John Korporaal

Biography

Director John Korporaal learned the craft of filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. Under the name Giovanni Korporaal, he made his feature film debut in Mexico in 1961. El brazo fuerte was about corruption among civil servants and politicians in the Mexican government. The film was a success at the Venice Film Festival, and led to producer Joop Landré asking Korporaal to work with him on the film Rififi in Amsterdam. Korporaal was accused of making the film, which featured famous Dutch people such as Willy Alberti, Anton Geesink and Jan Blaaser, just to score a commercial hit. The fine camerawork by Eddy Van der Enden did, however, receive positive criticism. In 1963 Korporaal would deliver his second Dutch feature film, De vergeten medeminnaar. The leading actor was Henk van Ulsen, who was able to portray his amnesia-stricken character in a truly terrifying way.