PERILLI, IVO

(1902-1994)

Screenwriter and director. After working in the theater as a set designer during the 1920s, at the beginning of the sound era Perilli joined the newCines, where he served as production designer and then as assistant director toMario Camerini. In 1933 he directed his first feature film,Ragazzo(Boy). In spite of recounting the edifying story of a street kid whose criminal behavior is eventually reformed by time in a Fascist youth camp,Ragazzobecame one of the few films to be completely banned by the Fascist authorities, its total prohibition coming from Benito Mussolini himself.Perilli directed two other minor films in the early 1940s,Margherita fra i tre(Margherita and Her Three Uncles, 1942) andLa primadonna(The First Soprano, 1943), but for the most part he worked as a regular screenwriter (and sometimes assistant director) on a dozen of Camerini's subsequent films includingIl cappello a tre punte(Three-Cornered Hat, 1934),Darb un milione(I'll Give a Million, 1936),I grandi magazzini(Department Store, 1939), andI promessi sposi(The Spirit and the Flesh, 1941). In the period following World War II he collaborated with many of the major directors: with Camerini again on a half dozen films includingDue lettere anonime(Two Anonymous Letters, 1945),La bella mugnaia(The Miller's Beautiful Wife, 1956), andI briganti italiani(The Italian Brigands, 1962); withRoberto RossellinionEuropa '51(The Greatest Love, 1952); withGiuseppe De SantisonRiso amaro(Bitter Rice, 1949); and withAlberto LattuadaonAnna(1952). He also worked with American directors such as Martin Ritt on5 Branded Women(Jovanka e le altre, I960) and Richard Fleisher onBarabbas(1961). Following his collaboration on the screenplay of John Huston'sThe Bible:The Beginning(1966), however, he largely retired from the cinema, returning only to supply the story and screenplay forLuigi Comencini'sMio dio come sono caduta in basso(How Long Can You Fall?1974).