We the Living (film)
We the Living | |
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Directed by | Goffredo Alessandrini |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | We the Living by Ayn Rand |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Giuseppe Caracciolo |
Edited by | Eraldo Da Roma |
Music by | Renzo Rossellini |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 172 minutes (re-release) |
Country | Italy |
Language | Italian |
We the Living is a
The nominally anti-communist, but de facto anti-authoritarian film was made and released in Italy during World War II, then subsequently banned by the Fascist government and pulled from theaters. The film was lost and forgotten for decades, then found and restored with Rand's involvement. It was released for the first time in the United States in 1986.[1]
Cast
- Alida Valli as Kira Argounova
- Rossano Brazzi as Leo Kovalensky
- Fosco Giachetti as Andrei Taganov
- Giovanni Grasso as Tishenko
- Emilio Cigoli as Pavel Syerov
- Cesarina Gheraldi as Comrade Sonia
- Mario Pisu as Victor Dunaev
- Guglielmo Sinaz as Morozov
- Gero Zambuto as Alexei Argounov
- Annibale Betrone as Vassili Dunaev
- Elvira Betrone as Maria Petrovna Dunaev
- Sylvia Manto as Marisha
- Claudia Marti as Lydia Argounova
- Evelina Paoli as Galina Petrovna Argounova
- Gina Sammarco as Tonia
- Lamberto Picasso as GPU Captain
- Sennuccio Benelli as Sasha
- Gioia Collei as Ada Dunaev
- Bianca Doria as Irina Dunaev
Production
Background
The film version of
Rights and writing
The studio never secured the movie rights from Rand, who at the time lived in the United States. Europe was at war, and the Fascist Ministry of Culture set up special laws with regards to negotiations for rights and copyrights with enemy countries, making it impossible to buy the rights.[4] The film was made without the novelist's consent or knowledge, and no attempt was later made to compensate her.[5]
The first script was adapted from the book by two Italian novelists, but director Alessandrini abandoned their script. He and his assistant decided to make the picture without a finished script. The script was often written the day before filming or pulled directly from the novel, resulting in an adaptation that was more faithful to the novel than is typical in film adaptations.
Working without a complete script, they were inadvertently shooting more material than could be edited down to one film, so it was decided that the film would be released as two separate movies entitled, Noi Vivi (We the Living) and Addio Kira (Goodbye Kira).[4]
Casting and shooting
Cast in the leading roles were three of Italy's top box-offices attractions: 38-year-old
Future leading man Raf Vallone appeared in the film as an extra. Ironically, in spite of the film's anti-Communist subject matter, Vallone was actually an ardent leftist and member of the banned Italian Communist Party. Prior to World War II, he worked as culture editor for the Party's official newspaper L'Unità. At the same time the film was being shot, Vallone was a secret agent for the anti-fascist Italian resistance, as a member of the Communist-affiliated 'Brigate Garibaldi' partisans.[6][7]
Opening and reception
On September 14, 1942, the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival. When the movie opened in Rome, it was a box-office success. The portrayal of an intelligent, sexually independent heroine was viewed as controversial. Shortly after its theatrical release, the Italian Government banned the film for reasons mentioned below.
Censorship
Prior to the films' release, they were nearly censored by Mussolini's government. Government officials demanded to see the film
Revision and re-release
Rand learned about the unauthorized adaptation of her novel in 1946. She saw the adaptation for the first time in 1947.
Following the settlement, Rand's lawyers, Erika Holzer and Henry Mark Holzer, went to Italy to find negatives for the films. The search ended in the summer of 1968 when it was discovered that a business entity that owned dozens of vintage Italian films had obtained the original films. The Holzers brought a copy back to the United States.[3][13]
Shortly thereafter, Duncan Scott began working with Rand on re-editing the films Noi Vivi and Addio Kira.[14] At this time, the two Italian films were combined into a single film with English subtitles. Certain subplots were cut to get the films down from four hours to a more manageable three-hour run-time.[15] The film was edited to be more faithful to Rand's original novel, and during this time, they also rid the films of Fascist propaganda, which was a distortion of Rand's message.[16][17] This new version produced by the Holzers and Duncan Scott and was approved by Rand and her estate. It was re-released as We the Living in 1986.[18][1]
The new version of We the Living premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado in 1986 — the first public showing of the film outside of Italy since World War II.[19] Soon after, it was released in theaters throughout the US, Canada, and overseas. Today, a two-disc DVD of the film is sold by Duncan Scott Productions.
References
- ^ a b McConnell 2010, p. 427
- ^ Hauptman, Don. "We The Living, The Film: 70 Years Later". Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ^ a b c d We the Living DVD, Bonus Feature "Lost Treasure"
- ^ a b c "The Banned, Lost, Rediscovered: Ayn Rand's We the Living Lives On". Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ^ Rand 1995, p. 383
- ^ "Obituary: Raf Vallone". the Guardian. 2002-11-01. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
- ^ Rand 1995, p. 370.
- ^ Rand 1995, p. 368.
- ^ Britting 2004, p. 174.
- ^ Rand 1995, p. 281.
- ^ Britting 2004, pp. 173–174.
- ^ a b Britting 2004, p. 176.
- ^ McConnell 2010, p. 422
- ^ McConnell 2010, pp. 422, 428
- ^ Rand 1995, pp. 196, 281
- ^ McConnell 2010, pp. 424, 426
- ^ Paxton 1998, p. 104
- ^ McConnell 2010, p. 428
Works cited
- Branden, Barbara (1986). The Passion of Ayn Rand. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company. ISBN 0-385-19171-5.
- ISBN 0-7391-0697-X.
- McConnell, Scott (2010). 100 Voices: An Oral History of Ayn Rand. New York: New American Library. ISBN 978-0-451-23130-7.
- Paxton, Michael (1998). Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life. Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN 0-87905-845-5.
- Rand, Ayn (1995). Berliner, Michael S. (ed.). Letters of Ayn Rand. New York: Dutton. ISBN 0-525-93946-6.
- We the Living. Dir. Goffredo Alessandrini. Perf. Alida Valli, Rosanno Brassi, Fosco Giachetti. Scalera, 1942. Restoration producers Erika and Henry Holzer, Duncan Scott, 1986. Film.