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Pietro Germi (1914 – 1974)




Filmography

Il testimone / The Testimony (1946)

Gioventù perduta / Lost Youth (1947)

In nome della legge / In the Name of the Law (1949)

Il cammino della speranza / Path of Hope (1950)

La città si diffende / Four Ways Out (1951) Ripley's Home Video (R2 IT)

La Presidentessa / Mademoiselle Gobete (1952)

Il Brigante di Tacca del Lupo / The Bandit of Tacca Del Lupo (1952)

Gelosia / Jealousy (1953)

Amori di mezzo secolo /Mid-Century Loves (segment, 1954)

Il ferroviere / The Railroad Man (1956) NoShame Films (R1)

L'uomo di paglia / A Man of Straw (1958)

Un maledetto imbroglio / The Facts of Murder (1959)

Divorzio all'italiana / Divorce – Italian Style (1961) Criterion (R1) / Hen's Tooth (R1)

Sedotta e abbandonata / Seduced and Abandoned (1964) Criterion (R1) / Fox (R2 IT)

Signore & signori / The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1965)

L'immorale / Climax (1967)

Serafino (1969)

Le castagne sono buone / A Pocketful of Chestnuts (1970)

Alfredo, Alfredo (1972)


Recommended Web Resources

37th New York Film Festival – program for retrospective of Pietro Germi's films

Film Reference

Hollywood.com – career overview

Kamera – “Italian for Beginnersâ€

Film Forum kicks off a Germi retrospective next weekend. Most of the films included were made prior to the two released by Criterion, meaning they're of a considerably different style, I believe. I'm a little disappointed that the only comedy, aside from Divorce Italian Style and Seduced and Abandoned, is Alfredo, Alfredo starring Dustin Hoffman.

Does anyone have an opinion of it, or the early Germi films, specifically The Facts of Murder?

is Alfredo, Alfredo starring Dustin Hoffman.

I'm incredibly curious about this one myself - it's Dustin Hoffman dubbed into Italian, co-starring lovely Stefania Sandrelli. I'm already sold, but I've also heard some good things about it.



Also, Un Maledetto imbroglio has Claudia Cardinale. Has anybody seen that one?

Can someone comment on The Railroad Man? Has anyone seen it?

Cinephrenic wrote:Can someone comment on The Railroad Man? Has anyone seen it?

The Railroad Man is a fantastic film. It's mostly a gritty neo-realist film, which reminded me of La Bete Humaine and The Bicycle Thief. The story of a RR engineer who gets a bad break or two and loses confidence in himself. His drinking doesn't help any. But it's also a family drama, with a touching father and son relationship, a lazy good-for-nothing older son, and a daughter who gets pregant and has to marry the wrong guy. It's all an affecting drama/tragedy. Interestingly, these very same pieces also form the basis of Germi's later family comedies, Divorce Italian Style and Seduced and Abandoned. [For the record, Divorce kind of leaves me cold, while I think Seduced is a masterpiece].

Germi himself plays the railroad man in an impressive performance. The young boy is quite good. The mother who holds the family together hardly gets a scene (a truly thankless role, I guess). One scene with the daughter is a little overplayed, a plot strand disappears a little too long, and there are a couple choppy edits. But overall I was very impressed with The Railroad Man.

Dylan wrote:

is Alfredo, Alfredo starring Dustin Hoffman.

I'm incredibly curious about this one myself - it's Dustin Hoffman dubbed into Italian, co-starring lovely Stefania Sandrelli. I'm already sold, but I've also heard some good things about it.

Also, Un Maledetto imbroglio has Claudia Cardinale. Has anybody seen that one?

I've seen and own both downloaded. Alfredo is a good funny comedy. There's a Spanish and Italian good DUAL divx.
Imbroglio is a cult movie in Italy, a masterpiece. I had to re watch it because I saw it years ago.
Il ferroviere, I didn't liked as the others. There's no doubt, his film that I prefer is Signore & signori / The Birds, the Bees and the Italians.

There's a montage of scenes from Alfredo, Alfredo (in Italian, unsubtitled) on YouTube. It looks really cute. Dustin Hoffman in a bona-fide Italian comedy, his acting akin to a geeky Mastroianni. Does anybody know if there was an English dub (which would no doubt be a mess, but it'd be worth it for Dustin Hoffman's voice as I consider him to be one of the all-time greatest actors)?

This must've been one of the last of its kind - I had no clue Italy was still making comedies like this past the sixties (i.e. the milieu of La Dolce Vita is still evident), though that very well could be because so much Italian cinema isn't available and is never written about. Paramount really should attempt to get it out there, complete with a documentary (I would love to hear about Hoffman's experiences during the filming). Maybe a future Dustin Hoffman or "world cinema" box?

Pietro Germi is one of my favorite directors to say the least.

Sadly, I'm only as familiar to his work as Region 1 DVDs have allowed me, but I would love to see more of his work such as Alfredo, Alfredo.

According to Feedflix, L'immorale is coming to Netflix Instant Watch on Wednesday. I'll believe it when I see it. Given that this one seems to be unavailable even in Italy, I have my doubts. Considering their previous fuck up, I'll bet they actually wind up playing this movie instead.

I have recently re-watched the Pietro Germi segment in Mid-century Loves (1954), and really enjoyed it. Early Germi's works are often characterized by a dark, noirish mood, but this episode is much closer to his later comedies. The Italian DVD is English-friendly: http://journeys-italy.blogspot.it/2013/ ... loves.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;