Now here's a list for ya. Fresh from the oven. A commission of Italian experts (don't ask me who) has just presented a list of the Italian movies made from 1942 to 1978 that are part of the national patrimony and should be preserved, if not for all time, for a really long while. It goes by the alpha order of the director's name, and thus starts with Antonioni.
Now this would be a very good list for you to use to get yourself an education in Italian cinema. Like all lists, it's subjective and somewhat puzzling to any given individual, including me. Antonioni: why not L'Avventura? Sergio Leone is not present at all, probably because, although Italian, he did not represent Italianness. But if so, why do they have Pontecorvo's (excellent) Battle of Algiers? Nanni Moretti, one of my favorites, is not present with his debut film, Ecce Bombo, which came out right at the tail end of the time span. Big mistake, probably dictated by personalities, to use a charitable word. And who in hell are Bonnard and Duvivier? Sound like Frenchies to me. I'm glad Francesco Rosi is represented with five movies. His Mani sulla citta' (1963), about political corruption in real estate in Naples (plus ca change...), is next in my Netflix queue and I should be reviewing it soon.
In the photo above, a young Stefania Sandrelli, another one of my favorites.
