The Gates of Heaven | |
---|---|
Directed by | Vittorio De Sica |
Written by | Vittorio De Sica Piero Bargellini Diego Fabbri Adolfo Franci Carlo Musso Enrico Ribulsi Cesare Zavattini |
Produced by | Corrado Conti di Senigallia Salvo D'Angelo |
Starring | Marina Berti |
Cinematography | Aldo Tonti |
Edited by | Mario Bonotti |
Music by | Enzo Masetti |
Production companies | Orbis Film Centro Cattolico Cinematografico |
Distributed by | Lux Film |
Release date |
|
Running time | 88 minutes |
Country | Italy |
Language | Italian |
The Gates of Heaven (Italian : La porta del cielo) is a 1945 Italian drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica.
The film was made during the German occupation of Rome, with support from the Vatican. This and another film The Ten Commandments allowed a number of actors, under pressure to go north and work in Venice for the film industry of Mussolini's puppet Italian Social Republic, to remain in Rome. [1]
The film's sets were designed by Salvo D'Angelo who also worked as co-producer. Vittorio de Sica hired approximately 300 extras, who were Jewish or simply being persecuted by the Nazi regime, because of their physical oddity. To avoid their deportation and later execution, he prolonged the shooting of the film as long as he could, awaiting the arrival of the allied armies. [2]
The film won the OCIC Special Award at the 53rd Venice International Film Festival in 1996 for efforts to restore the film. [3] [4]
This is the story of a train full of sick and deformed pilgrims on their way to seek miracles at the shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, near the city of Ancona in eastern Italy. [2]
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.
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Marisa Merlini was an Italian character actress active in Italy's post-World War II cinema. Merlini appeared in over fifty films during her career, which spanned from World War II to 2005. In Luigi Comencini's 1953 film Pane, amore e fantasia, she portrayed Annarella, a village midwife, who marries the local police marshal, played by Vittorio De Sica.
Christian De Sica is an Italian actor, comedian and film director.
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The Assassination of Matteotti is a 1973 Italian historical drama film directed by Florestano Vancini. The film tells the events that led to the tragic end of Giacomo Matteotti and to the establishment of the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini in Italy. It was awarded with the Special Jury Prize at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.
The list of the A hundred Italian films to be saved was created with the aim to report "100 films that have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978". Film preservation, or film restoration, describes a series of ongoing efforts among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images they contain. In the widest sense, preservation assures that a movie will continue to exist in as close to its original form as possible.
Dora Nelson is a 1939 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Soldati and starring Assia Noris, Carlo Ninchi and Luigi Cimara. It is a remake of the 1935 French film of the same title, which was based on a play by Louis Verneuil. The film was shot at Cinecittà in Rome, with several real employees of the studio appearing as themselves. It belongs to the movies of the calligrafismo style.
The Ferocious Saladin is a 1937 Italian "white-telephones" comedy film directed by Mario Bonnard and starring Angelo Musco, Alida Valli and Lino Carenzio. The film was made at Cinecittà in Rome. On 28 April 1937, Benito Mussolini visited the newly completed studio. Along with the historical epic Scipio Africanus, this was one of the films he saw being made. The film, a vehicle for the Sicilian comedian Angelo Musco, is about an unsuccessful old comedian forced to find another work. While he is selling cakes in a theatre, the audience discover the highly sought-after collectible cards of "The Ferocious Saladin". Inspired by the event, the comedian sets up a successful comic piece on stage.
The Old Guard is a 1934 Italian drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Gianfranco Giachetti, Mino Doro, and Franco Brambilla. It was one of several pro-Fascist films made by Blasetti during the era. The film is set in a small Italian town in 1922, where a local group of Fascist blackshirts battle against rival socialists who have called a strike at the hospital. Mario, the young son of Doctor Cardini, is killed in the fighting. The film ends with the March on Rome that brought Benito Mussolini to power.
Naples of Olden Times is a 1938 Italian musical comedy film directed by Amleto Palermi and starring Vittorio De Sica, Emma Gramatica and Elisa Cegani. It was made at Cinecittà in Rome.
It Always Ends That Way is a 1939 Italian musical comedy film directed by Enrique Susini and starring Vittorio De Sica, Nedda Francy and Roberto Rey. The film was based on a novel by Robert Dieudonné. It was shot at the Cinecittà studios in Rome with sets designed by Salvo D'Angelo.
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Salvo D'Angelo was an Italian film producer. He also worked as an art director and production designer.
The Ten Commandments is a 1945 Italian drama film directed by Giorgio Walter Chili. It features an ensemble of Italian actors in episodes based on the Ten Commandments.
The Sinner is a 1940 Italian drama film directed by Amleto Palermi and starring Paola Barbara, Vittorio De Sica, and Fosco Giachetti.
The Taming of the Shrew is a 1942 Italian comedy film directed by Ferdinando Maria Poggioli and starring Amedeo Nazzari, Lilia Silvi and Lauro Gazzolo. It is based on William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew, with the setting updated to modern-day Rome.
No Turning Back is a 1945 Italian drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring an ensemble cast including Elisa Cegani, Valentina Cortese, Maria Denis, Doris Duranti, Mariella Lotti, María Mercader, Dina Sassoli and Vittorio De Sica. It is based on the 1938 novel of the same title by Alba De Cespedes. It was shot at the Scalera Studios in Rome. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Guido Fiorini and Carlo Egidi. Made in 1943 during the Second World, due to disruption caused by the fighting in Italy, it did not go on release until January 1945.