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POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM
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POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

Dec 16, 2015

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Halie Pinson
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Page 1: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

POST-WAR CINEMA

ITALY& NEOREALISM

Page 2: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

ITALIAN NEOREALISM

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

Page 3: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 4: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 5: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

BENITO MUSSOLINI &THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT

Mussolini came to power in 1920s

Page 6: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 7: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 8: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

BENITO MUSSOLINI &THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT

Vittorio Mussolini at UFA

Page 9: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 10: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 11: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

BENITO MUSSOLINI &THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT

Cinecittà

Page 12: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

BENITO MUSSOLINI &THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT

Cinecittà today

Page 13: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 14: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

THE NEOREALIST ERA

Ossessione (1942)

Page 15: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 16: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 17: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

THE NEOREALIST ERA

Rome, Open City (1945)

Page 18: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 19: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

THE NEOREALIST ERA

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Page 20: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

THE NEOREALIST ERA

Umberto D (1951)

Page 21: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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

Page 22: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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.

Page 23: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

THE NEOREALIST ERA

Gina Lollabrigida in Solomon and Sheba (1959)

Page 24: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

THE NEOREALIST ERA

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

Page 25: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

THE NEOREALIST ERA

Sophia Loren

Page 26: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

THE NEOREALIST ERA

Sophia Loren

Page 27: POST-WAR CINEMA ITALY & NEOREALISM. ITALIAN NEOREALISM 4 characteristics: REALISM bordering on documentary TYPAGE (non ‑ professional actors) NATURAL.

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.