POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM

ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL SETTINGS SOCIAL & POLITICAL themes

SILENT ERA Historical epics & spectacles Overly dramatic, high production values, special effects Imported to US, helped break the Trust (MPPC) Slapstick comedies, very popular in Europe Some films on contemporary social issues Ended with the sound era Studios became more conservative

EARLY SOUND YEARS Industry dominated by musicals, romances & bedroom farces Most popular were “WHITE TELEPHONE” movies Sex comedies & melodramas centred on a bedroom with a white telephone

BENITO MUSSOLINI & THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT Mussolini came to power in 1920s

BENITO MUSSOLINI & THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT Mussolini ignored film until 1935 Govt made propaganda films, required theatres to show them State patronage of propaganda by lending money to studios Repaid a fraction, depending on propaganda content

BENITO MUSSOLINI & THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT Studios sought loans & grants by giving jobs to political favourites (EUROPA FILMS made VITTORIO MUSSOLINI president of studio) Government presided over dubbing of foreign films

BENITO MUSSOLINI & THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT Vittorio Mussolini at UFA

BENITO MUSSOLINI & THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT Not good at controlling film industry Insisted on getting involved, but knew little about it Benito Mussolini wrote Scipio Africanus About an ancient victory of Roman Army in Africa Visible telephone poles, wristwatches, etc. Heavily promoted at home, exported to other countries; source of embarrassment

BENITO MUSSOLINI & THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT Govt did provide 2 important institutions Cinecittà Huge production center, 12 sound stages Survived the war, but with some damage Still an important production center today Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Experimental Centre of Cinematography) State-sponsored filmmaking school Trained most of important figures of Neorealism Now known as La Scuola Nazionale di Cinema

BENITO MUSSOLINI & THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT Cinecittà

BENITO MUSSOLINI & THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT Cinecittà today

THE NEOREALIST ERA LUCHINO VISCONTI’s Ossessione (1942) Forerunner of the movement Fascist government was disintegrating Sweaty peasants, lust, adultery, murder, location shooting in cheap taverns Significance not in subject matter or political statements Act of defiance of Government Led to spirit of rebellion

THE NEOREALIST ERA Ossessione (1942)

THE NEOREALIST ERA ROBERTO ROSSELLINI’s Rome, Open City (1945) 1st real Neorealist film Rossellini's training in documentary Shot in streets & used actual settings Shot silent, sound dubbed in Begun in 1944; Mussolini gone, but Germans occupied Rome

THE NEOREALIST ERA ROBERTO ROSSELLINI’s Open City (1945) Based on a true story about a leader of the Communists & a Catholic priest Almost all of the Italians are dead by the end Communist leader betrayed by lesbian, tortured to death Priest killed by Nazi firing squad Features the use of TYPAGE Few professional actors Actors not glamorous, typical of lower-class Romans Extremely low-budget film, made for less than $26,000

THE NEOREALIST ERA Rome, Open City (1945)

THE NEOREALIST ERA VITTORIO DESICA Bicycle Thieves (1948); best ‑ known Neorealist film Concerns a working-class man's search for stolen bicycle Episodic, not tightly plotted Features no professional actors Originally banned in US Umberto D (1951) About an impoverished elderly man & his dog Man wants to commit suicide, can't leave his dog alone Unpopular at home

THE NEOREALIST ERA Bicycle Thieves (1948)

THE NEOREALIST ERA Umberto D (1951)

THE NEOREALIST ERA DECLINE OF NEOREALISM Critical reception enthusiastic, popular in Europe But not much box office in US Neither dubbing nor subtitles well-accepted in the US Subject matter not popular In Italy they were not popular either Wanted entertainment & relief from problems Wanted to forget about WW II & Fascist government

THE NEOREALIST ERA DECLINE OF NEOREALISM US took advantage of economic conditions Italy needed money, especially American $ Hollywood studios co-produced films in Italy Mostly historical spectacles, romantic stories By the mid-1950s, these factors led to the end of Neorealism Industry dominated by slick, commercial, racy films Glamorous stars: Gina Lollabrigida, Sophia Loren, etc.

THE NEOREALIST ERA Gina Lollabrigida in Solomon and Sheba (1959)

THE NEOREALIST ERA Gina Lollabrigida with Yul Brynner in Solomon and Sheba (1959)

THE NEOREALIST ERA Sophia Loren

THE NEOREALIST ERA Sophia Loren

THE NEOREALIST ERA THE INFLUENCE OF NEOREALISM Primary influence on Neorealism was French Poetic Realism; Neorealism had impact on French New Wave Hollywood absorbed best of Neorealism Some films in the 1950s show influence of Neorealism Location shooting, documentary look, etc.