it's really interesting the documentary side of this Righelli's work. In fact, after a few seconds with the screen black, the director, accompanied by the song which gives the name to the movie, begins filming some among the most beautiful monuments, churches and statues placed in the "eternal city". Unfortunately the main actress is terrible: her way to act is full of "birignao" typical on actress of that period. But Righelli let us know who learned very well the Russian lesson (Vertov among all): You can see especially in the sequence in which the young woman, after they took off away his son, thinks to commit suicide seeing the camera that goes down along the building from the roof to the street. If you ever have the occasion to see it, do it!
2 Reviews
Ready-made motherhood.
ItalianGerry17 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This was the very first Italian sound feature film to be released, though Blasetti's "Resurrectio", released a year later in 1931, was actually shot before this one. It was based very loosely on a Luigi Pirandello short story called "In Silence" and is about a woman who cares for her widowed mother's out-of-wedlock child. In the short story it was about a man who cares for his widowed mother's son.
Returning from her music studies in Rome to her distant town after receiving word about her ailing widowed mother, Lucia (Dria Paola) discovers that mom has died and that she had given birth to son out of wedlock. The father had pretty much abandoned the mother. Lucia decides to become the mother to her little half-brother, sever a relationship with her boyfriend Enrico (Elio Steiner) and keeps the nature of the situation quiet. Her landlady helps tend the baby while Lucia works in a Rome record store/ recording studio as a sales clerk, having abandoned her pursuit of a singing career in order to care for the baby.
At a certain point the child's father returns to claim his son. Enrico, now a successful conductor, has met Lucia again and wants to resume their relationship. In a quandary about what to do about the child, whom she cannot abandon, and a man who clearly loves her, she is about to attempt suicide until Enrico stops her just in time. He has had an encounter with the boy's father and he assures Lucia that she, he, and baby Ninní will be together as a family.
Although laced with elements of soap opera, the film is nicely acted and manages to engross the viewer so that one really cares about what happens to this poor woman and her "son" that she has grown to love. The boy, at the age of 14 months, is played by this sweetheart of a kid named Nello Rocchi. The film has some genuinely touching moments. My favorite one is when Lucia is at a loss about how to change and diaper the child on her first day with him. She looks out the apartment window across the way at another mom who is bathing, changing, and nursing her own child. Lucia imitates what the other mother is doing as though the neighbor were providing how-to instructions in motherhood. The only thing she cannot imitate is the breast-feeding; Lucia ponders the difference between herself and her neighbor, then grabs the baby-bottle to feed little Ninní. All this is accompanied by a lovely ninna-nanna in the background.
Some nice views of Rome in 1930 provide backgrounds, including the Spanish Steps. From Lucia's window you can make out the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica in the distance. "La canzone dell'amore" (The Song of Love) was extraordinarily popular at the time of its release in Italy, and critics praised its beauty and skill at the hands of director Gennaro Righelli as well as the performances, especially that of Dria Paola.
The movie was simultaneously shot in two alternate versions, French and German, called "La Dernière berceuse" and "Liebeslied."
Returning from her music studies in Rome to her distant town after receiving word about her ailing widowed mother, Lucia (Dria Paola) discovers that mom has died and that she had given birth to son out of wedlock. The father had pretty much abandoned the mother. Lucia decides to become the mother to her little half-brother, sever a relationship with her boyfriend Enrico (Elio Steiner) and keeps the nature of the situation quiet. Her landlady helps tend the baby while Lucia works in a Rome record store/ recording studio as a sales clerk, having abandoned her pursuit of a singing career in order to care for the baby.
At a certain point the child's father returns to claim his son. Enrico, now a successful conductor, has met Lucia again and wants to resume their relationship. In a quandary about what to do about the child, whom she cannot abandon, and a man who clearly loves her, she is about to attempt suicide until Enrico stops her just in time. He has had an encounter with the boy's father and he assures Lucia that she, he, and baby Ninní will be together as a family.
Although laced with elements of soap opera, the film is nicely acted and manages to engross the viewer so that one really cares about what happens to this poor woman and her "son" that she has grown to love. The boy, at the age of 14 months, is played by this sweetheart of a kid named Nello Rocchi. The film has some genuinely touching moments. My favorite one is when Lucia is at a loss about how to change and diaper the child on her first day with him. She looks out the apartment window across the way at another mom who is bathing, changing, and nursing her own child. Lucia imitates what the other mother is doing as though the neighbor were providing how-to instructions in motherhood. The only thing she cannot imitate is the breast-feeding; Lucia ponders the difference between herself and her neighbor, then grabs the baby-bottle to feed little Ninní. All this is accompanied by a lovely ninna-nanna in the background.
Some nice views of Rome in 1930 provide backgrounds, including the Spanish Steps. From Lucia's window you can make out the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica in the distance. "La canzone dell'amore" (The Song of Love) was extraordinarily popular at the time of its release in Italy, and critics praised its beauty and skill at the hands of director Gennaro Righelli as well as the performances, especially that of Dria Paola.
The movie was simultaneously shot in two alternate versions, French and German, called "La Dernière berceuse" and "Liebeslied."
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