Fifty years of Italian cinema (1955)

42 It was actually the advent of the talking picture — • which occurred between 1928 and 1929 — which marked the beginning of the so-called renaissance of the Italian cinema and, in general, of all European cinema. Italy started with the production of La canzone delVamore (Love -Song), a Cines film, produced by Stefano Pittaluga who was then head of the most important circuit of film theatres (the future ENIC) — a fact which confirms the well-known belief that is it the exhibitor who serves as the mouthpiece of the film-going public, and can thus determine the direction film production should take. In 1930, seven films were produced in Italy. In 1931 twelve films may be recalled from oblivion. One of these was Figaro e la sua gran giornata (Figaro and His Great Day), made by Camerini. It was a gay and lively dialect comedy, starring Gianfranco Giachetti and other actors of the famous Venetian theatre. That year also saw the production of one of Italy's greatest box-office successes, Segretaria Privata (Private Secretary) a fawning Italian remake of a German film of the same name. It was directed by a beginner, Goffredo Alessandrini. Lke all huge box-office successes, this picture had a strong influence on other producers. Twenty films were produced in Italy during 1932, and among them was Gli uomini, che mascalzoni (Men, What Rascals). In this film, considered generally by critics to be the best work of Mario Camerini, we find a distillation of the characteristic qualities of a true poet of the petit-bourgeois world. Skilled in portioning out doses of his favorite themes — humanity, sentiment, humor — very able in the handling of the actors, he was happiest of all in his casting. Vittorio De Sica, already greatly appreciated on the Italian variety stage, began his brilliant career in motion pictures as the lover in this film, a role he was to play for many years with his natural good taste. In 1933, thirty-four pictures were produced. Emilio Cecchi, a man of culture and discrimination, was directing production at Cines. Produced during this year were such pictures as Acciaio (Steel), directed by Ruttmann and supervised by Cecchi ; i860, directed by Blasetti and supervised by Cecchi ; T'amero sempre (I'll Love You Always,) directed by Camerini and supervised by Cecchi. Blasetti's film, an episode in the story of Garibaldi, was the first of the Italian films to use actors taken from real life, and it was one of the best examples of the new cinema style. It was shot largely in Sicily among the actual scenes of Garibaldi's adventurous activities. i860 is distinguished from contemporary productions by its unusual freshness, by its mass movements which were far different from the « colossal » formulae of the silent screen, and for an excellence of photography and lighting, hitherto unknown. I'll Love You Always, by Camerini, was a clever attempt to avoid the hackneyed pattern of the pathetic and moralistic film. It recounted a simple, modest story of every-day life, life in that grey world, a bit romantic and a bit decadent, that official Italy tried to hide or forget. Its cast was comprised of a group of young actors who were beginning to fill out the meagre ranks of the Italian industry. In 1934, Italian production put thirty-five films on the market, but the harvest was a poor one, except for the charming Cappello a tre punte (Three-Cornered Hat), by Camerini again. The brothers Eduardo and Peppino De Filippo appeared in the film. These superb actors of