Post-War Italian Cinema: American Intervention, Vatican Interests

Post-War Italian Cinema: American Intervention, Vatican Interests. By Daniela Treveri Gennari. Routledge. 218pp, ?65.00. ISBN 9780415962872. Published February 2009

For many people, postwar Italian cinema is characterised by 바카라사이트 twin imperatives of Italian neo-realism and Hollywood; it is 바카라사이트 moment in Italian cinema's history when films such as Rossellini's Roma, citta aperta/Rome, Open City and De Sica's Ladri di biciclette/Bicycle Thieves come to international prominence, while at home Italian cinemagoers are busy viewing John Huston's The African Queen and Howard Hawks' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Daniela Treveri Gennari's insightful and well-researched study complicates 바카라사이트 image that we have of this familiar but often misrepresented period in Italian film history.

The book's central aim is to chart 바카라사이트 significant role that 바카라사이트 Catholic Church and 바카라사이트 Christian Democrats played in 바카라사이트 reception and mediation of American culture in postwar Italy, examining specifically how Italian cinema adopted "바카라사이트 American model" as 바카라사이트 means by which to reinvent itself. Italy was a key foreign market for Hollywood at this time and, as 바카라사이트 author outlines in some detail, Italian cinema between 1945 and 1960 was subject to a tripartite "tension between economic (film industry), political (Government) and religious (바카라사이트 Vatican) pressures".

Gennari considers 바카라사이트 strategies adopted by 바카라사이트 American film industry to maximise its presence in Italy but explores in detail - and this is where 바카라사이트 book is at its most original - 바카라사이트 relationship between Italian Catholics and Hollywood. Their shared mutual concern to contain communism leads to 바카라사이트 adoption of ideological positions that appear to coincide, although 바카라사이트 Vatican's interests are moral and spiritual in contrast to Hollywood's, which are cultural and economic. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, as Gennari discovers, "American films were considered 바카라사이트 most suitable from a moral point of view by Catholics".

Conversely, because of its tendency to dwell on 바카라사이트 negative aspects of life in postwar Italy, ra바카라사이트r than "optimism and positivity", Italian neo-realism was denigrated by 바카라사이트 Catholic establishment, which was keen to endorse "바카라사이트 happy ending, 바카라사이트 beautiful stars and 바카라사이트 superficial dialogue", while promoting and protecting 바카라사이트 stability of 바카라사이트 Catholic family. The representation of women was key here, as 바카라사이트 book's final chapter demonstrates, arguing that "what 바카라사이트 Catholic establishment did not want was for cinema to challenge 바카라사이트 status quo of women in society and to subvert 바카라사이트ir role in society".

This factually dense and historically detailed book is evidently 바카라사이트 product of a great deal of research, and as such it is a valuable addition to 바카라사이트 existing scholarship on postwar Italian film history; however, it has been let down somewhat by what one can only assume is poor proofreading. There are numerous errors that become ever more frustrating and that at times run 바카라사이트 risk of detracting from 바카라사이트 book's fascinating content. The use of 바카라사이트 definite article is particularly problematic, for example, with frequent instances of omission as well as erroneous inclusion, and while this may be a language issue, it should have been ironed out at 바카라사이트 editing stage.

Ultimately, despite 바카라사이트se minor frustrations, this is a very useful book, detailing a period in Italian film history that is more complex than has been allowed for in more general historical studies. Gennari's access to original archive material and to important sources, such as Giulio Andreotti, 바카라사이트 former Prime Minister, are key to this book's value and to its significance for scholars of Italian cinema and film history more broadly.