''The Black Eagle'' ( it, Aquila nera) is a 1946 Italian
historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extr ...
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 ...
directed by
Riccardo Freda
Riccardo Freda (24 February 1909 – 20 December 1999) was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror, ''giallo'' and spy films.
Freda began directing ''I Vampiri'' in 1956. The film became t ...
and starring
Rossano Brazzi
Rossano Brazzi (18 September 1916 – 24 December 1994) was an Italian actor.
Biography
Brazzi was born in Bologna, Italy, the son of Maria Ghedini and Adelmo Brazzi, an employee of the Rizzoli shoe factory. He was named after Rossano Vene ...
,
Irasema Dilián and
Gino Cervi
Luigi Cervi (3 May 1901 – 3 January 1974), better known as Gino Cervi (), was an Italian actor. He was best known for portraying Peppone in a series of comedies based on the character ''Don Camillo'' (1952-1965), and police detective Jule ...
. It was released as ''Return of the Black Eagle'' in the United States. The film is based on the unfinished 1832 Russian novel ''
Dubrovsky'' by
Alexander Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
[Testa p.6] (1799–1837). It was followed by a 1951 sequel ''
Revenge of the Black Eagle'', also directed by Freda.
Cast
Production
Following the end of
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, director
Riccardo Freda
Riccardo Freda (24 February 1909 – 20 December 1999) was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror, ''giallo'' and spy films.
Freda began directing ''I Vampiri'' in 1956. The film became t ...
returned to filmmaking in 1946 and following the musical comedies he had worked on, he began work on a period
adventure film
An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, a ...
. Freda began work on adapting the unfinished novel ''
Dubrovsky'' which was written in 1832 by
Alexander Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
and published in 1841, four years after Pushkin's death. The story had already been previously to adapted to film: first by
Clarence Brown
Clarence Leon Brown (May 10, 1890 – August 17, 1987) was an American film director.
Early life
Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to Larkin Harry Brown, a cotton manufacturer, and Katherine Ann Brown (née Gaw), Brown moved to Tennessee when h ...
as ''
The Eagle'', and ''
Dubrovsky'' by Alexsandr Ivanovsky.
To develop the script, Freda worked with his friend
Steno and
Mario Monicelli
Mario Alberto Ettore Monicelli (; 16 May 1915 – 29 November 2010) was an Italian film director and screenwriter and one of the masters of the ''Commedia all'Italiana'' (Comedy Italian style). He was nominated six times for an Oscar, and was aw ...
. Freda later spoke negatively about his relationship with Monicelli, finding that when Monicelli became famous, he began ignoring Freda.
Freda commented in his memoirs that he difficulty with the producers, stating that his film "went beyond verism or what the producers were willing to accept, and it consisted of totally different elements". Specifically, Freda recalled that the producers "could not imagine how our ''ciociari''
he inhabitants of the South-East Lazio countryside">Lazio.html" ;"title="he inhabitants of the South-East Lazio">he inhabitants of the South-East Lazio countrysidecould play Cossacks".
Release
''The Black Eagle'' was distributed theatrically in Italy by Cinematografica Distributori Indepdendenti (C.D.I.) on 21 September 1946. It grossed a total of 195,000,000 Italian lire domestically in Italy. Film critic and historian Roberto Curti described the film as a "surprise hit" and became the second highest grossing Italian film that year, just after ''Rigoletto'' by Carmine Gallone. Curti was proud of the film's success stating that the film "blasted off like a bomb to chase away the fetid miasmas of
Italian neorealism, neorealism" and that he recalled the theater owner of
Civitavecchia
Civitavecchia (; meaning "ancient town") is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located west-north-west of Rome. The harbour is formed by two pi ...
writing him a letter to alert him when these productions would happen beforehand, as audiences were "so enthusiastic that they uprooted the theater's seats" which Freda remarked that it would "not happen with ''
Umberto D
''Umberto D.'' () is a 1952 Italian neorealist film directed by Vittorio De Sica. Most of the actors were non-professional, including Carlo Battisti who plays the title role of Umberto Domenico Ferrari, a poor elderly man in Rome who is despera ...
''".
The film was released in the United States as ''Return of the Black Eagle'' and in 1952 in the United Kingdom as ''The Black Eagle''.
Reception
The film was reviewed in the October 1952 ''
Monthly Film Bulletin
''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...
'' in the United Kingdom with an English-language dub and a 91-minute running time.
The review declared the film "a piece of Italian spectacle" noting that "the treatment is energetic but unimpressive and the atmosphere far from credible".
The review found the dubbing poor stating that it made it "difficult to judge the film on its real merit".
See also
* ''
The Eagle'' (1925)
* ''
Dubrowsky'' (1959)
*
List of Italian films of 1946
A list of films produced in Italy in 1946 (see 1946 in film):
References
External linksItalian films of 1946at the Internet Movie Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Films Of 1946
Italian
1946
Films
A film also called a movi ...
References
Bibliography
*
* Testa, Carlo. ''Italian Cinema and Modern European Literatures, 1945-2000''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Eagle, The
1946 films
1940s historical adventure films
Italian historical adventure films
1940s Italian-language films
Films directed by Riccardo Freda
Italian black-and-white films
Films set in the 19th century
Films set in Russia
Films based on Russian novels
Films based on works by Aleksandr Pushkin
Italian remakes of foreign films
Remakes of American films
Sound film remakes of silent films
1940s Italian films