Il generale della Rovere (1959)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Roberto Rossellini

Writers:

Sergio Amidei (writer)
Diego Fabbri (writer)

Release Date:

21 November 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Genoa, 1943. Grimaldi is a swindler, pretending to be a colonel in the Italian army to get money from the family of people put into jail by the Nazis...

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Resistance | General | Gestapo | Rome Italy

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 10 wins

Cast

Vittorio De Sica	...	Victorio Emanuele Bardone / Grimaldi
Hannes Messemer	...	S.S. Colonel Mueller
Vittorio Caprioli	...	Aristide Bianchelli
Nando Angelini
Herbert Fischer	...	Sergeant
Mary Greco	...	Vera (the madam)
Bernardo Menicacci
Lucia Modugno	...	Partisan girl
Luciano Pigozzi
Kurt Polter	...	German officer
Giuseppe Rosetti	...	Pietro Valeri
Kurt Selge	...	Schrantz
Linda Veras	...	German attendant
Sandra Milo	...	Valeria
Giovanna Ralli	...	Olga

Also Known As:

General della Rovere (USA)
Le général della Rovere (France)

Runtime:

132 min | USA:129 min | Italy:138 min (Venice Film Festival)

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Société Nouvelle des Établissements Gaumont (SNEG)

Appreciative blurb.

Winner of many top international festival prizes, this was one of Roberto Rossellini's most widely seen films in America after OPEN CITY and PAISAN. It is a superbly written, directed, and acted drama about a petty conniver, Bertone, alias Grimaldi, played by Vittorio De Sica in what is possibly his greatest acting role. He is not above loving people and swindling them at the same time. He does this to survive the hard times of Mussolini's Salo' Republic period. The film is set in Genoa after the Badoglio armistice has been signed with the Allies in the south. Bertone tries to help Italians who have relatives imprisoned by the Nazis. Sometimes he can help; other times he cannot but always takes their money. When his game is finally up, he is imprisoned but offered an opportunity by the Germans. He is to impersonate a revered partisan leader already killed by the Nazis in order to furnish them information on another partisan leader in the anti-fascist underground. It is at this point that Bertone gradually undergoes a transformation, choosing patriotism over capitulation. The con-man becomes a hero. Other standout performances here are given by Sandra Milo as a prostitute, Hannes Messemer as the Nazi commandant and Vittorio Caprioli as an inmate barber.