Italian Cinema History Essay

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the history of Italian cinema, tracing its development from its early days in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the present. It discusses key periods and movements, such as the rise of neorealism in the post-World War II era, the influence of Italian literature and art, and the emergence of various genres like giallo horror and Commedia all'Italiana. The essay highlights the contributions of significant filmmakers such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, and Roberto Rossellini, analyzing their impact on both Italian and international cinema. It also examines the socio-political context in which Italian films were produced, exploring how they reflected and shaped Italian national identity and cultural values. The essay concludes by reflecting on the challenges and opportunities facing the Italian film industry in the 21st century.

Running Head: Italian Cinema and its History 1
Italian Cinema and its History
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Running Head: Italian Cinema and its History 2
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Citations.........................................................................................................................................10

Running Head: Italian Cinema and its History 3
Introduction
The Italian film industry has an epic history which has helped it to guide and shape the whole
course of international cinema. The uniqueness of the Italian films is one of the vital factor for its
success. The Italian film industry has developed in a very slow, regressive and defensive manner
which was seen to be rapid and expansive at some places. The industry is seen to encompass
various histories influencing, changing, affecting and interacting within its own fabric. Italian
cinema can be considered as a son of figurative arts and literature and a self-declared inheritor.
The Italian cinema has constructed its basis on the artistic and literary structures and have
successfully been able to confidently draw from the wider patrimony of art and international
literature. Gradually, the Italian cinema learnt the usage of theatre screen as a helper for
portraying the collective dreams of the accurate reflection of the daily life in Italy. This helped
the development of an anamorphic lens which will be beneficial in celebrating the vices which
forms the spine of the Italian national character (Bertellini, Giorgio, 2004).
The Italian films and its journey started from the late 1890s, much later from the invention of
moving pictures which took places in 1880s. First known Italian film was produced in 1896
which recorded the Florence visit of Italian King And Queen. However, the commercial Italian
film industry started in 1905 with movies like 20 Settembre 1870 (The Capture of Rome,
September 20, 1870), historical film by Florentine Filoteo Alberini, La Presa di Roma. Soon
various companies were seen sprang up Milan, Turin and Naples and a standard market in the
national and international arena was developed. Italy had its position in the movie production
and screenwriting prior to the First World War. The movies were first seen to be documentary,
mythological or historical in nature however, a transition was seen by 1910 when Italian makers
moved towards comedies and art films. The Italian film studios are considered to be serious

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historical filmmakers and are pioneer in this field (Marcus 1986, Burgoyne 1991, Dalle Vacche
1992). The representation of the pioneer history of Italian cinema as explained by Gian Piero
Brunetta has been found to passim (Brunetta 1979, 1981 and 1982).
This paper discusses the development and evolvement of the Italian Cinema and how it has
emerged to be one of the impactful film industry in the world. The paper focuses on the
involvement of important films and directors of the industry in the period between 1915 to 2015.
The paper depicts how the Italian cinema has transformed over these decades representing the
various phases along with raising some intense questions on the social, cultural, and political and
religion based issues in the country.
Discussion
In 1910, a film called The Fall of Troy produced by Turin-based Giovanni Pastrone which was
one of the greatest commercial success. Later, he produced a two-and-a-half hour epic
named Cabiria featuring highly dramatic settings which were seen to derive from the grand
opera tradition. Various cameras were used for picturisation of the film to shoot from various
angles rather than a fixed single camera. This method became a standard for any film production
system globally (Muscio, Giuliana, 2013). Additionally, the concept of moving camera was used
for the very first time. The use of close up for highlighting the beautiful features of actors and
actress were pioneered by the Italian filmmakers. Cinecittà, considered to be the breeding ground
for the most acclaimed film directors was established in 1930 in Rome.
A series of propaganda films were seen to be produced in the World War II era. These were
followed by newly inspired film genre known as Neorealism exploring the demoralizing
economic conditions of the county. The period between 1945 and 1948 saw the works of De
Santis, De Sica, Rossellini and Visconti saw unleashing of energy which was intense enough to

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change the cultural systems, coordinates, poetics and paradigms of the international cinema.
Roma citta` aperta (Rome, Open City) and Paisa` (Paisan) were not just films but considered as
events for only absorbing the essence of traditional cinema but also for creating a new
benchmark for international and Italian cinema (Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey, 1999). The
masterpieces produced by these filmmakers are considered indisputably to be the major works of
art capturing the spirit of post-war culture of Italy along with remaining as the original
contributions to the film language (Hope, William (ed.), 2010).
The historical films of Italy are seen to possess an unfettered affiliation with history which are
sometimes seen to be overlapped with biblical-mythological tests and popular historical novel
irrespective of the fact that the hermeneutical difference between myth and history is almost
insurmountable and impossible (Muscio 2013, 161).
During this specific period most enduring films of the country were seen to be produced during
this period which included Ossessione (1943) by Luchino Visconti, Open City (1945), Rome by
Roberto Rossellini, Paisà (1946), Vittorio De Sica's Shoeshine (1946), Miracle in Milan (1951)
and Germany Year Zero (1948). The rise of most celebrated directors was seen in the post-World
War II era like Rosellini, Visconti and De Sica, Michelangelo Antonioni, Sergio Leone, Franco
Zeffirelli, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, everyone contributed to the Italian Cinema.
Neorealism was seen to mark the re-appropriation of the visual power beyond the
monumentalization of its significant essentials in order to capture shared experiences and
feelings. The will of Italians of becoming the masters of their destiny and history was embodied
by the Italian cinema as well which also became a new measure of pursuing life. The history of
the country which was seen to materially and morally being destroyed by unwanted war was

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publicised by Italian cinema. In this particular era, the Italian film industry was seen to assume
role of country’s ambassador which was animated by their resilient drive (Rosen, Philip, 2001).
During this political formation of the country the national cultural unification was seen to be
unaffected which was depicted in the contemporary Risorgimento films and neoclassical Roman
merging the cultural and social division for the Italian audiences so as to show them the
possibility of being the inheritors of a supra-regional, supra-class historical unity. The term
nationalisation of the cultural identity was depicted beautifully in the films. These films
represented a terrain representing the spectators to share a common identity and history enabling
the general public to present themselves as Italians. The term neorealism was first used in the
1943 firm by Luchino Visconti in his film Ossessione which was followed by What Scoundrels
Men Are! (1932) by Camerini, 1942 film and Four Steps in the Clouds by Blasetti. The Fascist
officials were angered by Ossessione and the film was even banned in some Fascist-controlled
parts of Italy. During this period the neorealism was seen to explode after the war but it made
only a finite number of Italian films of the period and was highly influential at the global level.
The ordinary people portrayed by the films in this era were relatively uninterested in finding
their self-image which is one of the paradoxes of Italian film history and its neorealist era. With
the emergence of new era, the Italians were seen to be interested in being entertained and amused
rather than focusing on their poverty.
The era between 1950s and 1960s was termed as Hollywood on the Tiber when Rome, the Italian
capital was considered as the major location and attracted a plethora of foreign productions.
These movies were produced in English and received a global release. Some of the examples of
these movies are Roman Holiday, War and Peace, Quo Vadis, Trapeze etc.

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In 1950s the movie theatres took the role of crossroads in the metamorphosis of the way Italian
people pursued the world. With the decline of neorealism, the film industry was seen to welcome
new international co-productions along with successful expansion. This period saw the launching
of highly ambitious project aimed toward circulating the commercial and artistic products
beyond their map and in other continents. The lessons from neorealism were applied in a
melodramatic and funnier manner which showcased the significant elements of the social history
of the country and transformed the popular iconography and collective life present in Italy. With
the gaining of the economic stability and moving towards greater prosperity, Italy started
ignoring the focus of Neorealism on suffering and poverty. Some use nonprofessional actors and
locations were used by Rosy Neorealism which occasionally took up some social issues and
absorbed itself with the Neorealism amalgamated with the robust tradition of the comedy in
Italy.
By the arrival of 1960s, a genre which addressed all the social issues through humor was
established in Italy known as the Commedia all'Italiana, which had all its roots in Commedia
dell' Arte. Mario Monicelli is considered as the one of the greatest director of this genre who
produced over 60 comedies on various social issues along with writing around 80 screenplays.
Commedia dell' Arte provided one of the strongest characteristics for constructing the typology
and morphology of the Italian cinema which moved apart from the farm life of the people to
modernity and industrial life. This was done by multiplying the network of masks hyperbolically
in the commedia dell’arte.
In the era between 1960s and 70s the Italian filmmakers like Riccardo Freda, Mario Bava, Dario
Argento and Antonio Margheriti developed giallo horro films which gradually became a classic
and was one of the major factor of influencing the genre in other nations. The most famous horro

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films of this era were Castle of Blood, Black Sunday, The Bird with the Crystal plumage, Twitch
of the Death Nerve, Suspriria and Deep Red. In 1964-1967, with the great success of James
Bond series in the other countries, a large number of spoofs and imitations were made by the
Italian film industry in the Eurospy genre. With the boom of shockumentary known as Monso
films like Mondo Cane by Gualtiero Jacopetti during the late 1970s, the Italian cinema was seen
to have an image synonymous to the violent horror movies. This genre saw emergence of the
directors like Joe D'Amato, Lucio Fulci, Ruggero Deodato and Umberto Lenzi. During this
period the Italian films were seen to group together as exploitation films and even faced legal
challenges.
In the 1970s to 1980s period a plethora of cultural models, patterns and contradictory structures
were formed for finding their points of perfect balance, congruence, confluence and highest
success. This era is highly known for the opera mondo created by Fellini and Antonioni. The
renewal and continuity was seen to increase the creative potential of the Italian cinema in this
period and all the factors pushing the cinema to strive further were seen to increase the potential
of the Italian film industry. In the mid-1980s the industry was in crisis as the art films became
isolated due to separation from mainstream cinema. During this time, trash films were highly
popular in the country which were comedic in nature with little artistic value and confronted the
social taboos of Italy especially in the sexual sphere. Paolo Villaggio invented a comic personage
Fantozzi and tended to bridge the trash comedy along with elevating the social satire. The
character of Fantozzi had a great impact on the Italian society and this era saw the entering of
adjective fantozziano into the lexicon. The most noticeable work with this character is the
Fantozzi and Il secondo tragico Fantozz.

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Since the end of 1980s, a new generation of directors were seen to return to the healthy level.
This era saw the production of Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, the most noted film of the period which
won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar Award in 1989. The same prize was given to another
Italian film of 1991, Mediterraneo by Gabriele Salvatores. In 1988, Robert Benigni’s Life is
Beautiful (La vita è bella) won three Oscars in the category of Best Actor, Best Foreign Film,
Best Music.
While continuing the consideration of the structural elements it can be recognized that the Italian
cinema is beyond undeniable visual greatness and is typically an iconosphere fed by the Italian
paintings and their tradition. Italian cinema is following perfect steps with twentieth-century
artistic experimentation. From the history of Italian cinema its heavy inference being drawn from
literature can be seen. The language of the movies and theaters helped to unfold the story
determining the syntax, prosody, rhythm and scansion of the narrative presented in the Italian
silent film.
In the recent years, the balance forces have been changes awakening the film history. A
reawakening of era where the Italian film history was seen as privileged depository of memories
containing the plethora of tools which ranged from socio-linguistics to social history, economic
history to intellectual and creative history. The Italian film industry utilized the traditional
sources and amalgamates them with others so as to assemble everything in a new manner on the
basis of creativity of the filmmaker.
Conclusion
In various respects, the Italian film industry is seen to have transformed completely and has been
illuminated by the flashes and flames of creativity which is dispersed across the country.
However, the industry is not able to comprehend the same ability to create and distinctive will.

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10
Despite of all the factors that are working against the industry, one should understand that the
Italian cinema has always been a great reserve of energy. The industry requires a new set of
factors which will help the new generation of directors and filmmakers to understand the
challenges being faced by the artistic and technological factors present in the new millennium
(Perra, Emiliano, 2010).
The Italian films were seen to present a considerably high proportion of films based on political
issues like fascism, the Risorgimento, mass political movements of the sixties and seventies,
mafia, government corruption and other scandals like presentation of tangentopoli in Il Divo.
Additionally, the Italian cinema has become an integral part in the national political life as it has
ascribed to the national institutions of the country. While various critics have tend to distinguish
and condemn and further to create the hierarchical values with maintaining the ephemeral
longevity, the cinema does not fail to achieve a framework and provides integrated vision of
various elements.
On comparing, Italian films with the other industry it has been identified that the Italian film
history is highly unified in spite of multisided structure, discontinuities, irregular development
and complexity. The processes of expression and invention has been determined and guided by
linking them uniformly with the same mode, matrices, myths, forms and souls. On considering
the last five decades of the Italian cinema, the perception grows even further. The continuity is
seen to prevail over the discontinuity in the beginning and then eras of Italian cinema with more
or less crisis expect the neorealism, the referential models and paradigms cannot be erased. Until
1970s, the underlying texture wasn’t seen to be disintegrated but the interaction was seen
between commercial and independent production at an extraordinary level. The cinema was
further seen to represent a strong sense of intolerance and independence towards all sorts of

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external meddling. The Italian film industry has always claimed high culture, literary and artistic
genius along with establishing the theatrical, literacy and pictorial traditions.
Citations
1. Michelangelo Antonioni is one of the most successful film director, editor, screenwriter
who is best known for his trilogy, L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961),
and L'Eclisse (1962) on modernity and its discontents. Michelangelo Antonioni is one of
the most successful film director, editor, screenwriter who is best known for his trilogy,
L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and L'Eclisse (1962) on modernity and its
discontents. He is known to redefine the concept of narrative cinema by challenging
traditional approaches to realism, storytelling, drama, realism and world at large. His
films are known to refine the possibilities of cinema. In Le Amiche (1955), he broke all
the conventions of the narrative of the film by telling the story in form of disconnected
events and its series. L'avventura (1960), his next became his first international success.
Throughout his career, he recived numerous nominations and awards which included
Palme d'Or, Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize, Golden Lion, eights times the Italian
National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon; and an honorary Academy Award
(1995).
2. Federico Fellini was an Italian director known famously for his blending of fantasy and
baroque images. His movie 8½ has been listed as the 10th greatest film of all time.
3. Luchino Visconti di Modrone is one of the most famous Italian screenwriter, opera,
theatre and cinema director. He is best known for his work on Death in Venice (1971)
and The Leopard (1963).

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4. Life is Beautiful: It is a 1997 Italian movie based in 1930s era where Guido, a carefree
Jewish book keeper marries a lovely woman living in a nearby city. Both have a son and
live happily until the emergence of Italian forces. In order to save his son from the
horrors and pain given by the Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido starts imagining
Holocaust as a game where the real prize is to win the tank. The movie won three Oscar
awards in the category of Best movie, Best actor and Original Music Score.
5. Paisan is a movies based on the neorealist war drama and is second from its triology. The
whole movie was divided into six episodes and was set during the World War II in the
Italian campaign and Nazi Germany was about to lose the war against the Allies. The
movie primarily deals with the barriers in language. The movie was nominated for
BAFTA and Academy Award for Best Writing.
6. Bertellini, Giorgio, ed. The cinema of Italy. New York: Wallflower, 2004.
7. Muscio, Giuliana (2013) ‘In Hoc Signo Vinces: Historical Films’, in Bertellini, Giorgio
(ed.) (2013). Italian Silent Cinema: A Reader (New Barnett: John Libbey Publishing), pp.
161-70
8. Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (1999). ‘Italian Neo-realism’, in Pam Cook and Mieke
Bernink, The Cinema Book, 2nd edn (London: BFI), pp. 76-80
9. Perra, Emiliano (2010). Conflicts of Memory: The Reception of Holocaust Films and TV
Programmes in Italy, 1945 to the Present (Oxford: Peter Lang)
10. Rosen, Philip (2001). Change Mummified: Cinema, Historicity, Theory (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press)
11. Brunetta, Gian Piero (1979). Storia del cinema italiano: 1895-1945 (Rome: Editori
Riuniti)

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12. Dalle Vacche, Angela (1992). The Body in the Mirror: Shapes of History in Italian
Cinema
13. De Franceschi, Leonardo (ed.) L’Africa in Italia. Per una storia postcoloniale del cinema
italiano (Ariccia: Aracne editrice)
14. Foot, John (2009). Italy’s Divided Memory (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)
15. Gordon, Robert S.C. (2012). The Holocaust in Italian Culture 1944-2010 (Palo Alto:
Stanford University Press)
16. Hope, William (ed.) (2010). Italian Film Directors in the New Millennium (Newcastle:
Cambridge scholars Publishing