''An Adventure of Salvator Rosa'' (Italian: ''Un'avventura di Salvator Rosa'') is a 1939 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 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, an ...

directed by

Alessandro Blasetti Alessandro Blasetti (3 July 1900 – 1 February 1987) was an Italian film director and screenwriter who influenced Italian neorealism with the film ''Quattro passi fra le nuvole''. Blasetti was one of the leading figures in Italian cinema during ...

and starring

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 Jules M ...

Luisa Ferida Luisa Ferida, real surname Manfrini, (18 March 1914 – 30 April 1945) was an Italian stage and film actress. She was one of divas in Italian cinema during decade 1935-1945 and she was the highest paid movie star of that period. The actress w ...

and

Rina Morelli Rina Morelli (6 December 1908 – 17 July 1976) was an Italian film and stage actress. She appeared in 34 films between 1939 and 1976. She was born in Naples, Italy and died in Rome, Italy. Her husband, Paolo Stoppa, was an Italian stage and ...

. It is set in seventeenth century

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, then occupied by Spain, where a famous artist celebrated for his paintings of the rich leads a double life as a secret defender of the poor and oppressed. It was shot at the

Cinecittà Studios Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios wer ...

in Rome. 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 ...

Virgilio Marchi Virgilio Marchi (21 January 1895 – 30 April 1960) was an Italian architect and art director. He designed the sets for more than fifty films during his career. Marchi was stylistically identified with the Futurist movement.Sabatino, Michelangelo ...

. At the time of its release, the film was greeted with unanimous critical approval. Giuseppe Isani, on ''

Cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking * ...

'', referred to it as "the best Italian film produced from 1930 onwards."Gianfranco Gori, ''Alessandro Blasetti'', La nuova Italia, 1984. .

Plot

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

17th century The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 ( MDCI), to December 31, 1700 ( MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized by the Baroque cultural moveme ...

. Spanish oppression becomes increasingly bloody after the popular uprising led by

Masaniello Masaniello (, ; an abbreviation of Tommaso Aniello; 29 June 1620 – 16 July 1647) was an Italian fisherman who became leader of the 1647 revolt against the rule of Habsburg Spain in the Kingdom of Naples. Name and place of birth Until recent ...

. The famous painter

Salvator Rosa Salvator Rosa (1615 –1673) is best known today as an Italian Baroque painter, whose romanticized landscapes and history paintings, often set in dark and untamed nature, exerted considerable influence from the 17th century into the early 19th ...

is also a masked hero who fights against the arrogance and oppression that the nobles impose on the poorer classes: the notorious ‘Formica,’ a friend of the people, a skilled swordsman and a daring inventor of hoaxes against the

viceroy of Naples This is a list of viceroys of the Kingdom of Naples. Following the conquest of Naples by Louis XII of France in 1501, Naples was subject to the rule of the foreign rulers, the Kings of France, Aragon and Spain and the Habsburg Archdukes of Austria ...

and Count Lamberto, his adviser. In Torniano, where he goes to find some rest from his labors, Rosa, there too, is confronted by the arrogance of Count Lamberto, who not only aspires to the hand of the capricious duchess, but oppresses the peasants of the contado. He thus resumes the mask of Formica and begins a dangerous game to beat the count; with cunning and incredible actions, he succeeds in saving many peasants from the gallows and also in foiling the marriage hated by the people, between the duchess of Torniano (much fascinated by Formica) and Count Lamberto; at the same time, he must succeed in retaining the trust of the suspicious peasants, but the dexterity of his plan and the skill of his fencing technique lead him to victory. The peasant girl Lucrezia, a great supporter of Formica and in love with Salvator Rosa, discovers only at the end that behind the mask of the defender of the people’s rights is precisely the painter she loved.

Cast

/ Il Formica *

as Lucrezia *

as Isabella di Torniano *

Osvaldo Valenti Osvaldo Valenti (17 February 1906 – 30 April 1945) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1928 and 1945. He was born in Istanbul, Turkey to a Sicilian carpet trader and a wealthy Lebanese woman of Greek descen ...

as conte Lamberto D'Arco *

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 Giuseppe *

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 contadino *

Pietro Pastore Pietro Mario Pastore, also known as Piero Pastore (3 April 1908, in Padua – 8 January 1968, in Rome) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a striker; he later became an actor. Football career Pastore was the youngest ever play ...

as contadino * as contadino *

Paolo Stoppa Paolo Stoppa Knight Grand Cross (6 June 1906 – 1 May 1988) was an Italian actor. Biography Born in Rome, he began as a stage actor in 1927 in the theater in Rome and began acting in films in 1932. As a stage actor, his most celebrated ...

as contadino *

Carlo Duse Carlo Duse (5 January 1898 – 9 September 1956) Birth name: Carlo Artemio e Vittorio Duse. With mention in margin of his date and place of death. was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1916 and 1956. He was bor ...

as ufficiale di palazzo a Napoli *

Enzo Biliotti Enzo Biliotti (28 June 1887 – 19 November 1976) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 80 films between 1916 and 1958. He was born in Livorno, Italy and died in Bologna, Italy. Selected filmography * '' The Betrothed'' (1923) * ''Villafra ...

as Viceroy of Naples *

Jone Salinas Jone Salinas (8 March 1918 – 27 May 1992) was an Italian film actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern medi ...

as Amalia * Umberto Sclanizza as Il primo contadino * Gino Massi as Cicillo * Leone Papa as Il carceriere

References

Bibliography

* Pierre Sorlin. ''Italian National Cinema''. Routledge, 2006.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adventure of Salvator Rosa 1939 films Italian historical adventure films Films directed by Alessandro Blasetti 1930s historical adventure films Films set in the 1640s Films set in Naples Italian black-and-white films Films shot at Cinecittà Studios Cultural depictions of 17th-century painters