Watch out, banditi!
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Watch out, banditi! |
| Original title | Attention! Banditi! |
| Country of production | Italy |
| original language | Italian |
| Publishing year | 1951 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Carlo Lizzani |
| script |
Rodolfo Sonego Ugo Pirro Giuliani De Negri Giuseppe Dagnino Carlo Lizzani Massimo Mida Enrico Ribulsi Mario Socrate |
| production | Cooperativa Spettatori Produttori Cinematografici |
| music | Mario Zafred |
| camera | Gianni di Venanzo |
| cut | Enzo Alfonsi |
| occupation | |
| |
The Italian feature film Warning, Banditi! (1951) is a war drama with propaganda intent. It is about the struggle of communist partisans in World War II , called "bandits" by the occupiers, in and around Genoa . It was the first feature film by director Carlo Lizzani ; Gina Lollobrigida , who later became more famous, appeared in a supporting role . Lizzani tells the story in a neorealistic style, without romantically heroising the partisans, but chooses an educational tone and clearly divides all characters into good or bad. He portrays the partisans and the workers as having integrity and undeterred, while the representatives of the bourgeoisie are lax and selfish. The production was financed by the sale of Share certificates for the population. The supporters also took part in the production, for example as extras in crowd scenes that were shot on Sundays. The authorities refused to provide authentic weapons for the shoot and obstructed the export of the finished film abroad. At the film festival in Karlovy Vary , in communist-ruled Czechoslovakia , Lizzani received the award for best director in 1952.
action
In the fourth winter of the war, communist partisans, led by Commandant Vento and Political Commissar Lorenzo, set out in the mountains to receive a delivery of weapons from comrades. A teenage boy who cooks for her in her shelter joins the mission against her concerns. At the agreed location they find a comrade executed by SS troops. Inevitably, they spend the night in the villa of a diplomat who differs from them with his upper-class lifestyle.
The partisans distrust the radio announcements of the Western Allies, in which they are asked to refrain from major actions and to wait. Nor do they show any interest in the diplomat's offer to negotiate with the SS. The diplomat's lover also lives in the villa, and her greatest concern is that there might be gossip about her because of the strange men in the house. Two of the partisans, Lorenzo and the wanted-for-wanted "blonde", set off for Genoa in civilian clothes and armed to contact a middleman who can lead them to arms. The hiding place is in a machine factory where the workers are preparing a strike. SS troops are about to approach, occupy the factory and order the dismantling of the machines in order to ship them to the German Reich. In the evening the partisans overpower the guarding soldiers and the workers and their leader Marco seize the factory. Anna, Domenico's sister, who works for the German-loyal Alpini, works as the secretary. She meets her brother and warns him to get to safety without telling him anything about what is going on in the factory. Fearing that Anna will alert the troops, the partisans capture her. The "blonde" guarding her was once in love with her. At night, the workers remove essential parts from the machines and hide them to make production impossible for the occupiers. In the morning SS units approached and several partisans were killed in the fighting that followed. The factory engineer refuses to reveal the hiding place of the machine parts, so the SS commander has him hanged. Domenico goes over to the partisans and is able to convince more Alpini to fight against the occupying forces. After a victorious battle near a bridge, the scattered partisans found themselves together and, well armed and numerically strengthened, set out for further fighting.
Web links
- Watch out, banditi! in the Internet Movie Database (English)
literature
- Cristina Bragaglia: Warning! Banditi! . In: Fernaldo Di Giammatteo (ed.): Dizionario del cinema italiano . Editori Reuniti, Rome 1995, ISBN 88-359-4008-7 , pp. 5-6