The intersection between film stardom and politics is an understudied phenomenon of Fascist Italy, despite the fact that the Mussolini regime deemed stardom important enough to warrant sustained attention and interference. Focused on the period from the start of sound cinema to the final end of Fascism in 1945, this book examines the development of an Italian star system and evaluates its place in film production and distribution. The performances and careers of several major stars, including Isa Miranda, Vittorio De Sica, Amedeo Nazzari, and Alida Valli, are closely analyzed in terms of their relationships to the political sphere and broader commercial culture, with consideration of their fates in the aftermath of Fascism. A final chapter explores the place of the stars in popular memory and representations of the Fascist film world in postwar cinema.
Author(s): Stephen Gundle
Edition: 1.
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: 336
City: New York/Oxford
Mussolini’s Dream Factory......Page 1
Mussolini’s Dream Factory - Film Stardom in Fascist Italy - Stephen Gundle......Page 3
Table of Contents......Page 7
Figures......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Introduction......Page 13
PART I - Fascism, Cinema and Stardom......Page 29
1 - Italian Cinema under Fascism......Page 31
2 - The Creation of a Star System......Page 52
3 - Stars and Commercial Culture......Page 79
4 - The Public and the Stars......Page 108
PART II - Italian Stars of the Fascist Era......Page 133
5 - The National Star - Isa Miranda......Page 135
6 - The Matinée Idol - Vittorio De Sica......Page 156
7 - Everybody’s Fiancée - Assia Noris......Page 178
8 - The Star as Hero - Amedeo Nazzari......Page 196
9 - The Uniformed Role Model - Fosco Giachetti......Page 215
10 - The Photogenic Beauty - Alida Valli......Page 236
11 - The Duce’s Whim - Miria Di San Servolo......Page 256
PART III - The Aftermath of Stardom......Page 271
12 - Civil War, Liberation and Reconstruction......Page 273
13 - Survival, Memory and Forgetting......Page 290
Bibliography......Page 309
Index......Page 323
