Open City (1945)

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Mr. Arkadin
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Open City (1945)

Post by Mr. Arkadin »

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Without Roberto Rosselini’s Rome, Open City (1945), the landscape of film might be surprisingly different. Often described as the movie that opened the floodgates to Neo Realism, Rossellini’s masterpiece used non-actors and newsreel type location shooting, creating a gritty look completely at odds with Hollywood production. It was also one of the first foreign language movies to successfully connect with American audiences, and influenced its directors for years to come.

This film has not played on TCM for some time, but tonight’s showing (3/27) is definitely unique, as the print we will see is probably the restored uncensored version, which includes a shot of Manfredi being tortured with an acetylene torch, where the we see the flame burn across his chest (something only hinted at in the censored cut). The new print looks surprisingly crisp and fans will notice many new things that might have been obscured with a wonderful new depth of field.

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Above all, Open City reminds us that love and charity are only given freely and those who need them are often the most undeserving. In Rossellini's movie, heroes are not men of grandeur, but ordinary people, willing to fight oppression with faith and principals.
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knitwit45
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Re: Open City (1945)

Post by knitwit45 »

Thanks, Ark, I've scheduled this for recording. Hope I can get all the way thru it! (I'm squeamish, and get nervous when characters are in peril :oops: :oops: )
Mr. Arkadin
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Re: Open City (1945)

Post by Mr. Arkadin »

Hi Nancy. While the film has several somber moments, Rossellini also uses comedy to lighten the film. Aldo Fabrizi who plays the priest Don Pietro, was primarily a comedic actor (he and Anna Magnani were the only people who had appeared in a movie beforehand) and his talents are put to good use.

While there is a lot of symbolism in the film, many of the humorous moments actually reinforce (and foreshadow) the weightier aspects. This was probably inspired by Jean Renoir (Crime of Monsieur Lange [1936], Rules of the Game [1939]). Charles Burnett would use these same ideas in the seventies with Killer of Sheep (1977).
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Open City (1945)

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Open City is truly a great film. Don't worry Nancy, I don't think it's gruesome and it opens up very quickly and becomes compelling viewing. So many of it's scenes are memorable and it feels very real and very human.

I look forward to this thread developing.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
Mr. Arkadin
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Re: Open City (1945)

Post by Mr. Arkadin »

It was the older print. Nancy will be relieved. :wink:
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knitwit45
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Re: Open City (1945)

Post by knitwit45 »

:oops: :oops:
the wimp is relieved...and looking forward to seeing this.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Open City (1945)

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I think she will be.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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moira finnie
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Re: Open City (1945)

Post by moira finnie »

I am a real wimp about violence on film, but in the context of this movie, the scene referred to brings the story to a necessary dramatic and moral crescendo when the priest (the wonderfully human Aldo Fabrizi), pushed beyond his limits by witnessing his fellow prisoner's ordeal, comments on the events and those who perpetrate them. In this movie, the action is disturbing because of the humanity of the people, but Rome, Open City (1945) never pretends that violence does not debase the executioners as much as the victims.

For those who could not record it, the film is available in its entirety on youtube, beginning below.
[youtube][/youtube]
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moira finnie
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Re: Open City (1945)

Post by moira finnie »

kingrat wrote:If we must have evil lesbians, I greatly prefer Cornelia Otis Skinner in The Uninvited.
You are too funny--but she really scared me, especially when she had those conversations with that giant portrait of Mary Meredith.

I've never been big on the orthodoxy of people who take social realism as gospel, though Open City was the first film I ever saw with Anna Magnani speaking Italian and for that I am very grateful, since she's a far more relaxed actress then. I'm not sure that the movie really fits the more rigid interpretations of neo-realist cinema. It helps that Open City has several scenes with a point and actors who know how to communicate, otherwise it might seem like an elaborate home movie at some points. I think that the movie seemed so spontaneous and brave in the '40s because of the circumstances of the film's production and the allusions to politics and different types of people who were so rarely acknowledged in American movies of the period that they were practically invisible up till then.

I think that the movie's heart and soul are in the priest played by Aldo Fabrizi and Anna Magnani characters (both trained actors, I must add)--and loved the geezer getting ready to fight the Nazis from his bed. When they are off-screen, it doesn't have as much electricity going for it, but for me, the ending still has an enormous emotional impact.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Open City (1945)

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I waited years to see Open City and for me it did hit home but even more so the second time I watched it, I think I'd expected something more grainy, I rented then bought the DVD. The second time I watched it I think I appreciated more what Rossellini was trying to achieve. Some of the film was filmed surreptiously with the film crew ready to hop it if they had to. Open City is my favorite of his war trilogy of films although the other two are very watchable.

I love The Bicycle Thieves but as of yet I haven't been able to bring myself to watch Umberto D. It's funny, I can watch the man getting tortured in Open City but when I saw a clip of a man trying to desert his dog I felt distraught.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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