Propaganda & Pictorialism

(Click on an image for an enlargement)

American films dominated the Italian box-office during the Fascist era. But in 1938, Mussolini banned them - not from any ideological standpoint, but because they were simply too expensive to import - and encouraged homegrown talent to fill the void.

The war years, for example, witnessed the brief flourishing of meticulously composed literary adaptations like Mario Soldati's Piccolo Mondo Antico (Little Old-Fashioned World) (1940) and Renato Castellani's Un Colpo di Pistola (A Pistol Shot) (1941), which were dubbed "calligraphist" on account of their opulent pictorialism.

The government resisted the temptation to flood the screen with propaganda, although Augusto Genina was hailed the nation's "warrior bard" for features like Lo Squadrone Bianco (The White Squadron) (1936). Even during the Second World War there was nothing overt about political allegories like Alessandro Blasetti's La Corona di Ferro (The Iron Crown) (1941). Indeed, combat pictures like Goffredo Alessandrini's Luciano Sera Pilota (Luciano Sera, Pilot) (1938) tended to be pessimistic with tragic finales replacing the patriotic heroism that typified most Allied flagwavers.

Ironically, the Fascist industry provided the infrastructure for Italian cinema's postwar revival. Moreover, La Nave Bianca (The White Ship) (1941) and Un Pilota Ritorna (A Pilot Returns) (1942) also proved the training ground for one of its key post war figures, Roberto Rossellini.

David Parkinson