alfonso XII King of Spain" (ngrams won't allow the comma) . Also, WP:SOVEREIGNS #1 "Article titles are not normally prefixed with "King", "Queen", "Emperor" or equivalent." rules out "King Alfonso XII of Spain". The titles of king/queen or emperor/empress also do not appear in article titles, except occasionally when there has only been one sovereign by a certain name (ie. Queen Victoria, Anne, Queen of Great Britain, etc.), and even then that is not a requirement with Philippe of Belgium and Wilhelmina of the Netherlands excluding their titles of "king" and "queen" respectively. SOVEREIGNS #3 states "Otherwise, kings, queens regnant and emperors and empresses regnant who are known as "first name + ordinal" (with the exceptions mentioned elsewhere) normally have article titles in the form "{Monarch's first name and ordinal} of {Country}".", the title of king/queen or emperor/empress is not included. The inclusion of the title only exists for monarchs below king/emperor rank, as written in SOVEREIGNS #5. If you want to establish a wider review of NCROY to include the title of king/queen in article titles, this is not the place and we should follow the conventions as written. Estar8806 (talk) 16:43, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I am not arguing for either "King Alfonso XII of Spain" or "Alfonso XII King of Spain". I am pointing out that "Alfonso XII of Spain" was not Alfonso XII's title, and am perfectly satisfied with the article being left at "Alfonso XII", which is more common than "Alfonso XII of Spain". Surtsicna (talk) 18:20, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Amadeo I is also the common name for Amadeo I of Spain, but that page exists at the latter title, which I guess was also not technically his "title". Estar8806 (talk) 18:40, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * You are very much welcome to propose a move to rectify that. Surtsicna (talk) 18:47, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't feel the need to rectify that, because it is at the right title per WP:RECOGNIZABILITY, WP:CONSISTENT and WP:SOVEREIGNS. The same can be said for Isabella II, Ferdinand V and Ferdinand VI. Estar8806 (talk) 18:50, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * And the title of this article is the right title per WP:RECOGNIZABILITY, WP:CONSISTENT, WP:CONCISE, WP:PRECISE and WP:COMMONNAME aspects of the WP:AT policy, so nothing needs rectifying here. Surtsicna (talk) 20:07, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * CONCISE, PRECISE AND COMMONNAME may be true, but RECOGNIZABILITY and CONSISTENT are questionable. Estar8806 (talk) 20:12, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * It is consistent with the titles of articles about other kings of Spain with unambiguous names. It is recognizable because nobody is likely to think that the article is about anything other than Alfonso XII. Surtsicna (talk) 20:19, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * It's also likewise inconsistent with other kings (and one queen) of Spain with unambiguous names: Ferdinand VI of Spain, Ferdinand VII of Spain, Isabella II of Spain and Amadeo I of Spain.
 * While we're considering consistency, lakes look at the other WP:CRITERIA, shall we?
 * Recognizability – The title is a name or description of the subject that someone familiar with, although not necessarily an expert in, the subject area will recognize. - Are Alfonso XII, Alfonso XIII, Juan Carlos I and Felipe VI recognizable as to who they were/are? Probably not for the former two, maybe for the latter two.
 * Naturalness – The title is one that readers are likely to look or search for and that editors would naturally use to link to the article from other articles. Such a title usually conveys what the subject is actually called in English. - Not in the context of Spain or its monarchy, would one just search "Alfonso XII", or "Alfonso XII of Spain".
 * Precision – The title unambiguously identifies the article's subject and distinguishes it from other subjects. - There's no argument that the present title doesn't do this, it does so fine.
 * Concision – The title is no longer than necessary to identify the article's subject and distinguish it from other subjects. - This one is the most commonly cited, but does not completely support the present title as it explicitly says "Exceptions exist for biographical articles.". We are under no obligation to have the most concise title here, but we are obligated to meet the other CRITERIA.
 * and Consistency – The title is consistent with the pattern of similar articles' titles. Many of these patterns are listed (and linked) as topic-specific naming conventions on article titles, in the box above. - This one obviously supports following WP:NCROY to be consistent with the subjects of these articles numerous predecessors. Estar8806 (talk) 23:48, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Isabella II and Amadeo I are very much ambiguous; see Isabella II of Jerusalem and Amadeus I of Savoy. Ferdinand VI and Ferdinand VII could use pruning. Yes, the titles are recognizable as defined by the policy because everyone who is "familiar with", even if "not necessarily an expert in", Alfonso XII will know that the article is about Alfonso XII if it is titled Alfonso XII. An example of an unrecognizable name would be using his full legal name as the article title, since merely being "familiar with" the subject would not be enough to recognize that Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo de Borbón y Borbón is Alfonso XII, whereas Alfonso XII obviously refers to Alfonso XII. Yes, a vast majority would sooner search for Alfonso XII than for Alfonso XII of Spain. I cannot imagine anyone typing in double the amount of letters that they actually need. Surtsicna (talk) 01:57, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Isabella II and Amadeo I may not have been the sole monarchs by their name, but they are still WP:PTOPICs. If the vast majority will search for Alfonso XII (and the others listed), then there will still be the primary redirect left, but the disambiguator "of Spain" should be added to increase recognizability for those not searching for it, and for consistency with their predecessors. Estar8806 (talk) 02:03, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Extraneous disambiguation does not increase recognizability. Anyone "familiar with, although not necessarily an expert in" Alfonso XII will recognize that the article titled Alfonso XII is about Alfonso XII. Surtsicna (talk) 08:55, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, I know "King of Spain" was his title. You know that I meant Alfonso XII, a king of Spain = Alfonso XII of Spain. Being a needless pedant doesn't advance discussion. Tim O'Doherty (talk) 22:47, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
 * It is not needless pedantry because the title Alfonso XII, king of Spain has been proposed as an alternative to Alfonso XII of Spain. Surtsicna (talk) 23:11, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

 * Opposed Like some others have noted, the names are rare and distinct enough to be recognizable without listing the country in the article name. For similar examples look at the likes of Louis XIV, Napoleon III, Henry VIII, Hirohito, Puyi and so on. The concern trolling that readers wouldn't know who these people are without the country name in the title is risible. No one would think these people ruled Congo or Egypt and if they're typing the full name they'll type Alfonso XII before reaching the 'of Spain' party anyway. --Killuminator (talk) 08:16, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * There is no comparison between Alfonso XII (or or his successors) with Louis XIV, Henry VIII, Napoleon II or Hirohito, the latter are all unambiguous (yes, so is Alfonso XII) but also instantly recognizable. First of all, Alfonso XII doesn't even register on google trends compared to the examples you cited. Almost everyone will know that Louis XIV was king of France, that Henry VIII was king of England and that Hirohito was emperor of Japan. This is the same reason we have Elizabeth II, not "Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom", because everybody knows where she was queen of (or at least the most notable place she was queen of). Can the same be said for Alfonso XII?
 * For additional reference:
 * Alfonso XIII, Juan Carlos I and Felipe VI also barely appear in contrast to Louis, Napoleon, Henry and Hirohito Estar8806 (talk) 16:50, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Alfonso XIII of Spain also barely appears in contrast to Alfonso XIII. --Killuminator (talk) 05:41, 11 April 2023 (UTC)
 * If you think that there is a qualitative gulf in recognizability between Louis XI and Alfonso XIII you are grasping at straws. Either way, explaining the content of the biography is not the point of titles of biographical articles. The only seeming criteria for titles of articles of French monarchs named Louis not requiring disambiguation beyond the ordinal is... the lack of need for disambiguation with another biography (XI and next)... exactly as it is the case here.--Asqueladd (talk) 17:55, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * That's a much better example. I would advocate that page being moved too. But then again, I would imagine that an average reader would better recognize Louis IX as a king of France, since there are many commonly known French kings by that name (and not many well-known Kings Louis of other countries). The same cannot be said for Alfonso, there was only two of those (XII and XIII) of Spain, neither of them particularly notable. Estar8806 (talk) 18:43, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

 * support per nom—blindlynx 21:00, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Support but why are so many editors involved with something so marginal?  Mr.choppers |   ✎  02:03, 10 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Support as it is consistent with every other monarch's article on Wikipedia, excluding British monarchs (this is the English Wikipedia after all). - Therealscorp1an (talk) 04:07, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

RfC of interest
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title: Talk:Alfonso XII


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gir Goes Crazy and Stuff

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was No Consensus. Redwolf24 02:34, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

Gir Goes Crazy and Stuff
Love the show, but no other episodes have meritted individual articles, and poorly written to boot. -The Tom 16:33, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep episode guides per Wikipedia is not paper. Kappa 16:59, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * "X is poorly written" is not a reason for deletion. Neither is "Y hasn't been written yet".  Keep. —Cryptic (talk) 17:34, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete; I really question whether WP should have standalone episode summary articles for Star Trek, let alone for every forgettable TV show. The article mentions another article, "Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain", and for a second I thought it was a plot summary for VfD (not this nomination but several lately).  Barno 18:28, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep per Keepa. Er, Kappa. JDoorjam 18:53, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete per Barno
 * Delete also per Barno -PlainSight 02:28, 22 August 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Sara Anne Ruthven

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was speedied as the article clearly fits CSD A7. FCYTravis 20:45, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Sara Anne Ruthven
Bio, no other hits on google, etc, etc. Asparagus 16:33, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep and research further. Trollderella 18:18, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, non-notable, Tollderella is living up to his/her name. Zoe 20:26, August 18, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Oh come on, who on earth would vote to keep this nn vanity page. Is this a candidate for speedy removal? There is no real assertion of notability. Asparagus is awesome for this Dottore So 18:34, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment Grace Note commented on my talk page, "I think those cases would be a lot easier to approach though if you did not say 'you must be notable' but said instead 'you must only write what is notable about you', be it ever so little. Make the policy 'no shit' rather than 'be notable'." I think that's very well said. If User:Bagelundercouch is watching, I'd like to suggest that this user try boiling the article down to what seems to be notable and see what it looks like then. No vote for now. I'd like to know more about "her writing" (any published? where?) and more about her being "a future Larry King interviewee." Dpbsmith (talk) 18:58, 18 August 2005 (UTC) P. S. Not very germane to a decision, but It reads to me as if it might have been written by a gallant admirer, rather than by Ms. Ruthven herself.
 * Give me a break -- this is speedyable -- obvious deletion. Ruthvencruft. Non-notable.  Wasting 10K of some harddrive in Florida.  Absolutely no reason whatsoever to research further.  Period.  JDoorjam 19:24, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, article doesn't establish notability. Martg76 20:09, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Articles that refer to Larry King hurt Wikipedia. ;) --Scimitar parley 20:38, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


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Invergordon

Invergordon (Inbhir Ghòrdain or An Rubha) is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. It lies in the parish of Rosskeen.

History
The town built up around the harbour which was established in 1828. The area became a police burgh in 1863 and Invergordon Town Hall was completed in 1871.

The Invergordon Grain Distillery, operated by Philippines-owned whisky giant Whyte & Mackay, was established in 1959. Connected to the distillery was the Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band which was formed in 1964.

In 1971, the British Aluminium Company, which was 47% owned by Reynolds Metals, opened an aluminium smelter at Invergordon.

Naval base
The naval institute was designed in 1914 by Edinburgh architect Stewart Kaye in anticipation of the First World War. The naval base was the venue for the Invergordon Mutiny of 1931. Remains of the naval base are evidenced in the tank farm lying behind the town centre; the port used to contain fuel oil and water supplies for naval ships (see Inchindown oil tanks).

One German bomb hit one of the tanks during the Second World War when a large flying boat base occupied much of the northerly coast of the Cromarty Firth. The naval base closed in 1956 (though the Oil Fuel Depot was retained in service until 1991). On 27–28 May 1957 the Royal Navy held a fleet review in the waters off the town.

Since 1978, the former naval base has been used as a deep water port which has been visited by many large cruise liners and allows disembarkation for coach tours in the northern Highlands. In the summer of 2017, the port was visited by the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth during her sea trials. On 19 June 2021 the last of the Batch-2 River-class offshore patrol vessels, HMS Spey, was commissioned at a ceremony at the former naval base. The Royal Marines Band Service was at the ceremony providing musical support.

Culture
Invergordon is now the premier mural town of the Highlands and hopes to emulate the success of her mentor in Chemainus, British Columbia. Currently the town is adorned with a series of 17 murals. The paintwork created by a selection of artists tells the stories of the local community and the area. This trail is a result of a community project which was initially designed to integrate local community groups (17 in total took part). The trail, which was opened by the Princess Royal, now acts as a major tourist draw.

Infrastructure
The town is served by Invergordon railway station which lies on the Far North Line, and is in close proximity to the A9 trunk road.

As of 2012, there is a controversial scheme for a waste incinerator at the Cromarty Firth Industrial Park in Invergordon, which the Scottish government are now reviewing following protests by the local community. The £43 million plant would be built by Combined Power and Heat (Highlands) Ltd.

Education
Invergordon has one secondary school, Invergordon Academy, which is fed by four primary schools, Newmore Primary School, Park Primary School, South Lodge Primary School and Milton Primary School.

In 2013 the Highland Council announced plans for a new "super school" to serve Ross-shire with the preferred option being that it be built in Invergordon. This has seen much protest by locals and is currently under review. If it went ahead Alness and Tain academies would close and there would also be a change to the local primary schools.

In popular culture
In Season 3 of Amazon Prime motoring series The Grand Tour, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond visited Invergordon as part of their journey along the NC500.

Notable residents

 * Jimmy Andrews, footballer
 * Robert Brough. painter
 * John D. Burgess, piper
 * Allan Cameron, curler
 * Bryan Gunn, footballer
 * James MacBain, Australian politician
 * Rob MacLean, football commentator
 * Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Julian Robertson Oswald
 * Cheryl Paul, newsreader
 * Sir Charles Ross, inventor of the Ross Rifle
 * William Ramsay Smith, doctor and activist for Indigenous Australian rights
 * David Sutherland, comic book artist and illustrator best known for illustrating comic strips in The Beano such as The Bash Street Kids from 1962 until his death in 2023 and Dennis the Menace and Gnasher from 1970–1998.
 * Luke Stoltman, five-time winner of Scotland's Strongest Man, 2021 Europe's Strongest Man
 * Tom Stoltman, Brother of Luke Stoltman, winner of the competition for 3 times, 2021, 2022 and 2024

title: Invergordon


text: User talk:68.76.77.49

title: User talk:68.76.77.49


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King Michael I Park

King Michael I Park (Parcul "Regele Mihai I"), formerly Herăstrău Park (Parcul Herăstrău), is a large park on the northern side of Bucharest, Romania, around Lake Herăstrău, one of the lakes formed by the Colentina River.

Geography
The park has an area of about 187 ha, of which 74 ha is the lake. Initially, the area was full of marshes, but these were drained between 1930 and 1935, and the park was opened in 1936. The park is divided into two zones: a rustic or natural zone (the Village Museum), which is left more or less undisturbed, and a public/'active' domain with open areas for recreation activities. Small boats are allowed on the lake.

Name
The park was initially intended to be called National Park (Parcul Național), but it was renamed Parcul Carol II during the period of the Carol II of Romania's cult of personality. Following World War II, it was renamed Parcul I. V. Stalin, featuring a statue of Stalin at its entrance. In 1956, during the de-Stalinization period, Stalin's statue was torn down and the name of the park was changed to "Herăstrău". The name Herăstrău referred to the Herăstrău lake, and has its origin in a dialectal version of the word ferăstrău in standard Romanian, meaning saw or sawmill, referring to the water-powered sawmills that were once found on the Colentina river which flowed through it.

On 19 December 2017, by a decision of the Bucharest General Council, the park was renamed to "King Michael I Park" to honor the former King of Romania after Michael I had died on 5 December 2017.

History
The area of the park has been inhabited since the Paleolithic, traces of settlements being found at the Herăstrău sand quarry, including flint tools made by the Mousterian culture, a culture generally associated with the Neanderthals. During the quaternary glaciation, the area was inhabited by large mammals such as the woolly rhinoceros and the mammoth, bones of the latter being found in the Herăstrău sand quarry.

During the Iron Age, a settlement of the first part of the Hallstatt era belonging to a pastoral population was located in Bordei-Herăstrău (the area between Herăstrău and Floreasca lakes, today part of the Herăstrău Park ), which gives the name of the culture (Bordei-Herăstrău culture). In the Dacian settlements of Herăstrău, which has been dated, with the help of the coins, to the 1st century BC, archeologists found a treasure containing silver fibulae, silver spiral bracelets, a silver bowl, as well as Ancient Greek coins (from Tomis and Dyrrachium) along with Dacian imitations.

Prince of Wallachia Alexander Ypsilantis built an Ottoman-style pavilion on the banks of the Herăstrău Lake. The plain along the lake was used in 1831, during the Russian occupation, for military exercises by a joint force of the Wallachian and Russian militaries. By the mid-19th century, Herăstrău was the main promenade area used by the Romanian élite for walks.

In 1936, the work began for the creation of the National Park (Parcul Național) in Herăstrău. For this, several dozen squalid houses, as well as an industrial plant were expropriated and torn down, being replaced with alleys and trees, being finally open for the public in May 1939, becoming Bucharest's largest park.

Buildings and facilities
Elisabeta Palace, the current residence of the Romanian Royal Family, is located in the park, as an "island" inside the Village Museum, near Arcul de Triumf. The Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum, an open-air museum showcasing traditional life of the Romanian peasant and having hundreds of houses from across Romania, is also one of the main attractions in the park.

Scattered across the park are an open-air theatre, a yacht club, a sports club, the Herăstrău Hotel and, adjunct to the park, the Diplomatic Club, featuring a golf course. There is also Berăria H, the largest beer hall in southeastern Europe (formerly Pavilion H, a Soviet-style building); its capacity is of 2,000 places inside and 1,000 on an outside terrace.

title: King Michael I Park


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Gilles

The Gilles are the oldest and principal participants in the Carnival of Binche in Belgium. They go out on Shrove Tuesday from 4 am until late hours and dance to traditional songs. Other cities, such as Ressaix, Leval, Buvrinnes, Épinois, Waudrez, Anderlues, Chapelle-lez-Herlaimont, Estinnes, Le Roeulx, Manage, Morlanwelz, Seneffe, Nivelles, Charleroi and La Louvière have a tradition of Gilles at carnival, but the Carnival of Binche is by far the most famous. In 2003, the Carnival of Binche was proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

History
The earliest documented reference to the Gilles is from 1795, when the revolutionary Directorate attempted to prohibit the wearing of masks. The traditional origins are a matter of speculation - one legend connects them to Mary of Hungary, who as governor of the Netherlands in 1549 organised a Joyeuse Entrée into Brussels for the visit of her brother Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. With the wealth then flowing to Spain from South America, elements of the Gille's costume and in particular the large plumed hat might have come from attempts to represent Inca costume. Another theory is that the masks, costume, and hunched back are derived from 17th-century commedia dell'arte, to which local color has been added such as wearing clogs. The portrayal is suggestive of the character Pulcinella, which may have given rise to the name Gille, although confusingly within commedia dell'arte Gilles may also overlap with the character Pierrot.

Costume
Around 1000 Gilles, all male, some as young as three years old, wear the traditional costume of the Gille on Shrove Tuesday. The outfit features a linen suit with red, yellow, and black heraldic designs (the colours of the Belgian flag), trimmed with large white-lace cuffs and collars. The suit is stuffed with straw, giving the Gille a hunched back.

Gilles also wear wooden clogs and have bells attached to their belts. In the morning, they wear a wax mask of a particular design. After reaching the town hall, they remove these masks for the afternoon. During the afternoon parade, Gilles throw blood oranges to the crowd or at its members, and some wear large, white, feathered hats. Gilles carry ramons, tied bunches of twigs that are said to ward off evil spirits, and baskets in which to carry the oranges.

title: Gilles


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Bernard Cohen (painter)

Bernard Cohen (born 1933, London) is a British painter. He is regarded as one of the leading British abstract artists of his time.

Biography
Bernard Cohen studied at Central Saint Martins School of Art in London between 1950-1951, followed by the Slade School of Art from 1954-1956. In 1957 Cohen received the Boise Traveling Scholarship and together with the French Government Scholarship awarded to him in 1954, he was able to travel and work in France, Spain and Italy. Following various teaching positions throughout the 60s and 70s at Ealing School of Art, the Slade, Chelsea College of Art & Design, the Royal College of Art and the University of New Mexico; in 1988 he was appointed Slade Professor and Director of the Slade School of Art, UCL, a position held until 2000.

Cohen's first solo exhibition took place at Gimpel Fils, London in 1958. His work has been exhibited widely as part of several international touring British Council exhibitions. Other notable exhibitions include, Five Young British Artists, the 1966 Venice Biennale's British Pavilion show, a retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in 1972 titled Bernard Cohen, Paintings & Drawings 1959-1971 and a Spotlight Display at Tate Britain in 2018.

His work is held in the collections of the Tate Gallery, UK, Victoria & Albert Museum, UK, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), USA, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, DK, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, PT, the British Council, UK, and many more both nationally and internationally.

Cohen currently lives and works in London and continues to exhibit his work widely with exhibitions in 2018 including, a Spotlight Display at Tate Britain (4 December 2017 - 4 June 2018) and a show alongside his son Nathan Cohen at Flowers Gallery, Bernard & Nathan Cohen: Two Journeys (16 March 2018 - 5 May 2018).

title: Bernard Cohen (painter)


title: User:85.206.202.107


text: User talk:68.92.232.42

title: User talk:68.92.232.42


text:
London City Airport DLR station

London City Airport is a light metro station on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) Stratford-Woolwich and Bank-Woolwich Lines; serving London City Airport in East London. It opened on 2 December 2005. It was first located on what was initially King George V branch, and was, until the extension to Woolwich Arsenal was completed, the reason for this branch. It continues to be an important station on the DLR. Trains run westbound to Bank in the City of London, northbound to Stratford International and eastbound to Woolwich Arsenal. The station is in the London Borough of Newham and is located in Travelcard Zone 3.

History
Prior to December 2005, Docklands Light Railway trains would arrive at Canning Town and would only be able to continue in a southeasterly direction towards Royal Victoria. In December 2005, however, the new King George V branch was opened.

Before the station was built the land was home to Drew Primary School; the school was over 100 years old and consisted of three floors with classrooms also on the roof. The new Drew Primary can be found just down the road.

Design
The station (like many Docklands Light Railway stations) is elevated. It is also fully enclosed. There are two entrances to the station and the platforms are connected by escalators and lifts to an intermediate level with a direct link into the airport concourse. Main access to the station for local passengers and mobility impaired customers is by a lower level subway.

It has a direct covered connection with the adjacent airport terminal building. Although the station maintains the DLR philosophy of design, it makes concessions to cater for airport passengers, including a fully enclosed waiting room on the central island platform and, unusually for the DLR, a staffed ticket office. There is a crossover west of the station which allows trains from Poplar and Woolwich Arsenal to reverse here during periods of disruption.

Location
The station is situated to the west side of London City Airport in Silvertown.

Services
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour from London City Airport is:
 * 6 tph to Stratford International
 * 6 tph to Bank
 * 12 tph to Woolwich Arsenal

Additional services call at the station during the peak hours, increasing the service to up to 16 tph in each direction, with up to 8 tph to Bank and Stratford International.

Connections
London Buses routes 473 and 474 serve the station.

title: London City Airport DLR station


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User:Dmuth

 * Please click here to leave me a new message.

Note: If you need to contact me in real time, the best way is via the IM usernames listed on this page.

My real name is Douglas Muth, and I live in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

I've been a regular reader of Wikipedia for several months, and finally decided to get an account so I can help out here.

I am also an administrator on WikiFur.

title: User:Dmuth


text:
User:Swburger

Danke fuer's S-Bahn Logo! Eine Bitte: Waere es moeglich das Original im .png Format statt als .jpg zu speichern und nochmal heraufzuladen? (kleinere Datei und sauberer aussehende Zeichnung). Falls dein Zeichenprogramm dies nicht erlaubt, kannst du auch die Originaldatei heraufladen und die konvertierung jemanden anderen ueberlassen. mfg, Klafubra 16:41, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

title: User:Swburger


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Black Sunday (1960 film)

Black Sunday (La maschera del demonio) is a 1960 Italian gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava in his official directorial debut, and starring Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani, Arturo Dominici and Enrico Oliveri. Loosely based on Nikolai Gogol's short story "Viy", the film takes place in Moldavia and tells the story of a witch who is put to death by her brother, only to return two centuries later to seek revenge upon his descendants.

Having provided cinematography on Hercules (1958) and Hercules Unchained (1959) for the production company Galatea and helping finish two of their other films, Caltiki – The Immortal Monster (1959) and The Giant of Marathon (1959), Bava was permitted by the company's president, Lionello Santi, to make a film for foreign markets; he chose to make a horror film to capitalize on the recent success of Terence Fisher's version of Dracula (1958) for Hammer Film Productions. After he developed a four-page outline faithfully based on Gogol's story, several other screenwriters, both credited and uncredited, worked on the script. Former Rank Organisation contract players Steele and Richardson were cast as Bava felt that British leads would allow the film to compare favorably to Dracula. Filming took place in the studios of Scalera Film in Rome and on location at Castle Massimo in Arsoli; shooting was complicated by Bava's frequent reworking of the script and Steele's conflicts with the crew.

Black Sunday had limited financial success upon its initial Italian release. It was acquired for distribution in the United States by Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson of American International Pictures (AIP), who oversaw numerous alterations to the film prior to its American release, including the removal of some scenes of violence and sexuality, redubbing the dialogue, and replacing Roberto Nicolosi's musical score with one by Les Baxter. The film found greater success upon its American release in 1961 when it became the highest-grossing film to be released by AIP in its first five years of existence. The film was banned for several years in the United Kingdom and did not receive a wide release there until July 1968, when it was released by Border Films as Revenge of the Vampire.

The film received generally negative reviews in Italy but garnered far more positive reviews abroad in France and the United States, where it received favorable notices in Cahiers du Cinéma, New York Daily News, Time, and Variety. Retrospective reception of Black Sunday remains positive: it was placed at number 84 on a Time Out poll of the best horror films, while critic James Marriott praised the film as the "crowning achievement of Italian gothic horror". The film is now considered to be a pioneering work that set the standards for Italian horror films due to its juxtaposition of beautiful and horrific elements, with strong depictions of eroticism and graphic violence. These elements would be found in later Italian genres, such as the Spaghetti Western and the giallo. The film turned Steele into a movie star in Italy, and led to her appearing in several horror film productions throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Plot
In 1630s Moldavia, Asa Vajda, a vampiric witch, and her paramour, Javutich, are sentenced to death for sorcery by Asa's brother Griabi. Asa vows revenge and puts a curse on Griabi's descendants. Bronze masks with sharp spikes on the inside are placed over Asa and Javutich's faces and hammered into their flesh, but a sudden storm prevents the villagers from burning them at the stake.

Two centuries later, Dr. Choma Kruvajan and his assistant, Dr. Andrej Gorobec, are traveling through Moldavia en route to a medical conference when one wheel on their carriage breaks. While waiting for their coachman to fix it, the two wander into a nearby ancient crypt and discover Asa's tomb. Observing her death mask through a glass panel, Kruvajan breaks the panel (and the cross above it) by accident while striking a bat. He removes Asa's death mask, revealing a partially preserved corpse. He cuts his hand on the broken glass, and some of his blood drips onto Asa.

Returning outside, Kruvajan and Gorobec meet Katia Vajda. She tells them she lives with her father and brother Constantine in a nearby castle that the villagers believe is haunted. Struck by her haunting beauty and sadness, Gorobec becomes smitten with Katia. The two men leave her and drive to an inn. Meanwhile, Kruvajan's blood brings Asa back to life. She contacts Javutich telepathically. He rises from his grave and goes to Prince Vajda's castle, where Vajda holds up a crucifix to ward off the reanimated corpse. However, Vajda is so terrified by the visit he becomes paralyzed with fear. Constantine sends a servant to fetch Dr. Kruvajan, but the servant is killed before he can reach the inn. Javutich brings Kruvajan to the castle under the pretext that his services are needed. Javutich leads Kruvajan to Asa's crypt. The witch hypnotizes Kruvajan and says she needs the rest of his blood. Asa then kisses him, turning him into her servant. By Asa's command, Kruvajan follows up on the request to tend to Vajda. He orders the crucifix removed from the room, ostensibly so it will not upset Vajda; this allows Javutich to return later and murder him.

Asa's plan is to revive herself by draining Katia of her life since Katia is physically Asa reincarnated. Puzzled to hear that Kruvajan abandoned his patient shortly before he died, Gorobec questions Sonya, a young girl who saw Javutich take Kruvajan to the castle. She identifies Kruvajan's escort with a painting of Javutich. A priest and Gorobec go to Javutich's grave and find Kruvajan's body inside the coffin. Realizing he is now one of the undead, they kill him by driving a nail through his eye.

Javutich throws Constantine into a death pit and takes Katia to Asa. Asa drains Katia of her youth. When the witch goes to take her blood, the crucifix around Katia's neck thwarts her. Gorobec enters the crypt to save Katia, but Javutich attacks him and pushes him to the edge of the death pit. Constantine uses the last of his strength to pull Javutich into the pit and push Gorobec to safety. Gorobec finds Asa and Katia. Asa pretends to be Katia and tells Gorobec that Katia is the witch. Accordingly, he goes to kill Katia but notices the crucifix she is wearing has no effect on her. He turns to Asa and opens her robe, revealing a fleshless skeletal frame. The priest then arrives with many torch-carrying villagers, and they burn Asa to death. Katia awakens from her stupor, her life and beauty restored, and is reunited with Gorobec.

Cast
Credits adapted from Mario Bava - All the Colors of the Dark and Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969.

Development
From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, the Italy-based production company Galatea was among the most active producers of genre films. They had initiated the sword-and-sandal phenomenon of the time with their productions Hercules (1958) and Hercules Unchained (1959), which were both successful at the American box office. The company made films in other genres, such as the science fiction film Caltiki – The Immortal Monster (1959), which enjoyed less financial success. Following the success of the two Hercules films, American distributors were willing to pay in advance for genre films from Italy, even if they were not popular there. Aside from working on both of the Hercules films, cinematographer Mario Bava had partially directed other films without credit, including Caltiki – The Immortal Monster and The Giant of Marathon (1959). This led to Galatea's president, Lionello Santi, offering him the opportunity to make a film for foreign markets.

According to producer Massimo De Rita, an oft-repeated story suggesting that Santi approached Bava to make a film based on a story of his own choosing after being impressed with his work on The Giant of Marathon is apocryphal; De Rita claims that he was responsible for persuading Santi to allow Bava to make a film of his own and that he also begged Santi to increase the film's budget compared to what he felt would allow the film to turn a profit. Due to the recent success of Terence Fisher's version of Dracula for Hammer Film Productions, Bava decided to make a horror film. To compete with Dracula, Santi wanted the film to be shot in Technicolor, but Bava insisted on shooting in black and white; he justified this as both a stylistic and practical choice, as the makeup transformation sequences required special red and green lights that would have made them impossible to film with color. The shooting budget of Black Sunday is unknown. De Rita remembers it being between $50,000 and $60,000, while production manager Armando Govoni recalled the final budget was around $100,000.

Writing and pre-production
Bava chose to base his project on Nikolai Gogol's "Viy", first published in the 1835 collection Mirgorod. The story concerns a group of students' encounter with an old witch capable of transforming into a beautiful woman, whose death summons the Viy, a gnome chieftain with a face made of iron and eyes that are capable of penetrating spiritual barriers, which are covered by heavy eyelids that droop to the ground. Bava frequently read this story to his children before their bedtime. His first outline of the film, a four-page treatment titled Il Vij, is dated September 1, 1959 and closely follows Gogol's original story. Transposing the story to the present day, it tells the story of a young, married couple who come across a derelict church and encounter an old man who tells them the story of a centurion's daughter who would take the form of a witch by night to harass a philosopher, who eventually beat her to death. The undead witch then called upon the Viy to scare the philosopher's soul from his body. Upon the story's end, it is revealed that the couple are reincarnations of the philosopher and the witch, who declares that she will haunt him forever.

Santi deemed Bava's treatment unsatisfactory and hired Galatea's top screenwriter Ennio de Concini, who had co-written both of the Hercules films and The Giant of Marathon, to help the director turn the concept into a workable screenplay. Many of the film's themes bear similarity to de Concini's sword-and-sandal films, including the tarnishing of holy places, the collapse of a decadent sovereign entity, and the casting of one actress in dual roles symbolizing good and evil, as was the case for Silvana Mangano in Ulysses (1954). According to Sergio Leone, de Concini "was far better at improvising stories, live, in front of producers, then writing them down"; this, coupled with his highly prolific resume, has led Bava biographer Tim Lucas to believe that while de Concini contributed many ideas to what would become Black Sunday, he did little of the actual scripting, which Lucas attributes to Marcello Coscia, who co-wrote Bava's early science fiction film The Day the Sky Exploded (1958).

The film's credits list only de Concini and the film's editor, Mario Serandrei, as the screenwriters; official papers archived at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (CSC) library in Rome credit Bava, Serandrei, de Concini and Coscia, as well as Dino De Palma. Other papers also credit Fede Arnaud, Domenico Bernabei, Walter Bedogni, Lucia Torelli and Maria Nota. Bava later noted that, "Such was the genius of the screenwriters, myself included, that absolutely nothing remained of Gogol's tale." The references to "Viy" in the resulting film are mostly superficial: the film's characters Andrej Gorobec, Choma Kruvajan, and Javutich are named after the story's characters Gorobets, Khoma Brut, and Yavtukh, while the village of Mirgorod shares its name with the collection Gogol's tale appeared in. A ruined chapel is prominently featured in both works, as is the transformation of a witch into a beautiful young woman; the bronze "Mask of Satan" hammered onto Asa and Javutich's faces is a possible reference to the Viy's iron face and eyelids.

During the scripting phase, the film's title was changed from Il Viy to La maschera del demonio to capitalize on the success of two other horror films — House of Wax (1953) (released in Italy as La maschera di cera) and The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) (La maschera di Frankenstein). The Ministerial Commission of Revision, through which all Italian film scripts were required to be submitted for review, remarked that Black Sunday's script "is so stuffed with witches, vampires, skeletons, ghosts, with its complement of murders and dead bodies, that [Fisher's Dracula] looks like a children's show when compared to it."

Bava drew extensive storyboards from the film, during which he developed the film's visual style based on his earlier works as cinematographer and co-director. Lucas notes that the film features a recurring motif related to eyes and sight, as well as the impairment of both, such as the subjective shot of Asa looking at the spikes of the "Mask of Satan" as it is brought towards her, Andrej falling for Katia at first sight, as well as Kruvajan being staked through the eye; it also features a circularity in its choice of first and last images, as both are of flames that are to be used to put Asa to death. Drawing on both of the films that he had co-directed with Riccardo Freda, I Vampiri (1957) and Caltiki, Bava used Black Sunday to develop his frequent use of backstories to expand the scope of his films beyond their narrative and budgetary constraints; in this case, the death of another of Asa's lookalike descendants, Masha, is used to highlight the power Asa continues to hold over the family even prior to her resurrection. As storyboarded, the hammering of the "Mask of Satan" was originally supposed to include a shot of the nails of the mask piercing through the wood of the stake Asa is tied to, amplifying the violence of the scene.

Casting
Bava felt that Black Sunday needed a British cast to convince the audience that they would be watching a film as strong as Dracula. Barbara Steele was cast in the dual role of Asa and Katia Vajda. She had appeared in several films for The Rank Organisation, including Bachelor of Hearts (1958), Sapphire and Upstairs and Downstairs (both 1959), before Rank sold her contract to 20th Century Fox. Steele seldom worked in the United States: she was cast opposite Elvis Presley in the Western Flaming Star, but a falling-out with director Don Siegel led to her being replaced during the first week of shooting by Barbara Eden. After a Screen Actors Guild strike in March 1960 left her free to pursue her own interests, she traveled to Italy, leading to her casting in Black Sunday. There are two accounts describing how Steele came to be cast in the film: one suggests that Bava, while perusing through head shots of British actors under contract at Fox, selected Steele from these photos. Steele, however, recalled that Bava tracked her down after being captivated by photos of her in a Life magazine photoshoot. Bava later commented that Steele "had the perfect face for my films".

John Richardson was cast as Katia's love interest Andrej. A colleague of Steele who had appeared in Sapphire and Bachelor of Hearts, Richardson's Rank contract was similarly sold to Fox and he had come to Italy searching for film work; by this time, both he and Steele were represented by the same agent from William Morris Endeavor. Among the Italian cast members was Andrea Checchi, who had previously worked in various Italian productions including Michelangelo Antonioni's The Lady Without Camelias (1953). Checci later appeared in two other films in 1960: Vittorio De Sica's Two Women and Fritz Lang's The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. Arturo Dominici, who previously appeared as Eurysteus in Hercules and as Nieto in Caltiki, played the role of Javutich; his daughter Germana also portrayed Sonya, the innkeeper's daughter.

Ivo Garrani, who portrayed Prince Vajda, was a veteran of earlier films photographed by Bava; the actor reflected that his friend's on-set behavior changed little in his transition to directing full-time "because Mario was already a director. He had proven this in the movies we had made together before, since he always found himself directing and saving other people's movies. So it was just a natural thing to see him in the director's chair at last. But Mario was also very shy; he always tended to undervalue himself. You could never pay him a compliment. He would always say, 'C'mon Ivo, what the hell are you saying? Be serious. But he was unique, and we all knew it".

Filming

According to Lucas, principal photography for Black Sunday lasted approximately six weeks — an average schedule for a Galatea production, but longer than the three to four weeks normally allotted to Italian films of the time — beginning on March 28, 1960, and ending on May 7. Meanwhile, film historian and critic Roberto Curti has stated that shooting began in June, and ran for seven weeks. Most of the film was shot at the studios of Scalera Film, with exteriors and some interiors shot at Castle Massimo in Arsoli. Despite the film being shot in black and white, Bava permitted numerous production and publicity stills to be photographed in color; these stills are representative of the lighting choices Bava and his crew made for the film, and were not arranged to accommodate the still photographer.

Govoni recalled the shoot to be a "very tiring" experience characterized by long work hours. Lucas believes that this was partially the result of the film entering production prematurely, without a thorough revision of the script or consideration for certain filming logistics, prompting Bava to rely on his instincts and improvise; this is evident in Asa and Javutich being variously described or portrayed throughout the film as witches, Satanists and/or vampires. Steele and Dominici were initially outfitted with prop fangs which do not appear in the final film: Bava recalled that he eventually asked the actors to discard them due to their clichéd appearance, while Govoni stated that the fangs were kept during the shoot, but "Serandrei cut around them" during editing. Most of the cast delivered their dialogue in English, with the exception of Checchi and the Dominicis; Govoni recalled that while the translation of the original Italian text the cast was given to work with was crude, they mostly stuck to it.

Throughout the shoot, Steele proved to be difficult to work with; Govoni later described her as a "strange, neurotic person" and Bava proclaimed that "Steele was half-crazy, afraid of Italians." The actress frequently missed her call times or refused to arrive on-set due to misunderstandings: one instance of the former resulted in Arturo Dominici fainting under his costume while the crew waited for her arrival, prompting the actor to angrily tell Bava, "Who does she think she is? Marilyn Monroe?". An example of the latter was due to her belief in a rumor that Bava had invented a special film stock that made its subjects appear nude. Critic and editor Martyn Conterio considers many of Steele's recollections of the film's production to be unreliable. This includes her claim that the film was shot in winter, and that everyone on set had worn black and white costumes, neither of which are true. Steele admitted to her misbehavior during the film's shoot later in life and noted that towards the end of the shoot, she and Richardson were prone to nervous fits of laughter due to the stress they had accumulated over the course of filming.

Although Bava is credited as the film's cinematographer, Govoni stated that camera operator Ubaldo Terzano was the actual director of photography, and insisted he had lit the sets "so perfectly that Bava seldom had to correct him". Lucas concurs on this point, noting that while Bava would provide storyboards and occasionally adjust lights and lenses, Terzano was largely in control of which takes would be printed.

The final week of the shooting schedule was reserved for special effects work and tracking shots, for which Bava was able to use a dolly in one of the few occasions of his directorial career. In a scene in which Javutich appears to float towards Prince Vajda, Dominici was shot in close-up as he was pulled along by another, makeshift dolly. A later scene where Katia and Constantine look over their dead father's face employs a 180° pivot which was accomplished using a specially-customized camera with modifications by Bava's father, Eugenio, which included a rear system of radiating handlebars capable of spinning the camera on its axis. Its movement was so imperceptible that Garrani believed that the pivot was achieved through editing.

Props and special effects
Eugenio Bava developed several of the practical effects used in the film. These included an articulated wax head with a mechanized interior, used to represent Prince Vajda's head as it is being burned in a fireplace, and a foam latex mask of Asa's face, which he made based on photos of Steele without having to make a lifecast. To create the illusion of Asa's eyes regenerating within the sockets, a section of the character's tomb was built containing a hollow area under the mask, into which tomato soup and rice were used to simulate blood and maggots. These were then substituted with poached eggs, representing the eyes. Eugenio also designed the "Mask of Satan" used in the film. Two versions of each mask were made — one cast in bronze and another being a rubber substitute to be used when worn by the actors. Mario Bava recalled that after the film's release he had received several offers for the mask.

Most of the scenes depicting horse carriage rides were shot at Scalera. Due to the small size of the sound stage being used, forests were suggested by filming with glass matte paintings painted with black streaks and augmented with pieces of dead wood and foregrounded bracken. Smoke was filtered through the studio to disguise a cyclorama. These were edited with actual exteriors shot near Castle Massimo to lend credibility to them; because the exteriors were shot day for night, Bava camouflaged the sunlight through dead trees placed in the foreground. When Steele was required to play both Asa and Katia within the same frame, the footage was double-exposed and matted over the jagged edge of Asa's tomb. Other examples of Bava's matte work in the film include an exterior shot of Castle Vajda as a window is illuminated by the moon, and a subjective shot of the pit of spikes over which Andrej and Javutich fight. When Javutich appears to materialize in front of Constantine, Dominici stood off-camera, and his reflection was bounced off a mirror onto a black section of Asa's painting.

The scene in which Asa touches Katia and drains her youth reprised an effect Bava had previously employed on I Vampiri. Wrinkles were drawn on Steele's face with red grease pencil, while rouge was applied around her eyes and on her cheeks to make them appear sullen. These were made to initially appear invisible under red lighting, but became more prominent as green lights were gradually raised in their place. The explosion of Asa's tomb was a miniature effect; pieces of the lid were pulled away by fine wires to reveal a doll of Asa inside.

Editing and score
Because Serandrei rarely worked as a writer, Lucas has suggested that his screenplay credit for Black Sunday indicates that his responsibilities went beyond cutting scenes together and that he helped Bava correct narrative flaws in post-production. Serandrei's assembly still contains a notable structural flaw — that Asa appears to be powerful enough to destroy her tomb and return Javutich to life, yet remains confined to the tomb even after draining Kruvajan's blood — as well as scenes that exhibit Bava's frequent re-working of the material. These include Katia's irascible dismissal of Sonya's claim that Javutich might be alive, her flirtatious invitation to Andrej to stay in the castle, and her seeing Javutich's reflection while undressing. Lucas believes that these scenes suggest that Javutich was originally intended to kidnap Katia soon after his resurrection, leaving Asa to impersonate her descendant.

An English-dubbed version of the film created for international export, titled The Mask of Satan, was translated from the Italian-language script, directed by George Higgins III and recorded in Rome with the English Language Dubbers Association (ELDA). A scene present in early Italian-language prints was deleted from this version of the film. Depicting a conversation between Katia and Prince Vajda, during which her father notices her melancholy behavior and suggests that the family leave the castle, it was originally intended to take place following her first encounter with Andrej and Kruvajan but was dropped due to the power of the Prince's terrified introduction in a later scene in which Katia plays a piano. The sequence was crudely inserted between Sonya's milking of a cow and Javutich's resurrection without Bava or Serandrei's approval.

The music for the Italian and ELDA versions of Black Sunday was composed by Roberto Nicolosi and conduced by Pier Luigi Urbini. Lucas notes that both versions used the score sparingly, leaving the creation of much of the soundscape to the sound editor, although key dramatic scenes, such as the climactic fight between Andrej and Javutich, play with no music at all, suggesting the difficulties of creating music for a film in a genre that was in its infancy in Italy. He deems much of the score to be derivative of James Bernard's work on Dracula, but singles out the romantic "Katia's Theme" motif for praise.

AIP acquisition and re-editing
Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson of American International Pictures (AIP) had been buying the American distribution rights to Italian films since 1959. In 1960, the two were invited to Rome by their Italian talent agent, Fulvio Lucisano, to view Black Sunday. Arkoff spoke about this screening in 1997, saying that because they were viewing the Italian version of the film, an interpreter and Lucisano helped to guide them through the plot. Arkoff found the film to be a "picture of a first class horror and suspense director", and was introduced to Bava after the screening, congratulating him. AIP acquired the film for approximately $100,000, recovering its production budget.

For the film's release in the United States, AIP re-edited scenes, re-dubbed the soundtrack, and changed several of the characters' names. Arkoff deemed the ELDA version of the film to be "technically unacceptable", and had Lou Rusoff produce a new English version at Titra Studios in New York City, which was directed by Lee Kresel and edited by Salvatore Billitteri. In contrast to the embellishments of the ELDA version, Titra's dubbing was largely faithful to the cast's spoken dialogue, although some phrases were softened, such as Asa's line "You too can find the joy and happiness in Hades!" which became "You too can find the joy and happiness in hating!". AIP removed or shortened the more violent and sexual scenes in the film, including the hammering of the "Mask of Satan" onto Asa's face, the scene in which she kisses Kruvajan to drain his blood, and the priest's staking of Kruvajan's eye. Arkoff reasoned that, "All of AIP's films were very clean, so anything that was suggestive of playing around - fornicating a corpse, you know what I'm saying? - we wouldn't stand for it." A dialogue exchange between Katia and Andrej that serves to develop their romantic relationship, as well as a climactic exchange between Andrej and the priest in which the former melodramatically laments Katia's apparent death, were also cut, as AIP believed that the juvenile audiences it was targeting would react negatively to these scenes. AIP's editing reduced the film's runtime to 83 minutes, compared to the 87 minute runtime of most Italian prints.

Nicolosi's score was replaced with a new one by Les Baxter. Arkoff and Nicholas felt Nicolosi's score was "too Italian" and that American audiences would not like it. Baxter flew to New York City on January 9, 1961, to record the new soundtrack for the film at Titra. Lucas considers the re-score to be a major factor in the success of the American version, noting, "Baxter's score is everything Nicolosi's score is not: boisterous, unsubtle, boldly orchestrated, incessantly busy — musically underlining every footfall, every droplet of dripping blood [...] every smoking undulation of dry ice". Baxter's score incorporates Nicolosi's "Katia's Theme" at several points, although a piano version of the theme representing a piece played by Katia that suggests her mutual feelings for Andrej was re-scored with a dirge that more closely follows Steele's hand movements on the instrument. He also adapted "Katia's Theme" for the title song of his 1961 exotica album Jewels of the Sea.

Release
After being passed uncut by the Board of Censors, Black Sunday was theatrically released in Italy as La maschera del demonio on August 11, 1960, where it was distributed by Unidis. The film grossed 139 million Italian lira from its domestic release. While Curti has described this financial performance as "rather limited", the film quickly turned Steele into a movie star within Italy. Its popularity influenced other Italian films, such as I motorizzati (1962), where Ugo Tognazzi plays an impressionable horror fan who is terrified of Black Sunday. In France, the film was released that same year as Les masque du démon by Comptoir Français du Film.

Before its release in the United States, AIP considered renaming the film Witchcraft, The Curse or Vengeance, before settling on Black Sunday. AIP premiered the film at the Allen Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 3, 1961. In its initial release, Black Sunday was a double feature with films from smaller independent companies, such as the British comedy Carry On Nurse (1959) or Roger Corman's The Little Shop of Horrors (1960). Black Sunday grossed $14,750 in its first week at the Allen Theatre, which topped AIP's previous record holders by 35%. The film also performed well in San Francisco and Salt Lake City, making it AIP's highest-grossing film in its five-year history, and generated domestic rentals of $706,000.

Black Sunday was initially banned in the United Kingdom, receiving a single screening at the National Film Theatre in 1961. It did not receive a wide release until June 1968 as Revenge of the Vampire, a censored version of the ELDA dub, which was released by Border Films. The film was not released uncut in the United Kingdom until 1992.

Home media and television
The first official home video release of the AIP version of Black Sunday was on LaserDisc in 1991. The Italian owners of the film released it in Japan through Toshiba Video and in the United Kingdom through Redemption Video on VHS. Image Entertainment released it on VHS and DVD for the first time in the United States in 1999. Both the Italian/ELDA and AIP versions were released on Blu-ray in the United States by Kino Lorber in 2012 and 2015, respectively. In the United Kingdom, Arrow Video released both cuts alongside the Italian version of I Vampiri on a single Blu-ray in 2013.

Under license from music publisher Creazioni Artistiche Musicali, Nicolosi's score was released, alongside his music for The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963), on CD in the first volume of Digitmovies' Mario Bava Original Soundtracks Anthology in 2005. The score was later released as a limited edition LP record (500 copies) by Spikerot Records on July 5, 2019. A suite from Baxter's score were first made commercially available on a 1980s Bax Records LP of his score for Black Sabbath (1963); this was later edited to form the basis of a separate soundtrack CD first released by Bay Cities in 1992, which was reissued in 1998 alongside Baxter's score for Baron Blood (1972). A CD of the full score, remastered from the original two-track session tapes sourced from MGM's archives, was released in May 2011 by Kritzerland in a limited edition run of 1000 copies.

A unique variant of the ELDA cut of the film was aired as part of a Bava retrospective on TCM in October 2002. This version, copyrighted in 2000, was supervised by Bava associate Alfredo Leone of International Media Films as a means of preventing the film from falling into the public domain; it features new, red-colored credit titles in place of the original credits, a newly-recorded opening narration, and cues from Baxter's score for Baron Blood that play over scenes that originally lacked music. While noting that Leone created this version in the best interests of preserving Bava's work, Lucas has lambasted it as a "cacophonous, tone-deaf mess".

Initial reception
Curti stated that contemporary Italian film critics "ravaged" Black Sunday, although some noted its cinematography. In France, Fereydoun Hoveida of Cahiers du Cinéma praised the film for the extreme mobility of its camera movements, and the way Bava's visual style created a fantastical and poetic dimension; he declared Bava to be an immediate film auteur with "the soul of a painter". Jean-Paul Torok of Positif also praised the film; Steele was featured on the cover of the magazine's July 1961 issue. On its release in the United Kingdom, Tom Milne of the Monthly Film Bulletin declared that Black Sunday was "One of Bava's best films, with a fluid visual style and a narrative grip that only weakens towards the end. Some chilling moments of both beauty and terror, he has never surpassed." In his view, the English version of the film was "devastated" by the dubbing, and felt the sound belonged, "not just to a different film, but to a different world from the near-hysterical images on screen".

In the United States reviews reflected on the plot, as well as the film's cinematography. Dorothy Masters of the New York Daily News found the film gruesome, but proclaimed that "whether this is reprehensible is a personal reaction, but there can be no argument on the general effectiveness of special effects and photography." A review in Time declared the film to be "a piece of fine Italian handiwork that atones for its ludicrous lapses with brilliant intuitions of the spectral." Variety proclaimed that "There is sufficient cinematography ingenuity and production flair [...] to keep an audience pleasantly unnerved." Eugene Archer of The New York Times dismissed the film, declaring it "nonsense" and suggesting that was filmed with "no restraint". In his 1967 book The Illustrated History of Horror and Science-Fiction Films, Carlos Clarens declared Black Sunday was the "best of [Mario Bava's] work" while his later work "rejected chiaroscuro in favor of lush Technicolor and developed the directorial of Black Sunday into mannered tricks such as gratuitous abrupt cuts and an unrestrained use of the zoom lens".

Retrospective
In a retrospective review, Timothy Sullivan wrote in The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural (1986) that the film was, "A supremely atmospheric horror film" and was Bava's "first and best directorial job, and the first of the 1960s cycle of Italian Gothic cinema [...] [The film] remains [Bava's] greatest achievement, without a doubt one of the best horror films ever made." Richard Gilliam of AllMovie gave the film a four and a half star rating out of five, opining that with it, Bava created "a visual feast of the strange and forbidden that unleashes an adolescent-like interest in the unreal world" that was "easily among the most influential films of the Italian Gothic horror era".

James Marriott praised the film as the "crowning achievement of Italian gothic horror" where "narrative and characterization (perfunctory at best here) take second place to the magnificent atmospheric visuals", noting that "unlike many of the Italian gothic chillers that followed, some sequences here [...] are genuinely creepy". James Blackford of Sight & Sound reviewed the film in 2013, concluding that, "Italian horror cinema is known for its intense atmosphere, extravagant visual style and gory scenes, and Black Sunday is the film that first pioneered this approach." He also noted the "beautifully composed chiaroscuro cinematography, expressionistic set design and art direction and the grotesquely appealing makeup lend the film a distinct atmosphere; this is cinema at its most grandiose and rich, brimful of high-flown imagery."

The film continues to have a popular fan base among horror fans and filmmakers, and placed in a 1996 poll of the Top 25 Favourite Horror Films of All Time conducted by the British fan magazine Shivers. It appeared in a reader's choice poll conducted by Fangoria of the ten greatest horror films made before 1970, where it tied for number seven with Fisher's Dracula. In the 2010s, Time Out polled authors, directors, actors and critics who had worked in the horror genre to vote for their top horror films; Black Sunday was listed at number 84 on their top 100.

Legacy and influence
Bava's son Lamberto recalls that after Black Sunday was released, producers began asking his father for more genre films. In the late 1960s, producer Lawrence Woolner approached Bava to remake Black Sunday in color; the project never materialized. "Viy" would be adapted for screen again in 1967 with Konstantin Yershow and Georgi Kropachoyov's Viy and later in 1990 as Sveto mesto by Djordje Kadijevic. In 1989, Lamberto Bava directed a made-for-television film also titled La maschera del demonio; this was not a remake of Black Sunday, but an adaptation of Gogol's story in a contemporary setting.

Following the release of Black Sunday, Steele would become what Kim Newman described as an "Italian horror icon", appearing in several horror films, such as Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Freda's The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962) and The Ghost (1963). Bava asked Steele, through her agents, to portray Nevenka in his film The Whip and the Body; they rejected the offer. When asked about this in 2002, Steele said the invite never reached her, but she would have been very happy to accept it. Steele would appear in more comedies and European art films, such as Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), later reflecting that, "It was very difficult for me, doing all those horror films at that particular period of my life. The difficult thing is that most directors demand excess in acting. They want a very expressive reaction at all times, which is fine for one take but, put together as a whole, looks a little overboard all the time [...] it's hard for a woman to do that." Steele later said that Black Sunday "was probably the best of that genre of film I've made, but I don't feel it was the best for me as an actress. Frame by frame, it looks so beautiful ... but anybody could have been playing that girl."

The "inquisition"-themed imagery of Black Sunday's opening scene was referenced in multiple horror films throughout the 1960s and beyond, including The Brainiac (1962), Terror in the Crypt (1964), Bloody Pit of Horror (1964), The She Beast (1966), The Blood Demon (1967) and The Haunting of Morella (1990). Tim Burton most prominently used imagery from the film in Sleepy Hollow (1999), such as in the scene where Lisa Marie emerges from an iron maiden with her face punctured akin to Asa. Burton had singled out Bava as a major influence on his work, saying that "One of the movies that remain with me probably stronger than anything is Black Sunday." Burton introduced the film as part of AMC's "Monsterfest" celebration in October 1998.

Black Sunday marked an increase in onscreen violence in film. Prior to Bava's film, Fisher's early Hammer films had attempted to push the envelope; The Curse of Frankenstein relied on make-up to depict the horror of the monster, Dracula had its gorier scenes cut by the British Board of Film Censors, and the violence in the backstory of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) was conveyed mostly through narration. The violence in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), which was released a week earlier than Black Sunday, was portrayed through suggestion, as its famous "shower scene" made use of fast cutting. Black Sunday, by contrast, depicted violence without suggestion. This level of violence would later be seen in other Italian genre films, such as the Spaghetti Western and the giallo, including Bava's own Blood and Black Lace (1964) and the gialli of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. Black Sunday focused on combining eroticism and horror, specifically the eroticism of a tortured body — a trend that other European horror filmmakers like Jean Rollin and Jesús Franco would follow.

title: Black Sunday (1960 film)