Fear No Evil | |
---|---|
Directed by | Giuseppe Maria Scotese |
Screenplay by | Giuseppe Maria Scotese Diego Fabbri Mario Monicelli Giorgio Lastricati |
Produced by | Maleno Malenotti |
Starring | Fosco Giachetti Adriana Benetti Nino Pavese |
Cinematography | Carlo Montuori |
Edited by | Mario Serandei |
Music by | Giovanni Fusco |
Production company | Arno Film |
Distributed by | Minerva Film |
Release date |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
Country | Italy |
Language | Italian |
Box office | 48,000,000 Lire at 31 December 1952 |
Fear No Evil (Italian : Il sole di Montecassino) is a 1945 Italian drama film directed by Giuseppe Maria Scotese and starring Fosco Giachetti, Adriana Benetti and Liliana Laine. It is based on a book written by Diego Fabbri about the life of Benedict of Nursia.
Italy, February 1944. Some civilians are fleeing the bombing of Monte Cassino (depicted with actual footage from World War II newsreels). One of them, looking on helplessly as the abbey is being blown up, cries that God has forsaken mankind. Another refugee, who happens to be a friar from the abbey, retorts that it is not true and proceeds to narrate how, even at the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, in a wasteland similar to World War II, God produced a man like Benedict of Nursia whose sanctity helped restore the European civilization.
At this point the movie flashbacks to 500 AD. Benedict, a Roman nobleman, leaves his privileged patrician heritage and withdraws in a cave, willing to live according to the Gospels. Little by little he assembles a community of fellow monks, and he dedicates his entire life to teaching the Christian disciplines, becoming a Saint in the process and performing several miracles for the glory of God.
One might expect a rather static, slow-paced film with this subject, but this film moves at a brisk pace with a good deal of action sequences which keep up a lively interest for viewers. Fosco Giachietti plays the title role with gravity, dignity, and authority, portraying the humility and dedication of the saint. Alfredo Varelli is a standout as the macho young Marco, a warlike mountain shepherd who becomes Benedict's first adherent and most loyal supporter. Altogether a fascinating account of the founding of the first Christian monastic order, very effective even in the English dubbed version».
Benedict of Nursia, often known as Saint Benedict, was an Italian Catholic monk. He is famed in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old Catholic Churches. In 1964 Pope Paul VI declared Benedict a patron saint of Europe.
Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about 130 kilometres (80 mi) southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, 2 kilometres west of Cassino and at an elevation of 520 m (1,710 ft). Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first house of the Benedictine Order, having been established by Benedict of Nursia himself around 529. It was for the community of Monte Cassino that the Rule of Saint Benedict was composed.
Scholastica was an Italian Christian hermit and the sister of Benedict of Nursia. She is traditionally regarded as the foundress of the Benedictine nuns.
Norcia, traditionally known in English by its Latin name of Nursia, is a town and comune in the province of Perugia (Italy) in southeastern Umbria. Unlike many ancient towns, it is located in a wide plain abutting the Monti Sibillini, a subrange of the Apennines with some of its highest peaks, near the Sordo River, a small stream that eventually flows into the Nera. The town is popularly associated with the Valnerina. It is a member of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Cassino is a comune in the province of Frosinone, Southern Italy, at the southern end of the region of Lazio, the last city of the Latin Valley.
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The Abbey of Saint Scholastica, also known as Subiaco Abbey, is located just outside the town of Subiaco in the Province of Rome, Region of Lazio, Italy; and is still an active Benedictine abbey, territorial abbey, first founded in the 6th century AD by Saint Benedict of Nursia. It was in one of the Subiaco caves that Benedict made his first hermitage. The monastery today gives its name to the Subiaco Congregation, a grouping of monasteries worldwide that makes up part of the Order of Saint Benedict.
Siege of Syracuse is a 1960 historical drama film about the Roman Siege of Syracuse, which took place between 213 and 212 B.C., during the Second Punic War with Carthage.
Alfredo Varelli was an Italian film actor whose career spanned more than six decades. Varelli was born Alfredo Ciavarella and debuted in Alessandro Blasetti's 1934 film Vecchia guardia. He emerged during the Fascist era, but most of his work was post-Second World War. He played a leading role in the 1942 historical drama The Jester's Supper. Varelli is also known for playing "Lucan" in Quo Vadis (1951). His last role was in the film Roseanna's Grave, released posthumously in 1997.
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