Il Grido (1957) Il grido (original title)

Director:

Michelangelo Antonioni

Writers:

Michelangelo Antonioni and
Elio Bartolini ...
(more)

Release Date:

22 June 1957 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A man wanders aimlessly, away from his town, away from the woman he loved, emotionally and socially inactive.

Plot Keywords:

Mechanic | Valley | Refinery | Gas Station | Depression

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Steve Cochran	...	Aldo
Alida Valli	...	Irma
Betsy Blair	...	Elvia
Gabriella Pallotta	...	Edera, her sister
Dorian Gray	...	Virginia
Lynn Shaw	...	Andreina
Mirna Girardi	...	Rosina
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pina Boldrini	...	Lina
Guerrino Campanilli	...	Virginia's father
Pietro Corvelatti	...	Fisherman
Lilia Landi
Gaetano Matteucci	...	Edera's fiancé
Elli Parvo	...	Donna Matilda

Directed by
Michelangelo Antonioni

Writing credits
Michelangelo Antonioni		and
Elio Bartolini		and
Ennio De Concini
Michelangelo Antonioni		idea

Produced by
Franco Cancellieri	....	producer
Danilo Marciani	....	executive producer
Ralph Pinto	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Giovanni Fusco

Cinematography by
Gianni Di Venanzo

Film Editing by
Eraldo Da Roma

Art Direction by
Franco Fontana

Costume Design by
Pia Marchesi

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Luigi Vanzi	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Vittorio Trentino	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Erico Menczer	....	assistant camera

Music Department
Lya de Barberiis	....	musician: piano

Other crew
Monica Vitti	....	voice dubbing: Dorian Gray (uncredited)

Production Companies

• SpA Cinematografica
• Robert Alexander Productions (co-production)

Distributors

• Compagnia Edizioni Internazionali Artistiche Distribuzione (CEIAD) (1957) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Astor Pictures Corporation (1962) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Altomedia. Co. Ltd. (????) (Korea) (DVD)
• Altomedia. Co. Ltd. (????) (Korea) (VHS)
• Homescreen (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Kino Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Medusa Home Entertainment (2007) (Italy) (DVD)
• Mondial
• Neue Filmform Heiner Braun (????) (Germany) (TV)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Il grido" - Italy (original title)
"The Cry" - UK, USA

Runtime:

116 min | Portugal:103 min (censored version)

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Singapore:PG | UK:12 (DVD rating) | Italy:VM14 | Netherlands:6 (2009) (DVD) | Portugal:17 (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | West Germany:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (cut)

Filming Locations:

Francolino, Ferrara, Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Company:

SpA Cinematografica

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Antonioni: Documents and Testimonials (1966) (TV)

alienation and the modern man

Known as "The Outcry" in the U.S. A wonderful if disturbing film about alienation and modern society. Not for those who like bouncy, happy films.

The great though relatively forgotten American actor Steve Cochran is near perfect as the worker who finds he cannot communicate, with those he loves, and so begins a downward spiral towards a state of mental disintegration. What is interesting are the Marxist and Freudian overtones that Antonioni puts on the character. The protagonist as the result of his economic position in a capitalist society ( he only has his labour to sell) is uprooted from his community and therefore alienated from his environment, and so becomes alienated from those he loves. The harder he tries the more he withdraws until he perceives he can suffer no more.

Cochran always was very good at playing "heavies" or "playboys", and here he manages to bring both to his underdog character who is strong, brutish and handsome. At the same time he manages to convey the loneliness and vulnerability the character lives through showing that those attributes are not enough to survive.

Antonioni directs with a sure hand a picture of a successful, postwar, industrial Italy where everything is not as easy as it seems. Needless to say the film is in black and white and photographed in grainy neo realist style. The landscapes, in true Antonioni fashion, are bleak, and the loneliness and isolation from others is reflected in the distance between buildings. The leisured pacing, adds to the feeling that life drags on without change.

Antonioni's characters normally, as his films L'eclisse and Red Desert, as with fellow Italian directors Fellini and De Sica during the same period, usually have uncertain futures, as if there is a hidden side to Italy's postwar economic miracle. Here, it's as if the protagonist has a manifest destiny from which there is no redemption.