Passion and Defiance: Italian Film from 1942 to the PresentUniversity of California Press, 1984 - 396 pages Since World War II, aesthetic impulses generated in Italy have swept through every film industry in the world, and in her book Mira Liehm analyses the roots in literature, philosophy, and contemporary Italian life which have contributed to this extraordinary vigor. An introductory chapter offers a unique overview of the Italian cinema before 1942. It is followed by a full and profound discussion of neorealism in its heyday, its difficult aftermath in the fifties, the glorious sixties, and finally by an analysis of the contemporary cinematic crisis. Mira Liehm has known personally many of the leading figures in Italian cinema, and her work is rich in insights into their lives and working methods. This impressive scholarly work immediately outclasses all other available Italian film histories. It will be essential reading for anyone seriously interested in the cinema. |
Contents
PREFACE | 1 |
OBSESSION 19421944 | 41 |
LACRIMAE RERUM 19441948 | 60 |
NEOREALISM ACT II 19481953 | 90 |
WHAT IS REALITY? | 103 |
NEOREALISM IS LIKE | 129 |
DIFFICULT YEARS 19531959 | 138 |
THE RIFT 19591960 | 160 |
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SIXTIES | 221 |
THE CHANGING IMAGE OF THE MOVIES 19701982 | 249 |
THE DUSK OF THE LEOPARDS | 289 |
UNDER THE SIGN OF VIOLENCE | 307 |
NOTES | 319 |
361 | |
375 | |
383 | |
THE GLORIOUS SIXTIES 19611969 | 181 |
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actors aesthetic Alberto Alberto Lattuada American Antonioni artistic attempt authentic Barbaro became Bellocchio Bertolucci Bicycle Thief Bitter Rice Blasetti camera capture Carlo Cavani characters cinema italiano comedy Communist created critics culture death director documentary dolce vita dramatic episodes fascist Federico Fellini Fellini Ferreri film industry film's filmmakers Francesco Futurist German Gianni Giuseppe De Santis historical human images inspired Italian cinema Italian film Italy L'avventura La terra trema Lattuada Luchino Visconti Mario metaphor Miccichè Michelangelo Antonioni Milan movement movie Mussolini narrative Neapolitan neorealism neorealist neorealist films never novel Olmi Open City Ossessione Paisan Paolo Pasolini Pavese peasants Pier Paolo Pasolini plot political postwar production protagonist quoted realism reality relationship Roberto Rossellini role Rome Rosi Santis scene script scriptwriter sequence shot Sica Sica's Sicilian social society Soviet story style Tavianis television terra trema theater theme tion Umberto Umberto D Venice Visconti visual Vittorio woman wrote young Zavattini