Guarany is a 1950 Italian film directed by Riccardo Freda and starring António Vilar, Mariella Lotti and Gianna Maria Canale.[3][4]
| Guarany | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Riccardo Freda |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by | Riccardo Freda[1] |
| Produced by | Salvo D'Angelo[2] |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Rodolfo Lombardi[1] |
| Edited by | Riccardo Freda[1] |
| Music by | Antônio Carlos Gomes[1] |
Production company | Universalia Film |
| Distributed by | Universalia Film |
Release date |
|
Running time | 87 minutes[1] |
| Country | Italy[1] |
Cast
edit- António Vilar as Carlos Gomez
- Mariella Lotti as Lindita
- Gianna Maria Canale as Jacqueline
- Luigi Pavese as Papà Gomez
- Anita Vargas as Mamma Gomez that
- Andrea Forte as Carlos Gomez bambino
- Dante Maggio as Rossi
- Petr Sharov as Pietro Sharoff
Production
editIn this period of Italian film history, the opera film was popular as audiences were desiring biopics of Italy's most famous composers.[4] Italian film historian and critic Roberto Curti commented that "the lives of Verdi, Rossini, and Bellini offered not only entertainment, but also a reminder of the country's past glory as a popular antidote to the misery and squalor unearthed by Neorealism."[4] Director Riccardo Freda was set-up with the subject of Antônio Carlos Gomes, a Brazilian composer who was popular in Italy.[4] His best known work was the opera Il Guarany, based on the novel by Jose de Alencar.[4]
The film was a production by Universalia Film, a Catholic-oriented production company started in 1946.[4][1] According to Piero Regnoli, who was the company's vice artistic manager at the time, Universalia had "about one billion lire at disposal-cash. It was the biggest production company [in Italy]."[4] Freda was friends with Salvo D'Angelo who was high up in the Universalia Film company, and stated he asked for a large sum of money to develop the film as he was uninterested in developing it, but was surprised when it was granted.[4]
Filming began on June 11, 1948 in Rome and after one week, the crew moved to Brazil to shoot on location there.[5]
Release and reception
editGuarany was submitted to the Italian board of censors in November 1949.[6] 'Guarany was distributed theatrically in Italy by Universalia Film on 3 January 1950.[1][2] The film grossed a total of 8,750,000 Italian lire domestically, which Curti described as being "virtually ignored by the public"[2] and being panned by critics on its release.[6] The film was popular in South America, where it earned Universallia and Gianna Maria Canale a lot of press.[6]
Curti stated in 2017 that Guarany was unavailable in any form, not even at Rome's Cineteca Nazionale.[6] A copy of the 303 page script remains.[5]
References
editBibliography
edit- Curti, Roberto (2017). Riccardo Freda: The Life and Works of a Born Filmmaker. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476628387.
- Testa, Carlo (2002). Italian Cinema and Modern European Literatures, 1945-2000. Greenwood Publishing Group.
External links
edit
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