''Alarm Bells'' (Italian: ''Campane a martello'') is a 1949 Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Luigi Zampa Luigi Zampa (2 January 1905 – 16 August 1991) was an Italian film director. Biography Son of a worker, Zampa studied filmmaking from 1932 to 1937 at the Italian film school Centro sperimentale di cinematografia in Rome. He directed several ...

and starring

Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (born 4 July 1927) is an Italian actress, photojournalist, and politician. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. As o ...

Yvonne Sanson Yvonne Sanson ( el, Υβόν Σανσόν; 29 August 1925 – 23 July 2003) was a Greek-Italian film actress. She appeared in 46 films between 1946 and 1972, mainly working in Italy. Born in Thessaloniki, Sanson was a naturalised Italian cit ...

and

Eduardo De Filippo Eduardo De Filippo (; 24 May 1900 – 31 October 1984), also known simply as ''Eduardo'', was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan works ''Filumena Marturano'' and '' Napoli Milionaria''. Consid ...

Location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for exam ...

took place on

Ischia Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately east to west ...

in the

Gulf of Naples The Gulf of Naples (), also called the Bay of Naples, is a roughly 15-kilometer-wide (9.3 mi) gulf located along the south-western coast of Italy (province of Naples, Campania region). It opens to the west into the Mediterranean Sea. It i ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Piero Gherardi Piero Gherardi (20 November 1909 – 8 June 1971) was the Costume and Set Designer of Federico Fellini's ''La Dolce Vita'' and ''8½'', winning an Oscar for each film in the category of Best Costume Design. Born in Poppi, Tuscany, Piero Ghera ...

. A separate English-language version '' Children of Chance'' was produced. It was directed by Zampa but otherwise featured a different British cast of actors. It took around 113 million

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

at the box office.Chiti & Poppi p.74 Defilippo lollo sanson

Plot

Agostina has been working as a prostitute during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, has been sending the money she has saved back to her hometown priest for safekeeping. After the war she returns to the island with her friend Australia, planning to open a clothing shop. However, she discovers that the Priest had been dead a year and his successor believing that the money was a donation has spent it all on an orphanage for those who have lost their parents in the war.

Cast

as Agostina *

as Australia *

as Don Andrea *

Carlo Giustini Carlo Giustini (born 4 May 1923), sometimes credited as Carlo Justini, is an Italian retired actor. Life and career Born in Viterbo, the son of a railway employee, Giustini debuted at twenty years old in ''The Materassi Sisters'', after having ...

as Marco *

Carlo Romano Carlo Romano (8 May 1908 – 16 October 1975) was an Italian actor, voice actor and screenwriter. Biography Born in Livorno, Romano was the son of actress Dina Romano and the younger brother of actor Felice Romano. Romano started his acting ...

as Gendarme *

Clelia Matania Clelia Matania (28 March 1918 – 14 October 1981) was an Italian film and voice actress. Life and career Born in London, the daughter of the Capri-born naturalized Briton painter Fortunino Matania (best known as Saturnino), Matania attended t ...

as Bianca *

Agostino Salvietti Agostino Salvietti (28 August 1882 - 2 December 1967) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than forty films from 1924 to 1964. Filmography References External links * 1882 births 1967 deaths Italian male film actors {{It ...

as Mayor *

Ernesto Almirante Ernesto Almirante (24 September 1877 – 13 December 1964) was an Italian film and stage actor. Life and career Born in Mistretta into a family of actors, Almirante worked several years on stage along his father Nunzio. He was also active as ag ...

as Landowner * as Butcher *

Salvatore Arcidiacono Salvatore may refer to: * Salvatore (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name * "Salvatore" (song), by Lana Del Rey, 2015 * Salvatore (band), a Norwegian instrumental rock band * '' Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams' ...

as The Pharmacist *

Ada Colangeli Ada Colangeli (5 March 1913 – 29 February 1992) was an Italian character actress. Life and career Born in Rome, Colangeli began acting in the early 1940s, and she was mainly cast in roles of women from a low social class. Active for about tw ...

as Francesca *

Carlo Pisacane Carlo Pisacane, Duke of San Giovanni (22 August 1818 – 2 July 1857) was an Italian patriot and one of the first Italian socialist thinkers. He argued that violence was necessary not only to draw attention to, or generate publicity for, a c ...

as Filippo the altar boy * Francesco Santoro as Franco *

Vittoria Febbi Vittoria Febbi (born February 13, 1939) is an Italian actress and voice actress. Biography Born in Eritrea's capital city and raised in Italy, Febbi began her career as a child actress in 1949 starring in Luigi Zampa's '' Alarm Bells''. She also ...

as Connie * Pasquale Misiano as Chauffeur

References

Bibliography

* Chiti, Roberto & Poppi, Roberto. ''Dizionario del cinema italiano: Dal 1945 al 1959''. Gremese Editore, 1991.

External links

* 1949 films 1949 drama films 1940s multilingual films Italian drama films Italian multilingual films 1940s Italian-language films Italian black-and-white films Films directed by Luigi Zampa Films produced by Carlo Ponti Films scored by Nino Rota Lux Film films 1940s Italian films {{1940s-drama-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

Bibliography

External links