1946 →
COM 320: History of the Moving Image
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Prior to and during WWII, filmmakers were
encouraged to make “meaningless,” pure
entertainment films
1924: the state film service L’Unione
Cinematografica Educativa (LUCE) was
founded for the purpose of “civil and
national education,” based somewhat on
the Soviet model
(Fascism was in place in Italy
by 1922; Benito Mussolini
the leader (“Il Duce”) beginning
in 1925)
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1932: Venice Film Festival founded by Count Giuseppe
Volpi di Misurata
1934: Luigi Freddi (Italian Minister of Propaganda & a
Fascist party leader) established “Cinema of
Distraction,” rejecting the Soviet model in favor of
Hollywood-style production
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Over the next few years, Freddi created a number of film institutions:
1935 – national film school: Centro Spiramentale della Cinematografia
1937 – national studio: Cinecitta
1937 – film journal: Bianco & Nero
Between 1934 and 1942 the Venice Film Festival awarded “Mussolini
Cups” as prizes.
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1938: “Alfieri Law” in 1938 gave producers direct aid,
were allowed to make light-weight “white telephone”
melodramas and comedies; filmmakers thus honed
their craft.
During World War II there was a ban on U.S. and other
foreign film imports.
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Neorealism actually began in last couple of
years of fascism, inspired by Soviet Montage,
French Poetic Realism, and Hollywood (e.g.,
Luchino Visconti’s Ossessione, ‘43, a version of
Hollywood’s The Postman Always Rings Twice)
Benito Mussolini executed in ’45; the liberation
that followed allowed the expression of
repressed socio-political views.
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“Open form narrative;” ranges from partisan heroics to
contemporary social problems
The new realism included the notion of abolishing
contrived plots and professional actors
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Was it “leftist?” Opinions vary.
Italian Neorealism/Marxist
screenwriter Cesare Zavattini
and many other filmmakers and
critics called for a new realism as
early as 1942
Captured the “beauty of
ordinary life”
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“Amalgam” of amateur
and professional
performers
“Cinema verite” (not
quite) or simple realist
style
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Rough look partly a result of
economic hardship
“Loosening of plot linearity”
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Fellini—his evolving auteurism
Direct Cinema and other
documentary forms
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In U.S. & Canada—Maysles
brothers, Frederick Wiseman,
D. A. Pennebaker, etc.
Selected political cinemas (e.g.,
Cuba)
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Other realist cinema
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In India
 “Parallel cinema” of India, such as
the films of Satyajit Ray (Apu trilogy)
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In the U.S.
 e.g., Charles Burnett’s 1979 Killer of
Sheep, an examination of life in the
Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles
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Full name: Luchino, Visconti di Modrone,
Count of Lonate Pozzollo
November 2, 1906 – March 17, 1976
Directed 20 films between 1943 and 1976
Served as a writer on 16 films from 1941
to 1976
Best-known work:
 Ossessione (1943)
Also a respected theatrical director, for the Rina Morelli-Paolo
Stoppa Company
President of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1969
Openly homosexual; known partners included actor Helmut
Berger and director Franco Zeffirelli
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May 8, 1906 – June 3, 1977
Directed 51 films between 1936 and 1977
Served as a writer on 44 films and a
producer on 11
Best-known works:
 Roma, Città Aperta (Open City) (1945)
 Paisà (Paisan) (1946)
 Stromboli (1950)
 Il Miraculo (The Miracle) (1952)—U.S. Supreme Court decision on its
“sacriligeous” status confirmed that the 1st Amendment applies to
movies! (overturning the 1915 “Mutual vs. Ohio” case which had
upheld the legality of an Ohio state censorship office)
Made six movies with Ingrid Bergman before and during their seven-year
marriage (their three children include actress Isabella Rossellini)
President of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1977
“I do not want to make beautiful films. I want to make useful films.”
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July 7, 1902 – November 13, 1974
First appeared in films as an actor in 1917, in
Il processo Clémenceau
Continued acting in films until his death in 1974
Directed 36 films between 1940 and 1974
Served as a writer on 23 films, and a producer on 8
Best-known works:
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Sciuscia (1946) – Won an honorary Oscar
Ladri di Biciclette (The Bicycle Thieves) (1948) – Won an honorary Oscar
Leri, Oggi, Domini (1963) – Won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film
Matrimonio All’italiana (1964) – Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
Il Giardino Dei Finzi Contini (1970) – Won Best Foreign Language Film
After the Fox (1966) – An English-language comedy starring Peter Sellers, Victor
Mature, Britt Ekland, and a cameo by De Sica, with a script co-written by
Zavattini and Neil Simon, and music by Burt Bacharach...must be seen to be
believed
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January 20, 1920 – October 31, 1993
Directed 25 films between 1950 and 1990
Served as a writer on 51 films between
1942 and 1990
Best-known works (Note his EVOLUTION):
 La Strada (1954) – Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film
 Le Notti de Cabiria (The Nights of Cabiria) (1957) – Won Best Foreign
Language Film Oscar; adapted into the Broadway musical “Sweet
Charity”
 8 ½ (1963) – Won Best Foreign Language Film Oscar
 Amarcord (1973) – Won Best Foreign Language Film Oscar
He was a huge fan of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics; one of his first writing
jobs was the Italian translation of the Flash Gordon comic strip.
Worked productively with his wife, actress Guilietta Masina
Known for his hot temper on the set
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Released in 1943
Directed by Luchino Visconte
Written by Luchino Visconte and
Mario Alicata
Premiered in Rome May 16, 1943
A tale of forbidden love between a drifter
and an innkeeper’s wife, culminating in
murder – Italy’s film version of The Postman
Always Rings Twice
Italy’s Fascist Party banned the film and
destroyed its prints and negative. Visconte managed to save one
print.
Not seen again until it was shown in Sweden in 1959
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Italian title: Roma, città aperta
Released in 1945
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Written by Sergio Amidei and
Federico Fellini
Premiered in Italy September 27, 1945
A story about the Italian Resistance’s
struggle against the Nazis in occupied
Rome, set just one year earlier (1944)
For added realism, Rossellini cast real Nazi
POWs in some of the German roles, and used real military
uniforms and vehicles.
First Italian Neorealism film to be released outside of Italy
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Italian Title: Paisà
Released in 1946
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Written by Sergio Amedei, Klaus Mann,
Federico Fellini, Marcello Pagliero,
Alfred Hayes, Vasco Pratolini,
Roberto Rossellini, and Rod E. Geiger
Premiered in Italy December 10, 1946
Anthology of six tales, of American soldiers
following their landing in Sicily, and tracing their relationships
with the Italian people.
The monks in Episode V are genuine Franciscan monks, from the
Maiori convent near Salerno.
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Italian title: Ladri di Biciclette
Released in 1948
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
Written by Cesare Zavattini, Suso D’Amico,
Vittorio De Sica, Oreste Biancoli,
Adolfo Franci, and Gerardo Guerrieri
Based on the novel by Luigi Bartolini
Premiered in Italy November 24, 1948
The story of a father in post-war Rome who,
after years of unemployment and poverty,
get a chance at a wonderful job… only to have his bicycle
– critical for the job – stolen.
De Sica decided to use no professional actors. All of the cast is
made up of amateurs.
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Also known as Stromboli, Terra di Dio
(Stromboli, Land of God)
Released in 1950
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Written by Roberto Rossellini, Art Cohn,
Sergio Amidei, Gian Paolo Callegari,
Renzo Cesana, and Father Félix Morlión
Premiered in the USA February 15, 1950
A young Baltic woman marries a fisherman
to escape a prison camp, but finds that life
in his village, the titular Stromboli, is every
bit as alien and difficult.
Ingrid Bergman left Hollywood to work with Rossellini… and then
was banned from Hollywood for six years because of her extramarital
affair with him. Her pregnancy resulted in Robert Jr., and two years
later, twins Ingrid and Isabella.
Howard Hughes used the scandal in publicity for the American
premiere, resulting in the film earning $1 million on its first day.
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Released in 1952
Directed by Vittorio de Sica
Written by Cesare Zavattini and Vittorio
de Sica
Graphically demonstrates the impact of
rampant post-war inflation (the
protagonist is an impoverished
pensioner/retiree)
Most of the actors were non-professional,
including Carlo Battisti, who played the
title role
An open-ended conclusion to the film is
typical of Italian Neorealism—we’re not
sure what happens to Umberto and his
dog Flike
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Translation: “The Road”
Released in 1954
Produced by Dino de Laurentiis
Directed by Federico Fellini
Written by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli,
and Ennio Flaiano
Premiered at the Venice Film Festival
September 6, 1954
A carefree girl is sold by her parents to a
traveling circus, becoming the assistant of
the show’s surly, abusive strongman, and struggles to find her
purpose and place in life.
Winner of the first-ever Academy Award for Best Foreign
Language Film
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