Talk:Rome, Open City

Rewrite

This article appears to be an essay taken from somewhere (possibly the original, anonymous author's own work), but it is not an encyclopedia essay. It seems more like a copyright violation at first, but I haven't been able to find anything that looks like it on the internet. Needs a major rewrite. --Comics 22:12, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

It is an original extract from a book I am writing and as such is an analytical article about the film placing it within it contextual situation. all references are in the bibliography under The Cinema of Italy. You won't find anything like anywhere else. I agree the whole page needs more on the production details etc. which I shall endeavour to do time permitting. (Mike Walford User 15 Jan 2006. ( sorry haven't got the correct mark up here as yet).

I'm not specifically criticizing the content of the article. The major problem here is that it does not conform to Wikipedia's style guidelines and, as I said, is not written in an encyclopedic format. Wikipedia is not a repository of essays, so this has to be re-worked. Also, references have to be specified in the article itself. –Comics (Talk) 21:36, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Once published, Mike Walford's book can AND should be used as a reference. But for now, it's better for the article to gradually develop from a stub that contains only the basic data points in an easily visible way (i.e., director, year, MPAA rating, etc.) I've completely written the article thus. Robert Happelberg 22:40, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Availability

Where and when did this movie first circulate outside of Italy?

How was it received by the Soviet Union? As the main article describes it to be an apologia for Stalin, and Soviet Russia, was it embraced in that part of the world for that reason, with open arms? Was it black-listed in the United States like Salt of the Earth was?

MPAA Rating?

No film before 1968 had an MPAA rating - so why is it important to note in the opening paragraph that Open City had no rating? Similarly, are the Finnish, Swedish and British ratings especially notable for this film? It's not Midnight Cowboy, where the rating in combination with the acclaim made it unique. I don't think this info is important enough to constitute the intro. - AKeen 21:38, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

People will expect to find some information about ratings. If there is no MPAA rating, some other rating must be mentioned to give an idea. Not too much to ask, in my opinion. Anton Mravcek 23:18, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

"Atrocious gay stereotypes"

Having just watched the film, I saw no gay stereotypes, atrocious or otherwise. A bewildering comment. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.232.208.7 (talk) 03:25, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

I agree. It seemed bizarre to me. While not denying the possibility of atrocious gay stereotyping in this film, seeing it as I did through decidedly white, middle-class, heterosexual etc etc eyes, that comment came rather out of the blue, and I would suggest that if it is to be included in the article, it needs further clarification/qualification - if it is supposed to actually enlighten anyone reading this. Like, who the bloody hell is meant to be the atrocious gay stereotype in this film?! The text I excised is below:

while queer studies points out the "atrocious gay stereotypes" in the film.

Stopthief (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 22:31, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

I agree with the deletion of the "atrocious gay stereotypes" comments. Luigibob (talk) 23:12, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Could the comment have referred to the seemingly lesbian relationship between the Nazi woman and the Italian actress? (Ingrid and Marina?)-- Phil Barker 23:00, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

References

censored in the USA

"The American release was censored, resulting in a cut of about 15 minutes." It would be interesting to know which 15 minutes were cut. -- Phil Barker 22:54, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

Non-professional actors

Removed "The only two professional actors in the cast were Aldo Fabrizi and Anna Magnani." Marcello Pagliero, Giovanna Galletti, and Harry Feist were all professional actors. In fact, unless I'm mistaken, all of the adult major characters were played by professional actors, making it somewhat unusual amongst Neorealist films. Jun-Dai (talk) 18:24, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

From the Book on Rossellini:

Perhaps the most persuasive of the many stylistic elements traditional definitions cite as typical of Italian neorealism is a reliance upon nonprofessional actors. As we have seen in our survey of Italian cinema during the fascist period, however, there was nothing original in this. Perhaps it would be more precise to say that rarely have nonprofessional actors been used so skillfully as they were by Rossellini in Paisà, De Sica in Ladri di biciclette, or Visconti in La terra trema. But this exploitation of nonprofessional actors for particular aesthetic effects is totally absent from Roma città aperta. The entire cast of the film had extensive experience in the entertainment world. Aldo Fabrizi and Anna Magnani, both of whom were catapulted to international fame with the success of the film, had extensive experience in the entertainment business, not only in the music hall form of avanspettacolo entertainment roughly equivalent to America's vaudevill, but also in film roles together, where the particular chemistry of their artistic personalities had already achieved commercial success in Mario Bonard's comic film Camp de' fiori. Marcello Pagliero had already directed a film of his own. Harry Feisty was a dancer, as was Maria Michi, who probably landed her part not because she had been working as an usher at the Barberini Cinema but, instead, because she was scriptwriter Sergio Amidei's mistress. Even minor roles, such as those played by Nando Bruno and Edoardo Passarelli, were filled by actors who came from a variety hall. Rather than basing his film on nonprofessional acting performances, Rossellini relied upon the consummate skills of seasoned professionals, but he cast his troupe in unaccustomed roles, placing figures normally associated with comic roles in situations that would call for tragic or tragicomic actions.

As I recall, Visconti did a similar thing in Ossessione (casting comic actors in tragic/serious roles).

Jun-Dai (talk) 18:53, 22 December 2008 (UTC)