EUROPA '51 (1952, ITALY), UMBERTO D (1952, ITALY), SENSO (1954, ITALY), OSSESSIONE (1943, ITALY)

THIS WEEK'S MOVIES

The dying son in Europa '51

 

"The neorealist films repeatedly show that unjust and perverted social structures threaten to warp and pervert the essential and internal human values- Gerald Mast A Short History of the Movies

The above quote about Roberto Rossellini really brings home my takeaway from Europa '51, a film about a wealthy couple living in European society whose life is changed by the death of their often neglected son. The wife's (Ingrid Bergman) life is changed, anyway. She begins to make some form of amends after her son's death by helping those less fortunate and those that are struggling and poor. She eventually gets put in a mental institution by her husband and the society unaccepting of her change. But many of those she helped still support her, and Rosellini (and hopefully the audience) clearly sides with the poor, working class and compassionate.
 

The loyal dog in Umberto D

The hard to please New York Times movie critic Bosley Crowther raved about Vittorio de Sica's Umberto D upon release calling it  "a comprehension of human feelings and fatalism that pierce the heart and mind." The film does strike me as having the same feel of de Sica's more famous The Bicycle Thief, but with an old man and a dog instead of a guy trying to make ends meet and his bicycle. I don't mean that comparison in a negative way. Umberto D is a truly moving and often heartbreaking film with an ending that should bring a tear to your eye. Spoiler: The dog doesn't die...but it's still sad.

 The insincere lover in Senso

It's interesting to see some classics listed in the 1001 book that I see for the first time in a complete and restored form without thinking about a particular movie was rarely seen like this until recently. Luchino Visconti's Senso went through a name change (Aslo known as The Wanton Countess), being released in severely edited versions and not released widely in the U. S. until 1968! There are lots of charms in this film in the restored form: romance, war, history, betrayal, compassion..and Alida Valli. Similar in theme and setting to Visconti's The Leopard, I would choose Senso, if you made me pick between the two of them.

"Body Heat 1943" in Ossessione

My favorite of all Visconti's films might be his early film Ossessione, the first of many adaptations of James Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice. Rawer than the later Hollywood remake (though I like that film, too), this film is ugly (in a good way) and the characters seem like real and damaged people and there is certainly no nice ending in this one...In fact there isn't a happy ending in any of the films on today's blog...so are classics made, I guess.

Until next time...

PAISAN (1946, ITALY)

ALL THIS AND WORLD WAR II MONTH

(Post 2 of 10)

Paisan

Paisan is Roberto Rossellini's series of vignettes set in Italy during the end of the war. These stories run the gamut of human emotions: An American soldier attempts to befriend an Italian peasant girl leading to tragic consequences, a black American soldier and an orphaned Italian boy form an unlikely friendship, an American soldier tries to reconnect with a woman he has fallen in love with, a nurse tries to find her freedom fighter boyfriend, three army chaplains spend the night in a Catholic monastery and the final episode involves a skirmish with tragic consequences at the end of the war.

These stories all come together neatly and have a strong dramatic impact. I think it is a even richer film than Rossellini's more famous Open City.

               From the Soundtrack of All This and World War II

The soundtrack to All This and World War II featured selections from the two most successful musical acts of the 70's, Elton John and The Bee Gees.

The inclusion of Elton's version of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds was kind of a no-brainer as he had already scored a number one hit with the song the previous year. Elton was also good friends with Beatle John Lennon and the two of them recorded a live version of The Beatles I Saw Her Standing There on the B-side of Elton's Philadelphia Freedom.

Elton John with John Lennon

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjq42q_znKs&index=2&list=PLopo84-Y-n5mDT4CQvm5Lz6P2nhOWsNAO

The Bee Gees put out some pretty good Beatles influenced folk/pop music during the 60's and 70's. They achieved their greatest success during the late 70's with their songs from the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever.

Their greatest debacle of the decade was their involvement with Peter Frampton and others on Robert Stigwood's bloated epic Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band featuring the music of the Beatles in a most bizarre musical (Even more bizarre than All This and World War II!).

Unfortunately, their fairly bland versions on All This and World War II of She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Sun King, Golden Slumbers and Carry That Weight foreshadow that later film. They aren't helped by the overdone orchestral arrangements either.

The Bee Gees battle the Beatles during the 70's

in the pages of Dynamite.

Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cfzqIbD2pA&list=PLopo84-Y-n5mDT4CQvm5Lz6P2nhOWsNAO&index=3

Sun King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL0e8NvowRI

She Came in Through the Bathroom Window

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AALKNKrQ67I

...and lose the war after the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band

VOYAGE TO ITALY (1953, ITALY)

Hulupalooza! (Post 11 of 12)

Voyage to Italy

Roberto Rossellini's Voyage to Italy is a film that doesn't seem to have a lot to it at first glance. A couple that have been married for several years travel to Italy and discover their marriage is in trouble and whose love for each other is in question. The husband (George Sanders) is a workaholic whose time away has caused some friction with his wife (Ingrid Bergman). She spends a lot of her time at museums and tries to find meaning or answers through a kind of intellectual understanding of life. Nothing overly dramatic happens to their marriage. It's like real life often is-you grow apart or familiarity begins to breed contempt. The ending does give hope for a reconciliation between the two, but happily ever after is not a given.

I do think there is more here than meets the eye and it's also interesting to see Sanders and Bergman speaking in Italian.  

OPEN CITY (1945, ITALY)

So what the heck were the post-WW II neo-realistic filmmakers trying to do? Scenarist Cesare Zavatini defines these films as trying “to show things as they are, not as they seem; to use facts rather than fictions; to depict the common man rather than silken heroes; to reveal the everyday rather than the exceptional; to show man’s relationship to his real society rather than to his romantic dreams.” The films also show “unjust and perverted social structures threaten to warp and pervert the essential and internal human values.”

Roberto Rossellini’s Open City is generally regarded as the first of these films and it is very gritty and at times powerful. We can certainly root for the brave members of the resistance, including the local priest, fighting stealthily while under the thumb of the Third Reich. The sacrifice for others is shown over and over again here: The widow Pina working to provide for her family, the resistance fighters not giving away information despite being tortured eventually to death and the priest, who gives the children of the city the strength through his death to persevere in the soon to be opened city, we can hope.

Among the standout perfomers are Anna Magnani as Pina, Aldo Fabrizi as the Preist and Harry Feist, whose sleezy Nazi should be the measure to which all sleezy Nazis in film should be measured against.

A sometimes-hard film to watch is not quite as effective to me as De Sica’s “The Bicycle Thief” but is certainly a strong and important movie in it own right.