It started in Rome
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | It started in Rome |
| Original title | The Pigeon That Took Rome |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1962 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Melville Shavelson |
| script | Melville Shavelson |
| production | Melville Shavelson |
| music | Alessandro Cicognini |
| camera | Daniel L. Fapp |
| cut | Frank Bracht |
| occupation | |
| |
It Began in Rome (Original Title: The Pigeon That Took Rome ) is an American comedy film by Melville Shavelson from 1962 with Charlton Heston and Elsa Martinelli . The novel The Easter Dinner by Donald Downes served as a literary template .
action
After the fall of Mussolini in 1944, the Americans Captain Paul MacDougall and Sgt. Joseph Contini are sent as spies to Rome , which is still occupied by the Germans. Although neither of them have any experience in espionage, they are supposed to find out about the enemy's plans with the help of flying pigeons for the Allies.
Eleven-year-old Livio first brought her to his father Ciccio Massimo, the leader of the Italian resistance, who from then on let her live with himself and his middle-class family. At first, Ciccio's daughter Antonella is not particularly impressed by the newcomers, especially since there is now even less food than is left for the family anyway. When it turns out that her sister Rosalba is pregnant and urgently needs a husband, Joseph offers himself for the role. They both fall in love, and Ciccio wants to announce the engagement soon at a party. For the same occasion Antonella accidentally prepares Paul's flying pigeons as a feast. Only one of the pigeons is spared.
Livio then replaces the eaten birds with pigeons that he stole from the Germans. These are now flying directly to the Nazis with Paul's secret messages. Paul therefore feels compelled to send the Nazis senseless and contradicting messages in this way. But just one of them is brought by the remaining American pigeon to the Americans in Anzio , whereupon the Allies decide to attack the Italian capital. After Rome was liberated from the German occupation forces, Joseph and Rosalba marry, who gives birth to her child. Paul and Antonella have also found each other and have also said yes. Meanwhile, the American pigeon receives a medal of honor for its services.
background
After Charlton Heston had enjoyed great success with monumental films such as The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben Hur (1959) and El Cid (1961) and threatened to be committed to serious roles in these kinds of films, he was determined to make a comedy. Director Melville Shavelson , who originally intended Bob Hope to play the lead in It Began in Rome , was accordingly surprised when Heston asked him for the role. The filming, during which Shavelson and Heston got along very well, took place on location in Rome. Shavelson made a conscious decision to shoot in black and white so that he could cut material from original newsreel reports into the film without changing style , in order to be able to give the film more authenticity.
It began in Rome premiered in New York on August 22, 1962 . In Germany the film was shown in cinemas for the first time on January 4, 1963.
Reviews
Variety called the film a "fun comedy". In addition, the location, the Italy of World War II, looks "consistently authentic". “A comedy without a sparkling joke”, however, found the lexicon of international film .
Awards
At the Academy Awards in 1963 , the film was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Production Design category. However, he could not prevail against Who disturbs the nightingale . Furthermore, got it started in Rome three nominations for the Golden Globe in the category Best Actor - Comedy or Musical (Charlton Heston), Best Supporting Actor (Harry Guardino) and Best Supporting Actress (Gabriella Pallotta). Melville Shavelson was also nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for his screenplay . Charlton Heston was awarded the Bambi for Best International Actor for his performance .
German version
The German dubbed version was created in 1962 by Berliner Synchron GmbH. Klaus von Wahl took over the dubbing , while Fritz A. Koeniger was responsible for the dialogue book.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Captain Paul MacDougall | Charlton Heston | Arnold Marquis |
| Antonella Massimo | Elsa Martinelli | Agi Prandhoff |
| Sgt. Joseph Contini | Harry Guardino | Michael Chevalier |
| Ciccio Massimo | Salvatore Baccaloni | Eduard Wandrey |
| Rosalba Massimo | Gabriella Pallotta | Ursula Lillig |
| Col. Sherman Harrington | Brian Donlevy | Hans W. Hamacher |
| Livio | Marietto | Michael Wuschick |
| Col. Wilhelm Krafft | Rudolph Anders | Franz-Otto Kruger |
| Monsignor O'Toole | Arthur Shields | Alfred Balthoff |
| Conte Danesi | Vadim Wolkowsky | Kurt Waitzmann |
| Major Wolff | Gary Collins | Peter Schiff |
Web links
- It began in Rome in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- It began in Rome at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Andrea Passafiume on tcm.com
- ↑ "This is a good-fun comedy and there's no incongruity in the fact that the setting is authentic-looking World War II Italy." See The Pigeon That Took Rome . In: Variety , 1962.
- ↑ It started in Rome. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 13, 2019 .
- ↑ cf. synchrondatenbank.de