Historical Dictionary of modern Italy

CINEMA

Cinema: translation

Few countries can boast a cinematic history as rich as Italy’s. The first kinetographs appeared at the end of the 19th century, and techniques developed rapidly. By the eve of World War I director Giovanni Pastrone was producing such innovative epics asCabiria(1914) andGli ultimi giorni di Pompeii(The Last Days of Pompeii, 1913), which won a worldwide public and are still regarded as masterpieces of the early cinema. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Italians struggled to match Hollywood as the big-budget movies made possible by the American film industry’s superior financing made inroads into the Italian domestic market. The number of domestic films distributed in Italy dropped from over 200 in 1920 to less than a dozen a year by the end of the decade.
This decline had a political dimension. In Mussolini’s Italy, the domination of foreign films was seen both as a symptom of the failure of Fascist policies of economic autarky and a relatively uncontrolled source of information about the rest of the world. Consequently, film production was centralized in 1935 in a single government-owned company, and the Italian government built “Hollywood on the Tiber”—the Cinecitta film complex near Rome. Influential film magazines such asNero e Bianco(Black and White) and Cinema (the latter edited by Mussolini’s son, Vittorio) were started. By 1942, nearly 100 films were being produced every year. Although many of these films were propagandistic in tone, several were outstanding works of art. Alessandro Blasetti’s ambiguous fairytaleLa corona di ferro(The Iron Crown, 1941) and the romantic comedies of Mario Camerini were highly successful in technical, artistic, and box office terms. Even some of the propaganda movies—Blasetti’sLa vecchia guardia(The Old Guard, 1935), Augusto Bianco’s hauntingLo squadrone bianco(The White Squadron, 1936) — reached high artistic levels.
After the war, neorealist directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica, and Michelangelo Antonioni made films hailed by critics everywhere.Yet the average Italian did not watch their grimly beautiful depictions of working-class and peasant life. In the 1950s and 1960s, Italians watched instead la commedia all’Italiana and a whole new generation of actors, many of whom (Claudia Cardinale, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazzi) went on to achieve fame outside Italy. They also watched that unique Italian invention, the “spaghetti Western” of Sergio Leoneand, by the early 1970s, experimented with pornography in films. The relentless competition provided by Hollywood has arguably been resisted more successfully in Italy than anywhere else in Europe except France, although American films do dominate the box office. Hit comedies still tend to star Italian actors and have Italian settings. Moreover, in the 1980s and 1990s, a new wave of Italian directors made watchable, artistically successful films. Some of these films have even been successfully exported to the United States— Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema paradiso (Paradise Cinema, 1991), the Anglo-Italian coproductionIl postino(The Postman, 1995), and Roberto Benigni’s Oscar-winningLa vita e bella(Life Is Beautiful, 1999) being particularly good examples. The Italian cinema’s resilience should not surprise anyone; there is a deep love for the cinema and its greatest artists in Italy. When the director Federico Fellini died in November 1993, there were several days of what amounted to unofficial national mourning. A similar emotional outpouring greeted the death, in December 1996, of Marcello Mastroianni.
See alsoMoretti, Nanni; Rosi, Francesco; Toto.

  1. cinema—cinema translation noun strong BrE place where you go to see a filmmovie See also theatre ADJECTIVE packed The cinemau was packed and we ended up sitting in the secon...Collocations dictionary
  2. cinéma—cinma bersetzungFilmbranche fu Kino nCest du cinma. Das ist doch nur Theater. cinma [sinema] Substantif masculin art Kino neutreem Beispielu cinma muetparlant StummTon...Dictionnaire Francais-Allemand
  3. cinema—Cinema translation Journal. Founded in and published bimonthly Cinemaem soon became one of the most important reference points for film culture in Fascist Italy. In spit...Guide to cinema
  4. cinema—Cinema translation Journal. Founded in and published bimonthly Cinemaem soon became one of the most important reference points for film culture in Fascist Italy. In spit...Historical dictionary of Italian cinema
  5. cinema—Cinema translation After the American Andrew Rawson Jennings opened the first Dutch cinema in Amsterdam in many others followed. One of the most beautiful cinemas in the...Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands
  6. cinema—Cinema translation Seeem Film....Historical Dictionary of the Russian Federation
  7. cinema—Cinema translation Seeem Film....Historical dictionary of Weimar Republik
  8. cinema—cinema translationSynonyms and related wordsD Cinemascope Cinerama Technicolor Western animated cartoon art film blackandwhite film cartoon chiller cine cinema verite cin...Moby Thesaurus
  9. cinema—cinema translation Seeem motion picture....The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater
  10. cinema—anemic iceman...Английские анаграммы
  11. cinema—[snm]кинематография кинематографкинотеатркинокартина кинофильм фильм...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  12. cinema—cin. кинематография кинематограф тж. the cinem кинотеатр кинофильм...Англо-русский дополнительный словарь
  13. cinema—кино кинотеатр...Англо-русский научно-технический словарь
  14. cinema—кинотеатр...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  15. cinema—кинотеатр...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  16. cinema—n кино...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
  17. cinema—cinema [snm] nu кино кинематография кинематограф тж.u the cinema кинотеатр кинофильм...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  18. cinema—сущ. кино кинематография кинематограф тж. the cinema кинотеатр multiplex cinema кинокартина кинофильм фильм cinema verite Syn film picture motion picture...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  19. cinema—цифровой кинематограф highdefinition cinema...Англо-русский словарь по телекоммуникациям
  20. cinema—n. кино кинофильм кинематография кинематограф кинотеатр...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  21. cinema—кинотеатр openair cinema outdoor cinemastrongАнглорусский строительный словарь. М. Русский Язык.С.Н.Корчемкина С.К.Кашкина С.В.Курбатова...Англо-русский словарь строительных терминов
  22. cinema—кино кинотеатр...Англо-русский технический словарь
  23. cinema—nкнематограф кно кнотеатр кнематографя...Англо-украинский словарь
  24. cinema—кнофльм кно кнотеатр кнематографя...Англо-український словник
  25. cinema—n the кно кнематографя кнематограф кнотеатр тж theatre manager директор кнотеатру....Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
  26. cinema—кнематографя кно кнотеатр...Англо-український словник кінотермінів
  27. cinema—Кнематографя кно кнотеатр...Англо-український словник кінотермінів
  28. cinema—m малоупотр. cinematgrafo...Большой испанско-русский словарь
  29. cinema—m кинематография кино кинематограф cinema sonoro muto звуковое немое кино cinema catastrofico катастрофический кинематограф фильмыкатастрофы cinema dellorrore фильм...Большой итальяно-русский и русско-итальянский словарь
  30. cinéma—m в разн. знач. кино cinma en couleur цветное киноcinma muet немое киноfaire du cinma faire tout un cinma разг. устроить сцену разыгрывать комедиюarrter son cinma пер...Большой французско-русский и русско-французский словарь
  31. cinema—кинотеатр...Голландско-русский словарь
  32. cinema—кинематограф кино кинотеатр...Итальяно-русский политехнический словарь
  33. cinema—[snm] n. the cinema кино кинематографияamateur cinema кинолюбительство любительское кино. кинотеатрcinema circuit киносеть группа кинотеатров принадлежащих одной компан...Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  34. cinema—cinema [snm] ni . the кино кинематография amateur кинолюбительство любительское кино . кинотеатр circuit киносеть группа кинотеатров принадлежащих одной компании ha...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  35. cinema—snm n . the кино кинематография amateur кинолюбительство любительское кино . кинотеатр circuit киносеть группа кинотеатров принадлежащих одной компании hall ки...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна
  36. cinéma—m в разн. знач. кино cinma en couleur цветное кино cinma muet немое кино faire du cinma faire tout un cinma разг. устроить сцену разыгрывать комедию arrter son cinma...Новый французско-русский словарь
  37. cinéma—m кинематограф кинематография киносъмка см. тж. cinmatographie кинотеатр кинофильм cinma lectronique cinma magntique...Политехнический французско-русский словарь
  38. cinema—[чнема]кнема кно снема...Польсько-український словник
  39. cinema—m кино ator de cinema киноактрcenrio de cinema киносценарий кино кинотеатр кинематография...Португальско-русский словарь
  40. cinema—s.n. invar кино п. кинотеатр т....Румынско-русский словарь
  41. cinéma—m arrter son cinma faire du cinma cest du cinma il nous a fait un cinma toujours le mme cinma tu as vu a au cinma coup de cinma...Французско-русский фразеологический словарь
  42. cinéma—Кiно...Французько-український словник