''The Old Guard'' (Italian: ''Vecchia guardia'') is a 1934 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 ...

directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Gianfranco Giachetti,

Mino Doro Mino Doro (6 May 1903 – 13 April 1992) was an Italian actor who appeared in more than a hundred films between 1932 and 1970. Doro generally played supporting and character roles. He appeared as a blackshirt in the 1934 Fascist propaganda fi ...

, and Franco Brambilla. It was one several pro- Fascist films made by Blasetti during the era. The film is set in a small Italian town in 1922, where a local group of Fascist

blackshirts The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Nation ...

battle against rival

socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

who have called a

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

at the hospital. Mario, the young son of Doctor Cardini, is killed in the fighting. The film ends with the

March on Rome The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, ...

that brought Benito Mussolini to power. Although intended as sympathetic to the regime, and the methods by which it came to power, the film was not popular with the Fascist hierarchy who felt its portrayal of violence undermined the respectable image the party was now trying to cultivate.Moliterno p.41

Cast

* Gianfranco Giachetti as Dott. Claudio Cardini *

as Roberto * Franco Brambilla as Mario * Maria Puccini as La moglie * Barbara Monis as La maestra * Graziella Antonelli as La sorella della maestra *

Ugo Ceseri Ugo Ceseri (30 June 1893 – 3 December 1940) was an Italian stage and film actor. He appeared in forty two films between 1931 and his death in 1940. In 1934 he appeared in the play '' 18 BL'', an attempt to create a mass theatre by the Fascist ...

as Marcone *

Umberto Sacripante Umberto Sacripante (2 October 1904 – 14 January 1975) was an Italian film and stage actor. Life and career Born Umberto Sacripanti in Rome, Sacripante debuted on stage in 1921, and in 1926 he became first actor in the theatrical company Teat ...

as Il pazzo Tralicò * Graziela Betti as La ragazza del convento *

Gino Viotti Gino Viotti (1875–1951) was an Italian film actor who appeared in more than forty films, mostly in supporting roles. He played the part of Chilone Chilonides in the 1924 epic '' Quo Vadis''.Wyke p.214 Selected filmography * ''Nemesis'' (1920) ...

as Il sindaco * Cesare Zoppetti as L'assessore *

Aristide Garbini Aristide Garbini (1890–1950) was an Italian film actor.Verdone p.83 Selected filmography * '' The Crusaders'' (1918) * ''Messalina'' (1924) * '' Miryam'' (1929) * ''Five to Nil'' (1932) * '' Ragazzo'' (1934) * '' The Old Guard'' (1934) * ''Ald ...

as L'uscere * Italo Tancredi as L'infermiere *

Andrea Checchi Andrea Checchi (21 October 1916 – 29 March 1974) was a prolific Italian film actor. Biography Born in Florence, Checchi appeared in over 150 films in his lengthy career, which spanned from 1934 to his death in 1974. The son of a painter, ...

as Pompeo *

Ugo Sasso Ugo Sasso, born Domenico Pasquale Giuseppe Sasso (23 March 1910 - 21 July 1981), was an Italian film and television actor. Life and career Born in Turin, in the early 1930s Sasso moved to Rome to attend the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografi ...

as Uno squadrista

References

Bibliography

* Gundle, Stephen. ''Mussolini's Dream Factory: Film Stardom in Fascist Italy''. Berghahn Books, 2013. * Moliterno, Gino. ''Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema''. Scarecrow Press, 2008.

External links

* 1934 films Italian drama films Italian black-and-white films 1934 drama films 1930s Italian-language films Films directed by Alessandro Blasetti Films set in the 1920s Films set in Italy Films about fascists Films about Fascist Italy Fascist propaganda 1930s Italian films {{1930s-Italy-film-stub