We the Living (1986)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Goffredo Alessandrini

Writers:

Anton Giulio Majano (writer)
Ayn Rand (novel)

Release Date:

3 April 1991 (France)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

The 1942 Film Classic Starring Alida Valli, Rossano Brazzi, and Fosco Giachetti

Plot:

The time is the Russian Revolution. The place is a country burdened with fear - the midnight knock at the door...

Plot Keywords:

Revolution | Conflict | Remake | Objectivism | Atlas

Cast

Alida Valli	...	Kira Argounova
Fosco Giachetti	...	Andrei Taganov
Rossano Brazzi	...	Leo Kovalenski
Emilio Cigoli	...	Pavel Sierov
Giovanni Grasso	...	Stephan Tishenko
Annibale Betrone	...	Vassili Dunaev
Sennuccio Benelli	...	Sasha
Cesarina Gheraldi	...	Comrade Sonia
Silvia Manto	...	Marisha
Gioia Collei	...	Acia Dunaev
Bianca Doria	...	Irina Dunaev
Lamberto Picasso	...	GPU Captain
Claudia Marti	...	Lydia Argounova
Evelina Paoli	...	Galina Petrovna Argounova
Mario Pisu	...	Victor Dunaev

Also Known As:

Ayn Rand's We the Living (USA) (video box title)

Runtime:

USA:170 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Company:

Duncan Scott Productions Inc.

Trivia:

The films Noi vivi (1942) and Addio Kira! (1942) were produced in 1942 in Italy ("Addio Kira" is part two of the story that begins in "Noi Vivi"). The films were made without the authorization, input, involvement, or, in fact, knowledge, of Ayn Rand author of the underlying work, "We The Living". Because of the war and the fact that Rand was an American, the producers, Scalera Films, made no attempt to secure the underlying literary rights. In these films, the original story was severely corrupted due to addition of several gratuitous propaganda scenes ordered by the fascist party (they controlled all filmmaking in Italy at that time). After the war, Scalera attempted to get the underlying rights from Rand and was refused. Because of this "Noi Vivi" and "Addio Kira" were not and cannot be legally distributed (Rand eventually received wartime reparations from the government of Italy for the theft of her property). Many years later, the negatives of the two existing films were purchased by American filmmakers. Rand granted literary rights and authorized a new film version of "We The Living" to be created out the films on the condition that several significant changes were made. Most importantly, she wanted the propaganda scenes removed and the story to be told in a single film. Because of this, "We The Living", released in 1986, is significantly different from the two unauthorized films. The offending scenes and several subplots of the story have been removed. Running time is now a full hour less than the total of the two films.

Movie Connections:

Edited from Addio Kira! (1942)

Produced under the noses of Mussolini's police...

... it shortly ran afoul of their political advisers, being not just an argument against bolshevism but ANY variant of dictatorship, fascist as well. It's amazing that a copy survived to be discovered after the war. This is a rare treasure, for Valli's performance as well as the historical background. On top of that, this is one of the few times a book's made such a literal transition to film (due to lack of time during the war for script preparation), giving us a far more accurate indication of what the novelist Ayn Rand intended than, say, 'The Fountainhead' (1949), or certainly 'You Came Along' (1945).