Lux Film was an Italian film distribution (and later production) company founded by Riccardo Gualino in 1934.
Gualino was an anti-fascist businessman who had clashed with the regime of Mussolini in 1931 and had been forced into internal exile on the island of Lipari. [1] Founded in 1934, the Turin-based company specialised in distributing non-Italian films during its first few years. Relocating in Rome in 1940, Lux began making its own films around this time, with the aim of its output being "low risk and low budget by packaging high-quality art films with cultural content". [1] Unlike the studio system current in Hollywood at the time, the company did not have its own studios, but financed, distributed, and exhibited projects which others brought to it with 'fixed-price contracts' where co-producers were liable for any budget overruns. Gualino did employ executive producers, among whom were Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti.
Ponti joined the firm in 1940 and was allocated an adaptation of the 1895 Italian classic novel Piccolo mondo antico (The Little World of th Past), which was directed by Mario Soldati, and films starring the Italian comedian Totò. [2] De Laurentiis, who became an executive producer for Lux in 1942, [3] oversaw such successful films as Alberto Lattuada's Il bandito (1946) and Mario Camerini's La figlia del capitano (The Captain's Daughter, 1947) [4] and Riso Amaro ( Bitter Rice , 1949). [5] Bitter Rice, a neorealist film whose plot includes "abortion, crime, illicit sex, a gruesome murder, suicide, nudity, and a realistic childbirth scene", [6] was deliberately not submitted by Lux for PCA approval when it reached the United States. The Catholic Legion of Decency rated it 'C' (Condemned) before the distributor agreed to cuts, and the controversy abated. [6] De Laurentiis and Ponti remained with Lux until they formed a partnership in 1950, though Ulysses (1954) and some of their other later productions benefited from the support of Lux.
Lux suffered from a run of loss making productions during the 1950s, which led to a gradual reduction in its production schedule. [7] One of these films, Luchino Visconti's Senso (1954), led to conflict with both the Italian Army and the censors who progressively extended their demand for cuts, before the company protested and the authorities largely relented. [8]
Gualino died in 1964. Lux was acquired by Rovelli SIR, a chemicals conglomerate the same year. [9]
Italian neorealism, also known as the Golden Age of Italian Cinema, was a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They primarily address the difficult economic and moral conditions of post-World War II Italy, representing changes in the Italian psyche and conditions of everyday life, including poverty, oppression, injustice and desperation. Italian Neorealist filmmakers used their films to tell stories that explored the contemporary daily life and struggles of Italians in the post-war period. Italian neorealist films have become explanatory discourse for future generations to understand the history of Italy during a specific period through the storytelling of social life in the context, reflecting the documentary and communicative nature of the film. Some people believe that neorealistic films evolved from Soviet montage films. But in reality, compared to Soviet filmmakers describing the people's opposition to class struggle through their films, neorealist films aim to showcase individuals' resistance to reality in a social environment.
Silvana Mangano was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of thespians who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 1950s and '60s. She won the David di Donatello for Best Actress three times – for The Verona Trial (1963), The Witches (1967), and The Scientific Cardplayer (1972) – and the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress twice.
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer and businessman who held both Italian and American citizenship. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into film production; alongside Carlo Ponti, he brought Italian cinema to the international scene in the post-World War II period. He produced or co-produced over 500 films, with 38 of his Hollywood films receiving Academy Award nominations. He was also the creator and operator of DDL Foodshow, a chain of Italian specialty foods stores.
Embassy Pictures Corporation was an American independent film production and distribution studio, active from 1942 to 1986. Embassy was responsible for films such as The Graduate, The Producers, The Fog, The Howling, Escape from New York, and This Is Spinal Tap, Swamp Thing, and television series such as The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time and The Facts of Life.
Carlo Fortunato Pietro Ponti Sr. was an Italian film producer with more than 140 productions to his credit. Along with Dino De Laurentiis, he is credited with reinvigorating and popularizing Italian cinema post-World War II, producing some of the country's most acclaimed and financially-successful films of the 1950s and 1960s.
Bitter Rice is a 1949 Italian neorealist crime drama film directed and co-written by Giuseppe De Santis, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, and starring Vittorio Gassman, Doris Dowling, Silvana Mangano, and Raf Vallone. The story follows a pair of fugitives, who hide among the rice fields of northern Italy. The Italian title of the film is based on a pun; since the Italian word riso can mean either "rice" or "laughter", riso amaro can be taken to mean either "bitter laughter" or "bitter rice".
War and Peace is a 1956 epic historical drama film based on Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel of the same name. It is directed and co-written by King Vidor and produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti for Paramount Pictures. The film stars Audrey Hepburn as Natasha, Henry Fonda as Pierre, and Mel Ferrer as Andrei, along with Vittorio Gassman, Herbert Lom, Oskar Homolka, Anita Ekberg in one of her first breakthrough roles, Helmut Dantine, Barry Jones, Anna Maria Ferrero, Milly Vitale and Jeremy Brett. The musical score was composed by Nino Rota and conducted by Franco Ferrara.
Attila is a 1954 Italian-French co-production, directed by Pietro Francisci and produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti for Lux Film. Based on the life of Attila the Hun, it stars Anthony Quinn as Attila and Sophia Loren as Honoria, with French leading man Henri Vidal as the Hun's antagonist, Flavius Aetius. Irene Papas, in the second of three contract pictures for Lux Film, plays one of Attila's wives, Grune. Ettore Manni, Christian Marquand, and Claude Laydu are among the supporting cast of mostly French and Italian actors. American actor Scott Marlowe made his screen debut in the film. Along with The Pride and the Passion and Houseboat, it was one of Loren's biggest box-office successes during the 1950s.
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) was an entertainment production company and distribution studio founded by Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis. The company is notable for producing Manhunter, Blue Velvet, the horror films Near Dark and Evil Dead II, King Kong Lives, and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, as well as distributing The Transformers: The Movie.
Cops and Robbers is a 1951 Italian cult comedy film directed by Steno and Mario Monicelli. It stars the famous comedian Totò, and the cinematographer was the future film director Mario Bava. It was produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti.
Maria Grazia Buccella is an Italian actress, glamour model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Italia 1959 and represented her country at Miss Universe 1959.
Sardinian Vendetta is a 1952 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Mattoli and starring Walter Chiari, Carlo Croccolo and Giovanna Pala. It as shot at the Icet Studios in Milan and the Ponti-De Laurentiis Studios in Rome. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alberto Boccianti.
Funniest Show on Earth is a 1953 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Mattoli and starring May Britt. It is the first Italian film in 3D.
Raffaella De Laurentiis is an Italian film producer. Films that she has produced include Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, Dune, Prancer, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, all films in the Dragonheart series, The Forbidden Kingdom and Kull the Conqueror.
Mambo is an Italian/American international co-production film, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, Carlo Ponti and Paramount Pictures written and directed from 1952 to 1953 by Robert Rossen and released in 1955. A mambo craze spread through the USA in the 1950s, and Rossen aimed to repair his finances after almost two years without work since his 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee hearing. The film co-stars Katherine Dunham who acted as the film's choreographer.
The Nastro d'Argento is a film award assigned each year, since 1946, by Sindacato Nazionale dei Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani, the association of Italian film critics.
Valerio Jalongo is an Italian film director and screenwriter.
Riccardo Gualino was an Italian business magnate and art collector. He was also a patron and an important film producer. His first business empire was based on lumber from Eastern Europe and included forest concessions, lumber mills, ships and warehouses. The highly leveraged structure collapsed in 1912–13. Gualino was also involved in manufacturing and distributing cement, and during World War I (1914–18) built and operated cargo ships carrying goods such as coal from the United States to Europe. After the war he was engaged in many enterprises, some in partnership with Giovanni Agnelli of FIAT. His activities included banking, manufacture of rayon, confectionery, chemicals and artificial leather.
Luigi Agostino Alfredo De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer. His credits include Un borghese piccolo piccolo, Amici miei – Atto II, Vacanze di Natale and Donne con le gonne.
Pier Giuseppe Gurgo-Salice (1894–1974), generally credited as Pierre Gurgo-Salice, was an Italian film producer. He was a senior figure at Lux Film, an Italian film production company that specialised in co-productions with France where Lux had a subsidiary. His brother Ermanno Gurgo-Salice headed production in France.