''Odessa in Flames'' (Italian: ''Odessa in fiamme'', Romanian: ''Odessa în flăcări'') is a 1942 Italian-Romanian propaganda

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

Carmine Gallone Carmine Gallone (10 September 1885 – 11 March 1973) was an early Italian film director, screenwriter, and film producer, who was also controversial for his works of pro-Fascist propaganda and historical revisionism. Considered one of Itali ...

and starring

Maria Cebotari Maria Cebotari (original name: Ciubotaru, 10 February 1910 – 9 June 1949) was a celebrated Bessarabian-born Romanian soprano and actress, and a significant opera and singing star of the 1930s and 1940s. Beniamino Gigli stated that Cebotari ...

Carlo Ninchi Carlo Ninchi (31 May 1896 – 27 April 1974) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1963. He was born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, and died on 27 April 1974 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Selected filmogra ...

and

Filippo Scelzo Filippo Scelzo (19 April 1900 – 9 October 1980) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than forty films including '' Red Passport'' in which he played the male lead.Landy, Marcia. ''The Folklore of Consensus: Theatricality in the Italian ...

. The film is about the Battle of Odessa in 1941, where the city was taken in an operation was primarily conducted by Romanian forces and elements of the German Army's 11th Army. It is an anti-communist propaganda work focusing on a family trapped in Soviet-occupied Bessarabia and its eventual liberation by

Axis forces The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

during

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

. It was screened at the

1942 Venice Film Festival The "10th" annual (void) Venice International Film Festival was held from 30 August to 5 September 1942. The events were hosted at places far away from the Lido and very few countries participated due to World War II and directors that were membe ...

.Reich & Garofalo p.298 It was made 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 we ...

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 ...

. The sets were designed by the art director

Guido Fiorini Guido Fiorini (1897–1966) was an Italian engineer, architect and art director.Poretti p.128 He was associated with the futurist movement. Selected filmography * ''Loyalty of Love'' (1934) * '' Just Married'' (1934) * ''Red Passport'' (1935) * ' ...

Location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for ex ...

took place in Axis-occupied Odessa and

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

as well as Romania.

Plot

played the role of Maria Teodorescu, an opera singer from Bessarabia, who is in Chișinău with her 8-year-old son at the time of the invasion. The boy is taken somewhere in Odessa. The mother is told that he will be maintained in a camp where he will be educated as a man and a Soviet. To get her son back she agrees to sing Russian songs in theaters and taverns. There, she shares pictures of her past. One such image is found by chance by her husband, who is in the Romanian army with the rank of captain. In the end, the family reunites. Because of the invasion of Bucharest by Soviet troops in 1944 the movie was banned and the actors were arrested. Many such movies were either destroyed or censored. Nothing was heard of this movie for more than 50 years. However, it was rediscovered in the

Cinecittà 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 we ...

archives in Rome and was shown for the first time in Romania in December 2006.

Cast

as Maria Teodorescu *

as Il capitano Sergio Teodorescu *

as Michele Smirnoff *

Olga Solbelli Olga may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olga (name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters named Olga or Olha * Michael Algar (born 1962), English singer also known as "Olga" Places Russia * Olga, Russ ...

as Luba * Rubi D'Alma as Florica, l'amante di Michele *

George Timica George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

as Giovanni Alexis *

Silvia Dumitrescu-Timica Silvia () is a female given name of Latin origin, with a male equivalent Silvio and English-language cognate Sylvia. The name originates from the Latin word for forest, ''Silva'', and its meaning is "spirit of the wood"; the mythological god of ...

as Anna, la moglie di Giovanni * Mircea Axente as Pietro * Maurizio Romitelli as Nico * Paolo Ferrari as Paolo *

Gilda Marchiò Gilda Marchiò (1884–1954) was an Italian theatre actress.Bassnett & Lorch p.86 She also appeared in a number of films in the 1940s, her performances including a small role in the 1942 propaganda film ''Odessa in Flames''. Selected filmography ...

as Ila *

Giuseppe Varni Giuseppe Varni (born Józef Bruno Winawer) (1902-1965) was a Polish-born Italian stage and film actor.Anile p.135 Selected filmography * ''Oltre l'amore'' (1940) - Il commissario * ''Amami Alfredo'' (1940) - (uncredited) * ''Eternal Melodies' ...

as Lo scrivone * Checco Rissone as Gruscenko *

Adele Garavaglia Adele Garavaglia (1869–1944) was an Italian stage and 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 media su ...

as La nonna del bambino malato *

Bella Starace Sainati Bella Starace Sainati (June 2, 1878 – August 4, 1958) was an Italian stage and film actress.Goble p.190 Selected filmography * '' The Two Mothers'' (1938) * ''Naples Will Never Die'' (1939) * '' Goodbye Youth'' (1940) * ''Inspector Vargas'' ...

as La vecchietta

References

Bibliography

* Michael Laffan & Max Weiss. ''Facing Fear: The History of an Emotion in Global Perspective''. Princeton University Press, 2012. * Reich, Jacqueline & Garofalo, Piero. ''Re-viewing Fascism: Italian Cinema, 1922-1943''. Indiana University Press, 2002.

External links

* * 1942 films 1940s Italian-language films World War II films made in wartime Films directed by Carmine Gallone Films shot at Cinecittà Studios Italian black-and-white films Italian war drama films Italian World War II films 1940s war drama films 1942 drama films Romanian black-and-white films Romanian war drama films Romanian World War II films 1940s Italian films {{Romania-film-stub