Escape by Night

9 novembre > SALA 3 ore 17

Italy, France – 1960 – 35mm – b/n – 151’

CREDITS

Direction: Roberto Rossellini

Screenplay: Sergio Amidei, Diego Fabbri, Brunello Rondi, Roberto Rossellini

Cinematography: Carlo Carlini

Editing: Roberto Cinquini

Set design: Flavio Mogherini

Music: Renzo Rossellini

Cast: Giovanna Ralli, Paolo Stoppa, Renato Salvatori, Sergei Bondarchuk, Leo Genn, Peter Baldwin, Enrico Maria Salerno, Laura Betti, Sergio Fantoni

Producer: Giovanbattista Romanengo

Production: International Golden Star, Film Dismage

SYNOPSIS

1943. After the Armistice, British Major Michel Pemberton, American Second Lieutenant Peter Bradley and Russian Sergeant Feodor Nazukov escape from a prison camp and try to reach Southern Italy, which has already been liberated by the Allies. They stop in Rome, where they find hospitality in the home of Esperia Belli, a young commoner who makes a living by selling goods at the black market dressed as a nun together with other women. The three soldiers then make contact with the Partisans but are discovered by the Germans, who arrest Esperia and her boyfriend. Feodor is killed, Peter tries to reach the Allies, while Michel later reunites with Esperia and finds out who betrayed them, thus being faced with a difficult choice.

CRITICAL NOTE

“In Rossellini’s film Escape by Night, Giovanna Ralli took on the most challenging role of her career: a deeply human role that required an uncommon sensitivity. (…) Esperia is carefree and with a zest for life, but events gradually turn her into an intensely dramatic figure. (…) It was not easy for her to play the character of Esperia. She was a little girl — she is now twenty-four — dealing with the syllabary at the time when Rome was experiencing the painful nightmare described in the film. But her sure instinct and genuine temperament guided her without uncertainty.”

(Anita Pensotti, Oggi year XVI, No. 22, 2 June 1960)

AWARDS

1960 Karlovy Vary IFF:  Special Prize of the Jury

1960 San Francisco IFF:  Gate Award to Giovanna Ralli as Best Actress