CAMERINI, MARIO

(1895-1981)

Screenwriter and director. One of the foremost directors of Italian cinema in the interwar years, Camerini started writing subjects for films while still in high school. After serving as an infantry officer during World War I, he began working in the cinema as assistant toAugusto Genina, and then for his own brother, Augusto, who helped him to finance his first solo film,Jolly, clown da circo(Jolly, the Circus Clown, 1923). With national film production in decline during this period, Camerini found work atStefano Pittaluga's Fert studios in Turin, where he directed a number of films on commission, including two of the popular strongman films,Saetta principe per un giorno(Saetta, Prince for aDay, 1924) andMaciste contro lo sceicco(Maciste against the Sheik, 1925). Disagreements with Pittaluga led him to join with a number of other directors to create the independent production company Autori Direttori Italiani Associati, with which he producedKiff Tebbi(1927), a love story filmed on location in Africa that attracted the sizable sum of 50,000 lire from the Ministry for Education as encouragement. Camerini then directed what is generally regarded as his first major film,Rotaie(Rails, 1929), a powerful, moody melodrama clearly influenced by contemporary German cinema, recounting the redemptive journey of a suicidal young couple. Made silent but rereleased in a sound version in 1931, the film was enormously successful and firmly established Camerini's credentials both at home and abroad. Indeed, on the strength of the film's success, Camerini was invited to Paramount's Joinville studios in Paris to work on a multiple-language adaptation of Joseph Conrad'sVictory, and it was here that he was able to familiarize himself with the new sound technology.

Returning to Italy, he began to work at the newCinesstudios, directingFigaro e la sua gran giornata(Figaro and His Big Day, 1931) andGli uomini che mascalzoni(What Scoundrels Men Are!1932), the first of a series of well-crafted romantic comedies featuringVittorio De SicaandAssia Norisfor which he would come to be favorably compared with directors like Rene Clair and Ernst Lubitsch.

Two years later, however,Il cappello a tre punte(Three-Cornered Hat, 1934) brought him into conflict with the authorities.A historical costume drama set in Naples under Spanish domination, and adapted from a novel by Pedro de Alarcon, the film included a number of sequences that Benito Mussolini himself judged as too openly critical of constituted authority, and so the film was obliged to be cut before it could be released commercially in 1935. Whether by accident or design,Il grande appello(The Last Roll-Call, 1936), set and photographed in East Africa just after the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, appeared to offer at least moral support to the regime's practice of militant colonialism. Generally avoiding politics, however, Camerini returned to the winning formula of his earlier comedies and achieved a huge success withIl signor Max(Mister Max, 1937) andI grandi magazzini(Department Store, 1939), both again starring Noris and De Sica. This was followed byIpromessi sposi(The Spirit and the Flesh, 1941), an elegant adaptation of Alessandro Manzoni's 19th-century novel that is still regarded by many as the definitive cinematic version of this classic text.

After the disruption caused by World War II, Camerini returned to the cinema and produced a considerable body of work, but he was never able to regain either the critical or popular success of his earlier period. Immediately after the war he madeDue lettere anonime(Two AnonymousLetters, 1945), one of the first films to be set within the context of theResistance. This was followed byMolti sogni per le strade(Woman Trouble, 1948) andIl brigante Musolino(Outlaw Girl, 1950), a dark melodrama starringAmedeo NazzariandSilvana Manganoabout a man falsely convicted of a crime returning to wreak revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. FollowingGli eroi della domenica(Sunday Heroes, 1953), a film about soccer that starred not only an athleticRaf Valloneand a very youngMarcello Mastroiannibut also the entire A. C. Milan team, Camerini directed the big-budget American-Italian coproductionUlisse(Ulysses, 1954), with Kirk Douglas playing the lead. AfterLa bella mugnaia(The Miller's Beautiful Wife, 1956), a remake ofIl cappello a tre puntethat restored the jibes against the authorities that had been originally cut by Fascist censorship, and the heart-tugging melodramaSuor Letizia(The Awakening, 1957), Camerini directedCrimen(1960), a contorted crime comedy set in Montecarlo that, despite the presence of actors of the caliber ofVittorio Gassman,Nino Manfredi,Alberto Sordi, andFranca Valeri, achieved only a very luke-warm success.

Camerini continued to make a variety of films in the early 1960s includingI briganti italiani(The Italian Brigands, 1962), a bandit film set in theRisorgimentoperiod that chose to use American actor Ernest Borgnine in the lead role, and two adventure fantasies set in India,Kali Yug, la dea della vendetta(Vengeance of Kali, 1963) and its sequel,Mistero del tempio indiano(Mystery of an Indian Temple, 1963). However, by the end of the decade he had largely retired from the industry, his last film being one of theDon Camilloseries,Don Camillo e i giovani d'oggi(Don Camillo and Today's Youth, 1971).