Tuesday, December 28, 2010

General Della Rovere

Italy V. de Sica d/R. Rosellini

From 1959. Our protagonist is a small time hustler whose gambling habits drive his sleazy doins. He gets forced into playing an Italian war hero and gradually finds a nobler side to himself...even to the point of giving up his life to inspire his fellow countrymen.

Intelligent character study which took plenty of time to develop and ended on a moving note. de Sica was excellent in the lead. His wrestling with his fears...and overcoming them...was a fine display of real courage.

The Nazi Colonel was too new agey. A couple of terrible process shots made me wince but overall the sets and locations worked nicely. The film moved away from neorealism which RR had championed. It didn't matter.

This is seen as one of the great post-war classics. I see it as a notch below several of the others...Shoeshine, Bicycle Thieves, La Strada...but still a very fine film that holds up well today.

7


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