''Mussolini and I'' (alternately titled ''Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce'') is a 1985
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
docudrama
Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event".
Docudramas typic ...
film directed by
Alberto Negrin
Alberto Negrin (born 2 January 1940) is an Italian film director and screenwriter, known for his historical, nostalgic and political films.
Negrin started his career as a fine art photographer. In 1962 he debuted as an assistant stage director, c ...
. It chronicles the strained relationship between
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
's
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
dictator
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
and his son-in-law and foreign minister,
Count Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 19 ...
, based on Ciano's diaries. Made in English as an Italian-French-German-Swiss-Spanish-US co-production, with
Bob Hoskins
Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor. His work included lead roles in films and television series such as '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Long Good Friday'' (1980), ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), ''Who ...
,
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...
and
Susan Sarandon
Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...
in the leading roles, it first aired on
Rai Uno
Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...
on 15 April 1985 in a 130-minute version. On 8 September 1985, it premiered in the USA on
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
in an extended four-hour version.
All filming was done in Italy; including northern Italy's
Gargnano
Gargnano ( Gardesano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is situated on the western shore of Lake Garda. The municipal territory includes the artificial Valvestino Lake, created in 1962.
History
The name of the ...
,
Merano
Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and ''comune'' in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier V ...
,
Bolzano
Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...
,
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
, and in central Italy,
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and
L'Aquila
L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...
. Filming was also done at the well known
Villa Torlonia and
Palazzo Venezia
The Palazzo Venezia or Palazzo Barbo (), formerly Palace of St. Mark, is a palazzo (palace) in central Rome, Italy, just north of the Capitoline Hill. The original structure of this great architectural complex consisted of a modest medieval hous ...
. It was released on a 2 disc DVD in August 2003. It is divided into four segments for a total of 240 minutes and was released by
Koch Entertainment
Koch Entertainment was an American record label and a distributor of film, television, and music. It was purchased by Canadian entertainment company Entertainment One in 2005.
History First years
The company began in 1975 as part of Koch Intern ...
.
Plot
The film starts just before
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 ...
and shows the political and personal side of
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
's fall from power and his death and the end of the war. It delves into his relationship with his son in-law, daughter, wife, mistress, and Hitler.
Cast
*
Bob Hoskins
Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor. His work included lead roles in films and television series such as '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Long Good Friday'' (1980), ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), ''Who ...
as
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
, dictator of Fascist Italy
*
Susan Sarandon
Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...
as
Edda Ciano
Edda Ciano, Countess of Cortellazzo and Buccari (''née'' Mussolini; 1 September 1910 – 9 April 1995) was the daughter of Benito Mussolini, Italy's fascist dictator from 1922 to 1943. Her husband, the fascist propagandist and Foreign Minister ...
, Mussolini's daughter
*
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...
as
Count Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 19 ...
, Mussolini's son-in-law
*
Annie Girardot
Annie Suzanne Girardot (25 October 193128 February 2011) was a French actress. She often played strong-willed, independent, hard-working, and often lonely women, imbuing her characters with an earthiness and reality that endeared her to women und ...
as
Rachele Mussolini
Rachele Guidi (11 April 1890 – 30 October 1979), also known (particularly in Italy) as Donna Rachele (Italian for "Lady Rachael") and incorrectly as Rachele Mussolini in the English-speaking world, was the second wife of Italian dictator and ...
, Mussolini's wife
*
Barbara De Rossi
Barbara De Rossi (born 9 August 1960) is an Italian actress who has combined a career in international cinema with longstanding popularity in Italian television.
Biography
Barbara De Rossi was born in 1960 in Rome to an Italian wine importer and ...
as
Claretta Petacci
Clara Petacci, known as Claretta Petacci (; 28 February 1912 – 28 April 1945), was a mistress of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. She was killed during Mussolini's execution by Italian partisans.
Early life
Daughter of Giuseppina Persich ...
, Mussolini's mistress
*
Massimo Dapporto
Massimo Dapporto (born 8 August 1945) is an Italian actor and voice actor.
Biography
Born in Milan, the son of the actor and comedian Carlo Dapporto, he studied acting at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts. Dapporto began his ...
as
Vittorio Mussolini
Vittorio Mussolini (27 September 1916 – 12 June 1997) was an Italian film critic and producer. He was also the second child of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. However, he was the first officially acknowledged son of Mussolini, with his secon ...
, Mussolini's son
*
Vittorio Mezzogiorno
Vittorio Mezzogiorno (16 December 1941 – 7 January 1994) was an Italian actor.
Biography
Mezzogiorno was born in Cercola, the youngest of seven children. His older brother Vincenzo, who wanted to become a director, introduced him to the thea ...
as
Alessandro Pavolini
Alessandro Pavolini (27 September 1903 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician, journalist, and essayist, notable for his involvement in the Fascist government, during World War II, and also for his cruelty against the opponents of fascism ...
, friend of Galeazzo's and leader of the
Republican Fascist Party
The Republican Fascist Party ( it, Partito Fascista Repubblicano, PFR) was a political party in Italy led by Benito Mussolini during the German occupation of Central and Northern Italy and was the sole legal and ruling party of the Italian Socia ...
*
Kurt Raab
Kurt Raab (20 July 1941 – 28 June 1988) was a West German stage and film actor, as well as a screenwriter and playwright. Raab is best remembered for his work with German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, with whom he collaborated on 31 ...
as
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, dictator of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
*
Marne Maitland
James Marne Kumar Maitland (18 December 1914 – March 1992) was an Anglo-Indian character actor in films and television programmes.
Biography
Maitland was born in Calcutta, and educated at Bedales School before going up to Magdalene College, ...
as
King Victor Emmanuel III
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
*
Hans-Dieter Asner as
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945.
Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
, Foreign Minister of the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
*
Carlheinz Heitmann as
Karl Wolff
Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff (13 May 1900 – 17 July 1984) was a German SS functionary who served as Chief of Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS (Heinrich Himmler) and an SS liaison to Adolf Hitler during World War II. He ended the war as the Supre ...
, Military Governor and
Supreme SS and Police Leader of
Northern Italy
Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...
*
Harald Dietl as
Otto Skorzeny
Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born German SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' (lieutenant colonel) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including th ...
, led
Operation Oak to rescue Mussolini from
Campo Imperatore
Campo Imperatore ("Emperor's Field") is a mountain grassland or alpine meadow formed by a high basin shaped plateau located above Gran Sasso massif, the largest plateau of Apennine ridge. Known as "Little Tibet", it is located in Gran Sasso e M ...
*
Dietlinde Turban
Dietlinde Turban (born 27 August 1957 in Reutlingen in Germany) is the birth name and stage name of Dietlinde Turban Maazel, a German actress. Her brother is the violinist Ingolf Turban.
Dietlinde Turban's first stage appearance at the age of ...
as
Frau Beetz, born as Hildegard Burkhardt: she was a
German intelligence agent who visited Galeazzo in prison and tried to help him
*
Ted Rusoff
Ted Rusoff (May 20, 1939 – September 28, 2013) was a Canadian voiceover artist, actor, vocal coach, and translator specializing in the adaptation and translation from and into various languages of synchronized dialogue for the dubbing of fil ...
as
Francesco Saverio Nitti
Francesco Saverio Vincenzo de Paolo Nitti (19 July 1868 – 20 February 1953) was an Italian economist and political figure. A Radical, he served as Prime Minister of Italy between 1919 and 1920.
According to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (" ...
*
David-George Brown as
Giuseppe Castellano
Giuseppe Castellano (September 12, 1893 in Prato – July 31, 1977 in Porretta Terme) was an Italian general who negotiated the Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces on September 8, 1943.
Biography
Military career
Of Sicilian descent ...
*
Gianni Pulone as
Enzo Galbiati
Enzo Emilio Galbiati (23 May 1897 – 23 May 1982) was an Italian soldier and fascist politician.
Biography
Born in Monza, Galbiati was a lieutenant in the Royal Italian Army's elite Arditi during the First World War. He was wounded in action ...
*
Stefano De Sando as
Dino Grandi
Dino Grandi (4 June 1895 – 21 May 1988), 1st Conte di Mordano, was an Italian Fascist politician, minister of justice, minister of foreign affairs and president of parliament.
Early life
Born at Mordano, province of Bologna, Grandi was a gr ...
*
Luciano Baglioni as
Carlo Scorza
Carlo Scorza (15 June 1897 – 23 December 1988) was a prominent member of the National Fascist Party of Italy during World War II. He built his reputation in the Italian Fascist paramilitary group known as the Blackshirts, and later rose to the ...
*
Franco Meroni as
Giuseppe Bottai
Giuseppe Bottai (3 September 1895 – 9 January 1959) was an Italian journalist, and member of the National Fascist Party of Benito Mussolini.
Early life
Born in Rome, Giuseppe was son of Luigi, a wine dealer with republican sympathies, and Ele ...
*
Leslie Thomas
Leslie Thomas, OBE (22 March 1931 – 6 May 2014) was a Welsh author best known for his comic novel ''The Virgin Soldiers''.
Early life
Thomas was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. He was orphaned at the age of 12, when his mariner fath ...
as
Emilio De Bono
Emilio De Bono (19 March 1866 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian general, fascist activist, marshal, and member of the Fascist Grand Council (''Gran Consiglio del Fascismo''). De Bono fought in the Italo-Turkish War, the First World War and the ...
*
Piero Palermini
Piero Palermini (1925–1996) was an Italian film actor. He was cast by Riccardo Freda in the 1949 swashbuckler, possibly due to a physical resemblance to the Hollywood actor Gene Kelly. Freda would come to regret this casting although Palermini w ...
as
Roberto Farinacci
Roberto Farinacci (; 16 October 1892 – 28 April 1945) was a leading Italian Fascist politician and important member of the National Fascist Party before and during World War II as well as one of its ardent antisemitic proponents. English histo ...
*
Robert Sommer
Robert Sommer (April 26, 1929February 27, 2021) was an internationally known Environmental Psychologist and held the position of Distinguished Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of California, Davis. as
Giacomo Suardo
*
Franco Mazzieri as
Giovanni Marinelli
Giovanni Marinelli (18 October 1879 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian Fascist political leader.
Marinelli was born in Adria, Veneto.
A wealthy man, he contributed to Fascist success by financing the March on Rome. As secretary of the National ...
*
Ulrich Engst as
Major Otto-Harald Mors
*
Franco Fabrizi
Franco Fabrizi (; 15 February 1916 – 18 October 1995) was an Italian actor.
Life and career
Son of a barber and a cinema cashier, Franco Fabrizi started his career as a model and an actor in fotoromanzi. Fabrizi also starred on several rev ...
as
Quinto Navarra
External links
*
1985 films
1985 television films
1980s biographical films
1980s historical films
Italian biographical films
Italian historical films
Italian television films
English-language Italian films
English-language television shows
Films directed by Alberto Negrin
Films about Benito Mussolini
Biographical television films
World War II television drama series
World War II films based on actual events
1980s Italian films
{{bio-film-stub