''Andrea Chénier'', also spelled ''Andrea Chenier'', is a 1955 French-Italian

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

melodrama film In film studies and criticism, melodrama may variously refer to a genre, mode, style or sensibility characterized by its emphasis on intense and exaggerated emotions and heightened dramatic situations. There is no fixed definition of the term an ...

directed by

Clemente Fracassi Clemente Fracassi (5 March 1917 – 2 February 1993) was an Italian film producer, film director, director and screenwriter. His career spanned from 1939 to 1967. Born in Vescovato, Italy, Vescovato, province of Cremona, Cremona, Fracassi s ...

and starring

Antonella Lualdi Antonella Lualdi (born Antonietta de Pascale, 6 July 1931 – 10 August 2023) was an Italian actress and singer. She appeared in many Italian and French films in the 1950s and 1960s, notably in Claude Autant-Lara's film ''The Red and the Black'' ...

Raf Vallone Raffaele Vallone (17 February 1916 – 31 October 2002) was an Italian actor and footballer. One of the top male Italian stars of the 1950s and 1960s, he first became known for his association with the neorealist movement, and found success in ...

and

Michel Auclair Michel Auclair (born Vladimir Vujović, sr-cyr, Владимир Вујовић; 14 September 1922 – 7 January 1988) was an actor of Serbian and French ancestry, known best for his roles in French cinema. Auclair was born to a Serbian fat ...

. It is loosely based on the eponymous 1896 opera by

Umberto Giordano Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. His best-known work in that genre was Andrea Chénier (1896). He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Se ...

about the eighteenth century poet

André Chénier André Marie Chénier (; 30 October 176225 July 1794) was a French poet associated with the events of the French Revolution, during which he was sentenced to death. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

s Flavio Mogherini and

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (; 12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019) was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post–World War II e ...

. It was shot using

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

and

VistaVision VistaVision is a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format that was created by engineers at Paramount Pictures in 1954. Paramount did not use anamorphic processes such as CinemaScope but refined the ...

Cast

as Madeleine de Coigny *

as Gérard *

Andrea Chénier ''Andrea Chénier'' () is a verismo opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica, and first performed on 28 March 1896 at La Scala, Milan. The story is based loosely on the life of the French poet An ...

* Rina Morelli as mother of Andrea *

Sergio Tofano Sergio Tòfano (20 August 1886 – 28 October 1973) was an Italian actor, theatre director, playwright, scene designer and illustrator. As a comics artist, he is best-known for creating '' Signor Bonaventura''. Biography Tofano was born in ...

as Luigi Chénier *Denis d'Inès as Countess of Coigny *Mario Mariani as Maria Giuseppe Chenier *

Denis d'Inès Denis d'Inès, real name Joseph-Victor-Octave Denis, (1 September 1885 - 25 October 1968) was a French actor and theatre director for some Play (theatre), plays. He entered the Comédie-Française in 1914, was a Sociétaires of the Comédie-Fran� ...

as Countess of Coigny * Piero Carnabuci as Count of Coigny *

Maria Zanoli Maria Zanoli (26 October 1896 – 15 November 1977) was an Italian film actress. She appeared in 45 films between 1943 and 1961. Partial filmography * ''Loyalty of Love'' (1934) – La cameriera pettegola di casa Confalonieri * ''Incontri ...

as housekeeper * Piero Carnabuci as count of Coigny * as Countess of Coigny * as Incroyable * as English ambassador to Paris *

Antonio Pierfederici Antonio Pierfederici (18 March 1919 – 6 January 1999) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Life and career Born in La Maddalena, Pierfederici graduated in law and then he enrolled at the Silvio d’Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts. He start ...

as Robespierre * as Danton *

Marco Guglielmi Marco Guglielmi (6 October 1926 – 28 December 2005) was an Italian actor, screenwriter and author. Life and career Born Augusto Guglielmi in Sanremo, he graduated from ragioneria, then he enrolled at the university in the faculty of econom ...

as public prosecutor *Angelo Galassi as president of the court *Valeria Montesi as Idia Le Gray *Marianna Liebl as hunting lady *Claude Beauclair as Louis *

Charles Fernley Fawcett Charles Fernley Fawcett (2 December 1915 – 3 February 2008) was an American adventurer, soldier, film actor, and a co-founder of the International Medical Corps. He was a recipient of the French Croix de Guerre and the American Eisenhowe ...

as French ambassador to London *Catherine Valnay as Bersy *

Nando Cicero Fernando Cicero, better known as Nando Cicero (22 January 1931 – 30 July 1995), was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor. Born in Asmara, Cicero debuted as an actor, working with directors such as Luchino Visconti (''Senso (film), ...

References

External links

* 1955 films 1950s musical drama films 1950s historical musical films 1950s biographical drama films Italian historical musical films Italian biographical drama films Films directed by Clemente Fracassi Films set in France French Revolution films Lux Film films French historical musical films French musical drama films Italian musical drama films Opera films 1950s melodrama films 1950s Italian films 1950s French films 1950s Italian-language films Italian-language historical musical films {{historic-musical-film-stub