''In Prison Awaiting Trial'' ( it, Detenuto in attesa di giudizio) is a 1971 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

Nanni Loy Nanni Loy (born Giovanni Loi; 23 October 1925 – 21 August 1995) was an Italian film, theatre and TV director. Specifically, Nanni Loy was Sardinian, and one of several notable Sardinian film makers, including Franco Solinas. Biography Lo ...

. It was entered into the

22nd Berlin International Film Festival The 22nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 23 June to 4 July 1972. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Italian film '' I racconti di Canterbury'' directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Jury The following people were announced as ...

where

Alberto Sordi Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, voice actor, singer, comedian, director and screenwriter. Early life Born in Rome to a schoolteacher and a musician and the last of five children, Sordi was named in hon ...

won the

Silver Bear for Best Actor The Silver Bear for Best Actor (german: Silberner Bär/Bester Darsteller) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by ...

award.

Plot

Roman surveyor Giuseppe Di Noi, who has lived in Sweden for many years and married a Swedish woman and respected professional, decides to take his family on holiday in

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 ...

. At the Italian border he is stopped and arrested without any explanation. After three days in jail in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, he learns - through the efforts of a guard - that he has been charged with "manslaughter" of a German citizen. Giuseppe is deemed a "fugitive" and thus ineligible for house arrest; he is instead transferred from prison to prison until he reaches the imaginary town of Sagunto (near Salerno), where he gets placed in solitary confinement. Di Noi undergoes a genuine judicial ordeal, full of humiliations. He is unwillingly involved in a riot, and as a result is transferred to a prison for inmates serving life sentences, and ultimately to a psychiatric facility. It takes the obstinacy of his wife, the passionate interest of his lawyer and the benevolence of the investigating magistrate otherwise on vacation, to arrive at a logical explanation. While recovered at the hospital, Di Noi's lawyer learns about a highway viaduct Battipaglia- Matera - built years before by an Italian firm where he was employed as a surveyor - which collapsed and caused the death of a German driver in transit. The protagonist had subsequently moved to Sweden. Lacking international communications, he could not be notified a subpoena, and therefore technically became a fugitive. Even after regaining his freedom, Di Noi remains irrevocably marked by the ordeal, both physically and psychologically.

Cast

as Giuseppe Di Noi *

Elga Andersen Elga Andersen (née Helga Hymen or Hymmen) (2 February 1935 – 7 December 1994) was a German actress and singer. She starred in more than one dozen French films in the 1950s and 1960s and also debuted as a recording artist in the 1950s. She per ...

as Ingrid *

Andrea Aureli Andrea Aureli (5 March 1923 – 5 November 2007) was an Italian actor. Life and career Born in Terni, Aureli graduated from the Liceo classico in his hometown, then he enrolled the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, graduating in ...

as Police officer * Lino Banfi as Sagunto jailhouse director * Antonio Casagrande as Judge * Mario Pisu as Psychiatrist *

Michele Gammino Michele Gammino (born 16 June 1941) is an Italian actor, voice actor and television presenter. Career Born in Rome to parents who originated from Palermo, Gammino began his career during the early 1970s. For his work on Italian television, Gammino ...

as Don Paolo *

Tano Cimarosa Tano Cimarosa, real name Gaetano Cisco, (1 January 1922 – 24 May 2008) was an Italian actor, screenwriter and film director. He participated in more than fifty movies. He played the "Blacksmith" in the Oscar-winning film ''Cinema Paradiso'' fr ...

as Prison ward *

Fulvio Mingozzi Fulvio Mingozzi was an Italian actor. Active from 1966 as a character actor, he acted, albeit in brief and marginal roles and cameos, in all the films of Dario Argento ranging from ''The Bird with the Crystal Plumage ''The Bird with the Crysta ...

as Prison ward *

Luca Sportelli Luca Sportelli (11 March 1927 - 29 August 1999) was an Italian actor who appeared in more than one hundred films from 1964 to 1991. Selected filmography References External links * 1927 births 1999 deaths Italian male film actors< ...

as Prison ward *

Gianni Bonagura Gianfelice "Gianni" Bonagura (27 October 1925 – 8 October 2017) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Life and career Born in Milan, Bonagura was active on film, stage, television and radio. He appeared in 40 films between 1950 and 2001. ...

as Lawyer Sallustio Giordana * Nino Formicola *

Silvio Spaccesi Silvio Spaccesi (August 1, 1926 – June 2, 2015) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Macerata, Spaccesi studied in a Salesians of Don Bosco School, and made his official theatrical debut with the stage company held by Ange ...

as Marshal *

Nazzareno Natale Nazzareno Natale (4 April 1938 – 21 June 2006) was an Italian actor He played Rojo Gang Member in '' Per un pugno di dollari'', Paco in ''For a Few Dollars More'' (1965), and Bountyhunter in '' Il buono il bruto il cattivo'' (1966), by Sergio ...

as Saverio Guardascione * Giovanni Pallavicino as Brigadier Saporito *

Mario Brega is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...

as Inmate * Giuseppe Anatrelli as Inmate Rosario Scalia

References

External links

* {{Nanni Loy 1971 films 1970s Italian-language films 1971 drama films Films directed by Nanni Loy Films scored by Carlo Rustichelli Films set in Italy Italian prison films Films about miscarriage of justice 1970s Italian films