Alina (1950) User Reviews

Not exactly the Gina we all expect!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 25 December 2017]

On a Koch Vision 7/10 DVD, we find an early Gina Lollobrigida outing, Alina, which will not exactly set her fans jumping for joy.

Not only is the anything but glamorous Gina somewhat less than spellbinding in appearance, everyone else in the cast led by Amedeo Nazzari and Doris Dowling, easily manage to steal all her scenes.

What we actually have here is not really a Gina Lollobrigida vehicle at all, but a rather turgid, dime-novel tale of smuggling, arson, jealousy and suppressed infidelity.

Photographed in a typical Italian neo-realistic style by Tonino Delli Colli, but somewhat glumly directed with little more than routine competence by Giorgio Pastina, "Alina" seems to go on forever and extend for 94 rather than its actual 74 minutes.

In short, rather disappointing, and not a movie I would recommend!

There are two kinds of snow....

[ulicknormanowen · 7/10 · 25 May 2021]

One of Gina Lollobrigida's first parts , she is cast as a virtuous honest wife, who goes out of her way to bring medicine to her sick (and not very handsome) husband .

"Alina" is a good mixture of melodrama and film noir;it pits the luxury world of the people of the French ski resort ,who practise Winter sports and who spends their night gambling in a shady place ,against the poverty of Italians of a village who cross the border in the cold at night to smuggle powder (cocaine); the boss of the gambling club is part of the ring and exploits them shamelessly.

Good scenes : the involuntary strip tease of Alina , with peeping tom Marco behind the pane (check the poster) ; the fire in her hovel ; the final confrontation of the boss and his unfaithful wife.

Lollobrigida is eye candy ,and although cast against type, manages quite well in her part of a destitute girl,forced to replace her sick hubby in his smuggling business;Amadeo Nazarri , a habitué of Italian melodrama, is true to form .

Smuggling drama in the Alps

[clanciai · 9/10 · 18 October 2021]

There are two villains in this film, and one of them is a woman. She finally reveals herself as the true queen of spades in her cards after having been cheating all her life, but she is startlingly beautiful, especially in her first scenes as a singer at a high skiing resort for rich tourists in the French Alps, who spend their nights around the roulette while she entertains them by seductive singing, but she can't fool her fat rich husband, the owner of the resort, all the way.

The other lady is a very young Gina Lollobrigida, who is married to an old smuggler who is at the end of his tether, trying to turn a blind eye to it by medicine and liquor, not a good combination; but Gina really cares for him and loves him and replaces him in the smuggling gang, who are not all decent fellows.

It's actually a gripping drama off relationships and hardships in the smuggling business, contrasted against the luxury life of the lavish tourists, who have no idea of the drama that goes on around them. Amedeo Nazzari, employed by the owner to keep watch of the games, has one foot in both businesses and gets involved with the problems of the smugglers, especially when these become acute because of lack of discipline. The cinematography is excellent like also the music, the direction is efficient with never a dull moment in a flow of action that constantly keeps changing to higher gear. Above all, it's a great film of the western Alps, the scenery is magnificent, and the human drama is a good match for it.