This left Italy with a clean slate, and a total disconnect from the cinema of the past. Having played a major part in the Italian propaganda effort, most of the board of administrators were indicted, imprisoned, or much worse. This was of course a great shame, but ultimately proved to be a positive.Ĭinecittà had been left in ruins, but so had the old institutions that made their opulent spectacle cinema. Of course, when WWII broke out, Cinecittà was blown to pieces by Allied Bombing raids. Obviously, the Roman Empire was a common backdrop to these Movies, distributing early propaganda to the Glory of Rome. These movies bathed in opulence and extravagance, privileging the image first and foremost, and were produced by the Super-Rich, attempting to combine high-art with monetary gain and international success.Ĭabiria itself was co-written and produced by the Ultra-Nationalist Gabriele d'Annunzio, and was later adopted by the Italian fascists as part of their cultural legacy, a mark of Italy's superiority. Perhaps the Most famous of these is Giovanni Pastrone's Cabiria, which produced some of the most impressive sets in cinema to date. Perhaps the second most celebrated movie studio was Cinecittà (Literally Film-City), Italy's premier film studio (it remains so to this day, although its output is no where near as culturally significant as it once was.īoth studios pursued not only artifice, but the idea of spectacle (not to dis-similar to a lot of Modern Cinema).Īs such they would construct gargantuan sets, with thousands of extra on a huge scale of production. They were, pre-war, perhaps the biggest players, and actively engage in exploring the relationship between Art and Cinema this culminated in an aesthetic style of Artifice which was largely rejected by American Cinema. The Germans had Universum Film ( UFA), which helped make some of Cinema's most important Movies ( Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, M. In fact, Europe could have been said to be making the biggest contributions, certainly stylistically. In the early years of Cinema, Hollywood was far from the biggest player in the game.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |