We the Living (1942)

The time is the Russian Revolution. The place is a country burdened with fear - the midnight knock at the door, the bread hidden against famine, the haunted eyes of the fleeing, the ... See full summary »

Director:

Goffredo Alessandrini

Writers:

Ayn Rand (novel), Corrado Alvaro (adaptation)

Stars:

Alida Valli, Fosco Giachetti, Rossano Brazzi

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alida Valli	...	Kira Argounova
Fosco Giachetti	...	Andrei Taganov
Rossano Brazzi	...	Leo Kovalenski
Emilio Cigoli	...	Pavel Sjerov
Giovanni Grasso	...	Stephan Tishenko
Annibale Betrone	...	Vassili Dunaev
Elvira Betrone	...	Maria Petrovna Dunaev
Sennuccio Benelli	...	Saska
Cesarina Gheraldi	...	La compagna Sonja
Silvia Manto	...	Mariska
Gioia Collei	...	La piccola Acia Dunaev
Bianca Doria	...	Irina Dunaev
Lamberto Picasso	...	GPU Captain
Claudia Marti	...	Lidia Augounova
Evelina Paoli	...	Galina Petrovna Argounova

Storyline

The time is the Russian Revolution. The place is a country burdened with fear - the midnight knock at the door, the bread hidden against famine, the haunted eyes of the fleeing, the grublike fat of the appeasers and oppressors. In a bitter struggle of the individual against the collective, three people stand forth with the mark of the unconquered in their bearing: Kira, who wants to be a builder, and the two men who love her - Leo, an aristocrat, and Andrei, a Communist. In their tensely dramatic story, Ayn Rand shows what the theories of Communism mean in practice. We the Living is not a story of politics but of the men and women who have to struggle for existence behind the Red banners and slogans. It is a picture of what dictatorship - of any kind - does to human beings, what kind of men are able to survive, and which of them remain as the ultimate winners. What happens to the defiant ones? What happens to those who succumb? Who are the winners in this conflict? Against a vivid ...

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Plot Keywords:

revolution | communist | aristocrat | objectivism | bolshevik | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

1942 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Ayn Rand's We the Living

Filming Locations:

Scalera Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Duncan Scott Productions Inc., Era Film, Scalera Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the movie was restored, the nitrate negatives of the movie had survived in fine condition, but the original soundtrack had not, and it was re-recorded with other actors voicing the roles.

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Connections

Followed by Addio Kira! (1942)

User Reviews

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).