Stradivari (1988)

As a boy the orphan Antonio Stradivari heard for the first time in his life the sound of a violin and he was fascinated by its voice. He tried to construct a violin and attracted the ... See full summary »

Director:

Giacomo Battiato

Writers:

Giacomo Battiato (screenplay), Suso Cecchi D'Amico (screenplay)

Stars:

Anthony Quinn, Stefania Sandrelli, Valérie Kaprisky

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony Quinn	...	Antonio Stradivari
Stefania Sandrelli	...	Antonia Maria
Valérie Kaprisky	...	Francesca
Francesco Quinn	...	Alessandro
Danny Quinn	...	Francesco
Lorenzo Quinn	...	Young Antonio Stradivari
Fanny Bastien	...	Caterina
Jean-Paul Muel	...	Tailor
Stefano Mosini	...	Antonio Stradivari as a child
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Nicolò Amati
Michael Valeri	...	Omobono
Patrizia De Clara	...	Maddalena
Benedetto Fanna	...	Marco
Stefano Gragnani	...	The Marquis Ariberti
Graziella Diano	...	The Marquise Ariberti

Storyline

As a boy the orphan Antonio Stradivari heard for the first time in his life the sound of a violin and he was fascinated by its voice. He tried to construct a violin and attracted the attention of Niccolò Amati, a famous lutist of Cremona. Antonio became apprentice in his bottega (workshop). Grown up, he fell in love for Francesca and he succeeded in marrying her. Afterwards he became more and more famous for his violins and he was granted a diploma from the king of Spain. After the death of his wife he was almost forced to marry again. He was chosen by Antonia Maria and it will be a happy marriage. In the background we have a look at the history of Northern Italy during the seventeenth century.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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User Reviews

That Line Between "Starring Role" and "Cameo"

While watching this, I couldn't help picturing some struggling screenwriter trying to come up with a script he could actually sell and getting nowhere. Then suddenly one day he just happens to overhear some music historian mention that almost nothing is known about the life of the great violin maker Antonio Stradivari. The young screenwriter rushes home and grabs a screenplay from some desk drawer; some cheesy, predictable, yawn-fest of a love story. He scribbles in some lines about violin making and Presto!

How Anthony Quinn got suckered into this is beyond me. Fortunately for his fans and his reputation he is only given enough screen time to justify listing him as the star of the movie. (I'm assuming there is some kind of rule regarding that.) Most of the movie is deals with Stradivari as a young man, played by Anthony Quinn's son Lorenzo, and his pursuit of his first wife, Francesca. His violin making also comes up occasionally.

I gave it three stars in recognition of the fact that at least they used actual period-looking violins (note the short fingerboards with inlaid edges) and cast actual violinists in the roles that required playing violin, thus sparing the viewing audience from having to suspend disbelief while watching some central casting trying to fake playing along with a recording by sawing away at a fiddle like it was a piece of firewood. I'm grateful at least for that.

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

28 September 1988 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Stradivari

Filming Locations:

Cremona, Lombardia, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinecittà, Gruppo Bema, Reteitalia

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color