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Sunday, January 26, 2020

LA ROMANA / WOMAN OF ROME (1954)

With a script by Alberto Moravia (CONFORMIST) and Giorgio Bassani (GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINIS); well-known leads (Gina Lollobrigida, Daniel Gélin, Franco Fabrizi); and a strong film noir edge to its Rome locations (lenser Enzo Serafin fresh off a career award; helmer Luigi Zampa still showing Neo-Realist form), this melodramatic character study ought to be better known. Set in the mid-‘30s, Lollobrigida is on her first day as a nude artist’s model, properly escorted by a suspicious mother. Quickly making friends with another model, they are soon double dating, though only Gina takes it seriously. Before long, a ring from her regular date seals the deal, or does before she finds out the guy’s married with kid. Maybe she should have stuck with that government official who’s so crazy about her. By now, her mother’s written her off as a fallen woman, and worse after a friend takes her the next step down . . . all the way to the street. And it’s on another ‘double date’ that she meets Gélin, an idealistic student, part of an anti-fascist cell and not looking for a quick sexual encounter. This is where the film bumps up in interest, politically & emotionally, with the group’s activities attracting police attention, chases, arrests & cowardly informers. But it’s also where Moravia & Bassani get into story trouble, forcing a murderous thug into the action to provide some too convenient violence and tragedy that doesn’t feel organic. The film still comes off, but on a lower plane than it might have.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: One more example of the general strength of so many Italian films of the period. As if everyone in the industry, not just the great talents, knew how to put a movie together for most of the ‘50s.

LINK: Watch a good print free at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCxdDRCbQko

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