Italian Cinema
The history of Italian cinema began with a few seconds footage of Pope Leo XIII blessing the camera. Historical dramas were most popular in these early years before sound. During and after WWI, funds were short and nothing much of interest was made until the 1920s. With the rise of fascism the film industry was encouraged and in 1937 Cinecitta was built on the outskirts of Rome. Literally a 'cinema city', it contained everything a film maker could need or want, including theatres, and even a cinematography school. The slogan on posters at the time read "Cinema is The Most Powerful Weapon". Newsreels and propagandistic documentaries were filmed here but by 1939, feature film productions were underway. Visconti ('Ossessione'), Rossellini (Rome, Open City') and De Sica ('Bicycle Thief') all began their careers here. Post-war, two distinct trends emerged in Italian cinema: on the one hand, the neo-realist films of Rossellini and De Sica, made chiefly on location in the streets of Rome and surrounding towns; and on the other, the American megaproductions, filmed almost entirely on sets constructed in the Cinecitta studios. In 1948, 'Quo Vadis?', 'Roman Holiday (1952), 'Three Coins in a Fountain' (1954), 'Farewell to Arms' (1957), 'Ben Hur' (1958) and 'Cleopatra' (1961), to cite only the most famous. Federico Fellini shot most of his films, at least in part at Cinecitta and to this day the studios are used for television and film productions.
Mention must also be made of Pasolini, Bertolucci, Zeffirelli, Antonioni, Sergio Leone - Italy has given cinema some of its greatest individuals and auteurs.
Pictured: The lost kisses from 'Cinema Paradiso'
Padre Padrone (1977)
7.4/10
Director: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Starring: Omero Antonutti, Saverio Marioni, Fabrizio Forte
The tale of a boy who grows up to become a linguistics professor, thereby escaping the despotic tyranny of a father who wants him to train as a shephe... Read more
1900 (1976)
7.7/10
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: Alida Valli, Burt Lancaster, Dominique Sanda, Donald Sutherland, Gerard Depardie...
Aka "Novecento". This sweeping chronicle of 20th century Italy focuses on the sons of two contrasting families; the landowner's son (Robert De Niro) a... Read more
Fellini's Casanova (1976)
7.1/10
Director: Federico Fellini
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Tina Aumont, Cicely Browne
Federico Fellini's account of the sexually bogus Venetian nobleman is a surreal journey into self-obsession and deviance. Casanova (Donald Sutherland)... Read more
L'Innocente ( The Innocent ) (1976)
7.5/10
Director: Luchino Visconti
Starring: Giancarlo Giannini, Laura Antonelli
Aka 'The Innocent'. An elegant, visually beautiful exploration of the constraints of marriage and its disintegration. Featuring a remarkable, sensuous... Read more
Salon Kitty (1976)
5.4/10
Director: Tinto Brass
Starring: Helmut Berger, Ingrid Thulin, Teresa Ann Savoy
Features a crazed Helmut Berger as a powerful SS officer who will do anything to get the dirt on his fellow Nazis and their wives. An erotic and, at t... Read more
Allegro Non Troppo (1976)
7.5/10
Director: Bruno Bozzetto
Starring: Maurizio Nichetti, Marialuisa Giovannini
Bozzetto's cult feature-length parody of Walt Disney's classic 'Fantasia' is both a send-up and an imaginative and beautiful film in its own right. "A... Read more
Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom (Blu-Ray) (1975)
6/10
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Starring: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Uberto P Quintavalle, Aldo Valetti
Nazi-Fascist Northern Italy, 1943-44. Four senior members of government, aided by henchmen and Nazi soldiers, kidnap a group of young men and women. T... Read more
Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
6/10
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Starring: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Uberto P Quintavalle, Aldo Valetti
Pasolini's final and most controversial film has been banned, censored and reviled the world over since it's first release. The film is based on the M... Read more
Arabian Nights (1974)
6.8/10
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
The final part of Pasolini's 'Trilogy of Life' series, following 'The Decameron' and 'The Canterbury Tales', was two years in the making. The location... Read more
Amarcord (1974)
7.8/10
Director: Federico Fellini
Starring: Magali Noel, Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio
The title is from the Italian for "I remember" and that is what Director Fellini does in this heartfelt autobiographical drama. The life and times of... Read more