Catene (internationally released as Chains) is a 1949 Italian melodrama film directed by Raffaello Matarazzo. It had an impressive commercial success, being seen by 6 million people, one in eight Italians of the time,[1] and was followed by a series of six other successful films directed by Matarazzo and featuring the couple Amedeo Nazzari and Yvonne Sanson.[2][3] The film was remade in 1974.
| Chains | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Raffaello Matarazzo |
| Written by | Libero Bovio Gaspare Di Maio Nicola Manzari Aldo De Benedetti |
| Produced by | Goffredo Lombardo Raffaello Matarazzo |
| Starring | Amedeo Nazzari Yvonne Sanson |
| Cinematography | Carlo Montuori |
| Edited by | Mario Serandrei |
| Music by | Gino Campese |
Production companies | Labor Film Titanus |
| Distributed by | Titanus Distribuzione |
Release date | 29 October 1949 |
Running time | 90 min |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
The film's sets were designed by the art director Ottavio Scotti. The film features in Cinema Paradiso. In 2008, the film was included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."[4]
Plot and outline edit
A husband kills his wife's ex-boyfriend, who was blackmailing her. He flees to America, but is sent back to Italy to stand trial. The only way he can be set free is if his wife confesses to adultery – so the murder can be considered a crime of passion – but this estranges her from her family. Starring Amedeo Nazzari and actress of Greek origin Yvonne Sanson. Maligned by critics because it did not conform to precepts of neorealism,[3] this did not prevent its unexpected box office success.
Cast edit
- Amedeo Nazzari: Guglielmo
- Yvonne Sanson: Rosa
- Aldo Nicodemi: Emilio
- Teresa Franchini: Anna Aniello, mother of Guglielmo
- Aldo Silvani: prosecutor
- Roberto Murolo: emigrant
- Gianfranco Magalotti as Tonino Aniello
- Rosalia Randazzo as Angela Aniello
- Nino Marchesini as L'avvocato difensore
- Lilly Marchi
- Amalia Pellegrini
- Giulio Tomasini
References edit
- ^ Rossella Riccobono (2011). The Poetics of the Margins: Mapping Europe from the Interstices. Peter Lang, 2010. ISBN 978-3034301589.
- ^ Gino Moliterno (2009). The A to Z of Italian Cinema. Scarecrow Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0810868960.
- ^ a b Dave Kehr "The Italian Potboiler’s Master Chef", New York Times, 24 June 2011
- ^ "Ecco i cento film italiani da salvare Corriere della Sera". www.corriere.it. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
External links edit
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