Films can be made by a staff the size of the Comptroller’s Office*, yet the public associates our office with one name, namely whomever the Comptroller happens to be. I commit a similar abbreviation here by crediting film titles with a single auteur, the director. With Italian films this is not quite the overstatement it can be with American films. "DeSica’s The Bicycle Thief" is more accurate than "Fleming’s Gone with The Wind" or "Burton’s Batman."

With the movie industry, we’re considering a finite history, one that hasn’t even aged a century, and in the case of Italian movies, it is my understanding that aside from The Last Days of Pompei, and other silent films, great filmmaking didn’t even begin until 1942 when Visconti made Obsession out of the James Cain novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice.

After World War II, Visconti directed two semi-documentaries about Sicily, The Earth Trembles, and Senso, then the big budgeted The Leopard, followed by Rocco and his Brothers, and The Stranger (based on Camus’s existential novel). With Warner Brothers as his distributor, he created a German Trilogy: The Damned, Death in Venice, and Ludwig. He ended his career with Conversation Piece and The Innocent. His films show broodingly beautiful visions of companionship and solitude.

Visconti films, if shown properly, will be remembered for their stupefying pacing. No director ever sought to depict as obsessively as he the concept that time stands still. His stories evolve slowly, thereby permitting his small devout audience to savor the minutia of life, particularly the life of old world nobility from whence he came.

Other than England, no other country besides Italy has so inundated America with its popular culture. However, as with Beatlemania, The United States must be in the position to take notice, ie.—Beatlemania followed the death of Kennedy. With Italy, U.S. attention began upon the death of Mussolini, in 1945, with the release of Rosellini’s Rome: Open City. U.S. distribution also enabled Open City to reach that most important member of its audience, Rosellini’s future wife Ingrid Bergman.

Four films later Rosellini cast Ms. Bergman with George Sanders in Voyage in Italy, beginning Italy’s integration of established American stars (See the notes at the end of this article for a list.). No other foreign country has achieved such success.

In addition to Rome, Open City, Rosellini’s great war trilogy includes, Paisan (consisting of 4 stories), and Germany Year Zero.

Internationally praised for directing The Bicycle Thief (1948), and more recently for The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, De Sica, a trained actor, preserves amazing performances from nonprofessionals. His films capture the most dramatic and moving "neorealism" ever achieved. His other films include Shoeshine, Umberto D, Miricle in Milan, Two Women and A Brief Vacation.

As with Visconti, pacing is paramount to Antonioni. While Visconti looks at a "Period" upper class, Antonioni directs his attention to the modern upper middle class. Both directors found ennui, which their critical attention exposed and glorified.

His four films featuring Monica Vitti —- L’Aventura, La Notte, The Eclipse, Red Desert, followed by Blow-Up (in which Antonioni discovers England), Zabriski Point (Antonioni discovers America) and The Passenger —- are all of a "type" (should we die now or wait ‘til later -— later is better.). They demand the confines of a movie theatre and even then often require coercion to sit through. He excels in simple visual artistry and, fortunately for his viewers, his casting choices emphasize charisma and fascinating beauty.

FELLINI (originally a script writer for Rosselini)

Both Fellini and Pasolini outline what I consider to be the evolution of an ever worsening bad mood. However, Fellini lives for us to see his mood improve, not that his films improved. He is the archetype Italian filmmaker for America. I need to reevaluate him, but the cliche, "I like the early work," presently applies.

His films include The White Sheik, i Vitelloni, Nights of Cabiria, La Strada, La Dolce Vita, 8 ½, Juliette of the Spirits, Satyricon, Roma, Amacord, Casanova, City of Women and Ginger and Fred.

It is now trivia time. Ingmar Bergman got one, A Little Night Music, admittedly the best one, but Fellini got three. What am I talking about? The answer is Broadway Musicals.

La Strada with Bernedette Peters, was a short run show, but what about Nights of Cabiria? Who hasn’t heard of Sweet Charity (Neil Simon, Cy Colman, Bob Fosse) featuring the number "Hey Big Spender?" Not only that -— can you believe it? -- Felinni’s 8 ½ came to Broadway in the form of Nine (by Tommy Tune and others). Unforgivable, perhaps, but Nine makes three. With all the flamboyance and circus showmanship of Fellini’s films, I expect that this list will continue to grow.

Using film to tackle class structure and mammoth works of literature, Pasolini, a writer and poet himself, successfully adapted classical story collections such as Boccaccio’s Decameron, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and Dante’s Inferno/DeSade’s Sodom (which, combined, became Pasolini’s Salo). His original screenplays of modern society include Accatone, Teorema and Pigpen. His other filmed classics include Euripedes’ Medea (with Maria Callas) and Matthew’s Gospel. When he hated his subject matter, he still dealt with it, but upon it he focused his unleashed rage. I believe he hated fascism and the susceptiblity to fascism of the middle class.

Pasolini took risks, one of which was picking up strangers. He was thus murdered. After viewing his last film Salo, one wonders whether at the time of his death his mood could have been any worse. Upon second viewing, however, the impression left is considerably more upbeat.

BERTOLUCCI (Originally one of Pasolini’s assistant director)

Bertolucci brings us up to the present with top American Oscars for his 1988 effort, The Last Emperor. His films are commercially entertaining because his sensual visuals combine with his gift at eliciting from each of his exceptional cast members an exceptional performance. Marlon Brando is the shining example, in Last Tango in Paris.

Mysteriously, Bertolluci does not compromise his challenging subject matter (ambivalence and self absorption) for entertainment.

His other feature films include The Grim Reaper, Before the Revolution, Partner, The Spider’s Stratagem, The Conformist, 1900, Luna, and Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man.

Two top Italian filmmakers are women.

Wertmuller made a string of four movies, each more brilliant than the last, namely The Seduction of Mimi, Love and Anarchy, Swept Away, and finally Seven Beauties, a comic horror affirmation about staying alive despite the unbearable.

Cavanni made The Night Porter, a sincere and quiet film (Setting: Vienna, 1958 A therapy group for the Nazi war criminals shows no patience toward disobedient members) that Dino Delaurentis, who also distributed Fellini’s La Strada and produced The Towering Inferno and a King Kong remake, marketed on shock value. Her other films include Cannibals, Beyond Good and Evil and Galileo.

The director as author of his movie extends to Italian Americans of the present day, namely Scorsese, Coppola and DePalma, each of whom deserve their own essay, and dates back to the Hollywood in the fifties with Vincent Minelli (Lust For Life, Cabin in the Sky, The Band Wagon, Zeigfield Follies and Meet Me in Saint Louis).

That citizen of the world, Zeferelli, specialized in young love with Romeo and Juliette and Endless Love. His grandiose costume and set design skills are currently featured in productions at the Metropolitan Opera house where he can more safely excel.

I’ve only gleaned the subject and ignored many subtopics. We appreciate your comments and additions. I’ll leave commentary on Leone, Barbone (Clucher) and Romero to Lou Filosa, and Dario Argento and Gerard Damiano to whoever wants them.

*** Great American Actors starring in Italian Films

Fellini: Anthony Quinn, Broderick Crawford, Donald Sutherland

Bertolluci: Marlon Brando, Jill Claburgh, Robert DeNiro,

Visconti: Burt Lancaster

Antonioni: Jack Nicholson

DeSica: Shirley MacLaine

Leone: Clint Eastwood

*** But Italian movies made many of their local actors international stars.

Rossellini: Anna Magnanni, De Sica: Sophia Loren, Visconti: Claudia Cardinale, Fellini: Marcello Maistrioni, Wertmuller: Giancarlo Giannini, Petri: Ugo Tognazzi

*** Star offspring of Italian Directors and Hollywood phenomenons: Liza Minelli, Isabella Rosellini.

*** When discussing Italian cinema remember that German and Italian cultures often intertwine.

*** When trying to explain quality remember the cameramen (i.e., Storraro) and the composers (i.e., Morricone, Rosza and Rota).

Update: Anna Magnani, from Open City, sped pacing and gave otherwise antithetical heroine involvement to Visconti’s Bellisima and Pasolini’s Mama Roma.

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