The Great Appeal

The Great Appeal
Directed by Mario Camerini
Produced by Roberto Dandi
Written by Ercole Patti
Pietro Solari
Mario Soldati
Mario Camerini
Starring Camillo Pilotto
Roberto Villa
Lina d'Acosta
Guglielmo Sinaz
Music by Annibale Bizzelli
Cinematography Massimo Terzano
Edited by Fernando Tropea
Production
company
Artisti Associati
Distributed by Artisti Associati
Release date
 November 1936
Running time
 80 minutes
Country Italy
Language Italian

The Great Appeal (Italian: Il Grande appello) is a 1936 Italian war film directed by Mario Camerini and starring Camillo Pilotto, Roberto Villa and Lina d'Acosta. It is sometimes known by the alternative title The Last Roll-Call.

Camerini was considered to have no sympathies with the Fascist regime of Italy, but he made this propaganda film that endorsed the colonial policies of the Italian government.[1] It was one of a number of African-set films made during the Fascist era including The White Squadron (1936), Sentinels of Bronze (1937) and Luciano Serra, Pilot (1938).[2] The film portrays the rediscovery of his patriotism of an Italian, who eventually dies for his country.

Synopsis

Giovanni Bertani is a rootless Italian emigrant who is currently running a hotel in French-ruled Djibouti, while selling arms to the Abyssinian forces fighting the Italians in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War although his son Enrico is serving on the other side. Following a journey to Abyssinia Giovanni regains his sense of Italian identity, and is fatally wounded blowing up the shipment of arms to the Abyssinians.[3]

Cast

References

  1. ↑ Gundle p.31
  2. ↑ Palumbo p.294
  3. ↑ Ben-Ghiat p.134

Bibliography

  • Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922-1945. University of California Press, 2004.
  • Gundle, Stephen. Mussolini's Dream Factory: Film Stardom in Fascist Italy. Berghahn Books, 2013.
  • Palumbo, Patrizia. A Place in the Sun: Africa in Italian Colonial Culture from Post-unification to the Present. University of California Press, 2003.


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