4. L'Osservatore Rom~no, November 12,'-- ..•.•."Anror e " by Roberto Rosscdini

An authoritative Catholic scholar of movies a few days ago said;' - [v~4ss",,;JqhPeJ

that the way undertaken by Roberto Ros s e l in I on the impervious apex

of the movie a r t. is a consistent and desperate search for God; God

in the streets and the s qut.r e s ; 'Godeverywhere a human being is

suffering and not un de r sto od , It is ver-yip Le a s en t to think t ha t

way of Rosselin!, 2nd we all would like to be sure, because the fln~if the art is real --

objective of the: art _-/necessarily must tend tosearch of God.

We would like to be sure, but maybe, t oday,.._it is still t co '

e a r lly to judge the work of the illustrious- ltal Ian pr oducer as a whoee t

either because perhaps he is evidently still -in a phase bf evolution,-or •

because it is very easy to at-tribute to others that which we w&.tS1b.

firmly to happen.\

"Love" cannot be considered by the standard of a common other

film; at least in regard to an audience which, because of its super-

ficiality of judgment, never wo ul d-b e a b l e to understand the conception'

of the film's author~ beyond the performance itself.

Of the two parts of which the work is c ornpos e d , one: "The Human

Vo l c e ;" represents the man i f e st a t i ori s of love in a scheming (astute)

personage, a woman who evidently d r aws from the culture and from the

habit of life, an apparent confused mass of loving sentiment. Jean

Cocteau, creating his work, resumes directly the moniblogue of the.

]9th Century entrusting Anna Magnani and Roberto Rosselini the task

of transmuting it into a film. Beyond my technical evaluation of

the exterior mar-r-at ive rhythm, it is c Le a r Ly remarkable the sens.ibility

wi th whIch M:lQJnani ha s PI' e se.n t e d her 1lWn per s ona 1ity. 1\'1aybe a gr ea t er

sensibility than in the second episode: "Th e Mir a c Le " in which, on

the contrary, Rosselini is ex&mlning the manifestation of ~ffection

of a maldwornan, in regard to God and to motherhood. Apart from the

photography (being] excessively negle cted and a~~~rt from some elements

of little worth concerning the recital [speaking pz.r t s ] , there emerges

before other pe op I e t~he s k i Lf u Ll y formed figure of the idiot of the

village whose c orit r a s t with t lie maidwoman constitut~e~ :~"er~l~s.\~o.uf.ageous~i\"~\\f.Am.lAw' ,...,:,JKA.J •.!j3I<A~)t

and interesting passage of Ros s e l in,1 s work. ' ~ijJ:smIlPl i()i\\Il'~SlilClt~

Unfortuaately, concerning mer a l s , i,t is ncc e s s ar y to note some

slight,defects which i~fluence [impinge upon, impress th2mselves upon]

-2-

in large: measure the creation of the fiilim.

In the first place the carnality ~hich characterizes the begin-

rting of "The Miraclell is echoed, through the conSequences which[ ••.•J

are pr oduc ed by it, upon the successive development of the\film;

in the second place the illegitimate mother'hood not only is not

"-modified by the attempt of sublimation ~hrough the Faith,. but rather by ~

this psychopathic and p~eudoreligious coloring it is aggravated and

remains unfortunately an important rie qa ti ve pe-i-nt of the evaat ,

P. R.(Piero Regnoli)

tlJ,,\RVARD UWr SCHOCH_ UBfiAlfr\. jjA~IJSlClrl~~ITmV!ISmtl

Ii

• • • •

Different$ though perhaps not completely favorable, is the

judgment of the second part of the diptych •. liThe Miracle" is created

in the brain of a poor mad count rywornan, who thinks she has metD'jJ Fo.Gr}

no one ci(l;therthan Saint Joseph, instead ofAan arrogant sheepherder,

and that she has conceived in chastity. Here the cons Ld era t ions.j

are different, and besides those -- very serious -- of a religious

na t ure (not extenuated by the ITa dness of t he character because the

author who attributed them to her was not mad) there are some others

[~onsiderations] concerning the formulation of the study too fantastic

and too much in the style of D'Annunzio (on the first manner). However,:

different from the previous part, there is no doubt at the and some

cinematographic value, as for instmce the entrance of the cavern

and the fl r'e half extinguished in front of it and in general, the[GA.~e(\A.{]

ascent of the woman towards the shrine. Aldo Tonti,wihh his ap-

paratus" was able$ better than elsewhere, to pick up the [proper],

atmosphere and [lnterpr,~tation of] the spirit of the story, while·

Re~zoRosselini is al~~ys co~mendab~ for his moderate and efficient

musical accompaniment.

Homage and an lttempt,which however in a grec.t part did not

succeed. Nevertheless we always believe in Rossel ini~s art, and'

are looking forward to his next work •

•• • •If'i er0 Regnol i

HARVARD LAW SCHOOL UBH}\BL- -

''''~,;M\lAl~~..lPi~R:~\IWIS!OO

L'Osservatore Romano, Augu~t 25, 1948, P. 2, Col. 1 "AI festival

cinematagrafica di Venezia"