Era notte a Roma (1960)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Roberto Rossellini

Writers:

Sergio Amidei (writer)
Diego Fabbri (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

31 July 1960 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot Keywords:

English | Black Market | Former Priest | Italy | Rome Italy

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Giovanna Ralli	...	Esperia Beli
Renato Salvatori	...	Renato Balducci
Leo Genn	...	Michael Pemberton
Sergei Bondarchuk	...	Fyodor Nazukov
Peter Baldwin	...	Peter Bradley
Paolo Stoppa	...	Principe Alessandro Antoniani
Enrico Maria Salerno	...	Dot. Costanzi
Hannes Messemer	...	Colonel Von Kleist
Sergio Fantoni
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Laura Betti
Rosalba Neri	...	Erika Almagia

Directed by
Roberto Rossellini

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Sergio Amidei		writer
Diego Fabbri		writer
Brunello Rondi		writer
Roberto Rossellini		writer

Original Music by
Renzo Rossellini

Cinematography by
Carlo Carlini

Production Design by
Flavio Mogherini

Costume Design by
Elio Costanzi

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ruggero Deodato	....	assistant director
Renzo Rossellini	....	first assistant director: second unit
Renzo Rossellini	....	second unit director

Production Companies

• International Goldstar
• Dismage

Distributors

• Cineriz (1960) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Lux Film America (USA) (dubbed)

Also Known As:

Blackout in Rome (International: English title)
Escape by Night (USA)
It Was Night in Rome (International: English title) (informal literal title)
Les évadés de la nuit (France)
Wait for the Dawn (UK)

Runtime:

USA:82 min | Italy:138 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | German | Russian | English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

International Goldstar

Trivia:

Italian censorship visa # 32106 delivered on 17-6-1960.

Not a patch on il generale della rovere

I like a lot of Rossellini, but there is the odd clinker. Here's why:

it's not sure if it's propaganda, documentary or drama, or all three ; it's set in a blackout, so it's more unrelieved grey than black and white; it's largely set in tenement garrets, though some odd scenes elsewhere; there are few attractive compositions, except repeated shots of the Rome skyline; it has national clichés instead of characters: impulsive American, reserved Brit, bad German, good German, bad fascist, emotional Italian etc. ; the characters enter and leave the film almost at random ; the dramatic scenes aren't, they stop and start abruptly and are poorly linked; plot developments seem to come out of nowhere; the interesting things often happen off screen; characters' behaviour is often reckless to the point of incredulity.

Apparently rewritten, screenplayed, edited and scored on the hoof, with a great deal of family involvement,and I'm afraid it shows. sorry for being so negative.