Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema (Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts)

501 Pages·2008·2.17 MB·English

by  Gino Moliterno

HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF

ITALIAN

Cinema

GINO MOLITERNO
Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts
Jon Woronoff, Series Editor
1. Science Fiction Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2004.
2. Hong Kong Cinema, by Lisa Odham Stokes, 2007.
3. American Radio Soap Operas,by Jim Cox, 2005.
4. Japanese Traditional Theatre,by Samuel L. Leiter, 2006.
5. Fantasy Literature,by Brian Stableford, 2005.
6. Australian and New Zealand Cinema, by Albert Moran and Errol
Vieth, 2006.
7. African-American Television, by Kathleen Fearn-Banks, 2006.
8. Lesbian Literature,by Meredith Miller, 2006.
9. Scandinavian Literature and Theater,by Jan Sjåvik, 2006.
10. British Radio,by Seán Street, 2006.
11. German Theater,by William Grange, 2006.
12. African American Cinema,by S. Torriano Berry and Venise Berry,
2006.
13. Sacred Music,by Joseph P. Swain, 2006.
14. Russian Theater, by Laurence Senelick, 2007.
15. French Cinema, by Dayna Oscherwitz and MaryEllen Higgins,
2007.
16. Postmodernist Literature and Theater, by Fran Mason, 2007.
17. Irish Cinema,by Roderick Flynn and Pat Brereton, 2007.
18. Australian Radio and Television,by Albert Moran and Chris Keat-
ing, 2007.
19. Polish Cinema, by Marek Haltof, 2007.
20. Old Time Radio, by Robert C. Reinehr and Jon D. Swartz, 2008.
21. Renaissance Art, by Lilian H. Zirpolo, 2008.
22. Broadway Musical, by William A. Everett and Paul R. Laird, 2008.
23. American Theater:Modernism, by James Fisher and Felicia Hardi-
son Londré, 2008.
24. German Cinema,by Robert C. Reimer and Carol J. Reimer, 2008.
25. Horror Cinema, by Peter Hutchings, 2008.
26. Westerns in Cinema, by Paul Varner, 2008.
27. Chinese Theater, by Tan Ye, 2008.
28. Italian Cinema,by Gino Moliterno, 2008.
29. Architecture,by Allison Lee Palmer, 2008.

Historical Dictionary
of Italian Cinema
Gino Moliterno
Historical Dictionaries of Literature
and the Arts, No. 28
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2008
SCARECROWPRESS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Awholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright ©2008 by Gino Moliterno
All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moliterno, Gino, 1951
Historical dictionary of Italian cinema / Gino Moliterno.
p. cm. (Historical dictionaries of literature and the arts ; no. 28)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN13: 9780810860735 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN10: 0810860732 (hardcover : alk. paper)
eISBN13: 9780810862548
eISBN10: 0810862549
1. Motion pictures Italy Dictionaries. 2. Motion pictures Italy History
Dictionaries. I. Title.
PN1993.5.I88M56 2008
791.430945’03 dc22 2008011225
∞™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.481992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
For Patricia, light of my life
too soon extinguished
“Or ho perduta tutta la mia baldanza
che si movea d’amoroso tesoro . . . ”

Contents
Editor’s Foreword (Jon Woronoff) ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xii
Reader’s Note xiii
Acronyms and Abbreviations xv
Chronology xvii
Introduction xxxi
THE DICTIONARY 1
Appendix: Winners at the Venice Festival and of the David di
Donatello and Nastri d’argento 347
Bibliography 399
About the Author 449
vii

Editor’s Foreword
Italy was one of the first places where cinema emerged, and there are
few other countries where it has flourished more spectacularly. Despite
crises and being overshadowed by mass production from Hollywood,
Italian cinema has constantly reinvented itself in an amazing variety of
forms, including neorealism, which has spread worldwide. Its produc-
tion is amazingly broad, from outright trash to the very finest art
films—a steady flow of quite ordinary popular films but also specialties
such as commedia all’italiana and spaghetti Westerns. Many have gone
on to win awards and appear on all-time-great lists, including some that
are so universal—and so Italian—that they are known worldwide under
their Italian names, such a La strada, La dolce vita, and Padre padrone.
There are more than enough reasons to welcome the Historical Dic-
tionary of Italian Cinema, which can serve as an informative guide for
both those who simply enjoy watching Italian films and those who
study the genre more closely. Italian cinema’s long history is charted in
the chronology and the introduction, but the dictionary section—with
hundreds of entries on directors, producers, and actors; major studios
and film companies; characteristic genres and themes; and memorable
films—is where readers will spend the most time. The book concludes
with an appendix of award winners and a bibliography, which readers
can use to find many other sources.
The author, Gino Moliterno, was born in Italy and has had an abiding
interest in Italian cinema for several decades. After teaching Italian lan-
guage and culture at the University of Sydney, the University of Auck-
land, and the University of Wollongong, he joined the Department of
Modern European Languages at the Australian National University. He
is presently senior lecturer of its Film Studies Program. He has lectured
extensively on Italian cinema and was the general editor and contribut-
ing author to the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture(2000).
ix