Cinema of Italy

The history of Italian cinema began a just few months after the Lumière brothers had discovered it, and it was precisely with a few seconds of film in which Pope Leo XIII was blessing the camera.

Introduction of sound

After WWI, also due to consequent general economical crisis, Italian cinema produced less interesting works despite the introduction of sound, and it was only at the end of the 1920s that some innovative films were directed by Alessandro Blasetti, Mario Camerini and his cousin Augusto Genina.

Related Topics:
WWI - 1920s - Alessandro Blasetti - Mario Camerini - Augusto Genina

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Blasetti opened his long career with a vanguard project (Sole, 1928) and in the following years directed the famous Italian comedian Ettore Petrolini in his comic Nero (an extremely sophisticated satire on Mussolini that, it is said, the dictator himself allowed to pass censorship), then he turned toward historical themes.

Related Topics:
1928 - Ettore Petrolini - Satire - Mussolini - Dictator - Censorship

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Another genre was at the same time obtaining a certain success: it included films that described a wealthy society, with a heavy dose of formal morality reflecting the culture of the age; the genre was called of Telefoni Bianchi (white telephones), by the constant characteristic presence of this object in the represented scenes. These films, generally little reputed, launched many of the stars of later times, like Vittorio De Sica and Alida Valli.

Related Topics:
Morality - Vittorio De Sica - Alida Valli

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