''Rice Girl'' ( it, La risaia) is a

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

Italian melodrama film directed by

Raffaello Matarazzo Raffaello Matarazzo (17 August 1909 – 17 May 1966) was an Italian filmmaker. Life Matarazzo started writing film reviews for the Roman newspaper ''Il Tevere'' before re-editing scripts for the Italian film company Cines. His first films w ...

Plot

Pietro, the owner of a large paddy, recognizes among his young workers Elena, his natural daughter. He then begins to follow her and to protect her, causing misunderstandings in his family.

Locations

The movie was shot in Cascina Graziosa in Cameriano of

Casalino Casalino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Novara. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,469 and an area of .All demograph ...

(

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...

). (Info by the Dizionario del Turismo Cinematografico)

Production

The film is part of the sentimental melodramas, commonly called tearjerking (of which Matarazzo was the greatest exponent), then in vogue among the Italian public, then renamed by critics with the term neorealism of appendix It was the first film in

Cinemascope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

and in color made by Matarazzo, it was at the time presented as a popular remake of the neorealist masterpiece Riso amaro by

Giuseppe De Santis Giuseppe De Santis (11 February 1917 – 16 May 1997) was an Italian film director. One of the most idealistic neorealist filmmakers of the 1940s and 1950s, he wrote and directed films punctuated by ardent cries for social reform. He was ...

of 1949. It was shot for exteriors in the Casalino countryside, in the province of Novara. It is the first film shot in Italy by

Elsa Martinelli Elsa Martinelli (born Elisa Tia; 30 January 1935 – 8 July 2017) was an Italian actress and fashion model. Life and career Born Elisa Tia in Grosseto, Tuscany, she moved to Rome with her family. In 1953, she was discovered by Roberto Capuc ...

on her return from Hollywood where she made her debut alongside

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...

in the western film The Indian Hunter by André De Toth.

Distribution

The film was released on the Italian cinema circuit on January 27, 1956.

Cast

: Elena *

Folco Lulli Folco Lulli (3 July 1912 – 23 May 1970) was an Italian partisan and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1946 and 1970. He was the brother of actor Piero Lulli. Selected filmography * ''How I Lost the War'' (1947) * '' ...

: Pietro *

Michel Auclair Michel Auclair (born Vladimir Vujović, sr-cyr, Владимир Вујовић; 14 September 1922 – 7 January 1988) was an actor of Serbian and French ancestry, known best for his roles in French cinema. Auclair was born to a Serbian fathe ...

: Mario *

Vivi Gioi Vivi Gioi, born Vivienne Trumpy (2 January 1917, Livorno – 12 July 1975, Fregene) was an Italian actress. Her alternative professional last name Diesca was an anagram of De Sica, the famous actor and director with whom she was in love. She is ...

: Elena's mother *

Lilla Brignone Lilla Brignone (23 August 1913 – 24 March 1984) was an Italian film and theater actress. She appeared in 40 films between 1930 and 1982. Her father was film director and actor Guido Brignone and her aunt was actress Mercedes Brignone. Her ...

: Adele, Pietro's wife *

Rik Battaglia Rik Battaglia (byname of Caterino Bertaglia; 18 February 1927 – 27 March 2015) was an Italian film actor. He was born at Corbola, near Rovigo, Veneto. He mainly used the stage name of Rik Battaglia although alternate names he used for his fi ...

: Gianni

References

External links

* 1956 films Italian drama films Films directed by Raffaello Matarazzo 1956 drama films 1950s Italian films Melodrama films {{1950s-drama-film-stub