Guarany
Directed byRiccardo Freda
Screenplay by
Story byRiccardo Freda[1]
Produced bySalvo D'Angelo[2]
Starring
CinematographyRodolfo Lombardi[1]
Edited byRiccardo Freda[1]
Music byAntônio Carlos Gomes[1]
Production
company
Universalia Film
Distributed byUniversalia Film
Release date
  • 3 January 1950 (1950-01-03) (Italy)
Running time
87 minutes[1]
CountryItaly[1]

Guarany is a 1950 Italian film directed by Riccardo Freda and starring Antonio Vilar, Mariella Lotti and Gianna Maria Canale.[3][4]

Cast

Production

In this period of Italian film history, the opera film was popular as audiences were desiring biopics of Italy's most famous composers.[4] Italian film historian and critic Roberto Curti commented that "the lives of Verdi, Rossini, and Bellini offered not only entertainment, but also a reminder of the country's past glory as a popular antidote to the misery and squalor unearthed by Neorealism."[4] Director Riccardo Freda was set-up with the subject of Antônio Carlos Gomes, a Brazilian composer who was popular in Italy.[4] His best known work was the opera Il Guarany, based on the novel by Jose de Alencar.[4]

The film was a production by Universalia Film, a Catholic-oriented production company started in 1946.[4][1] According to Piero Regnoli, who was the company's vice artistic manager at the time, Universalia had "about one billion lire at disposal-cash. It was the biggest production company [in Italy]."[4] Freda was friends with Salvo D'Angelo who was high up in the Universalia Film company, and stated he asked for a large sum of money to develop the film as he was uninterested in developing it, but was surprised when it was granted.[4]

Filming began on June 11, 1948 in Rome and after one week, the crew moved to Brazil to shoot on location there.[5]

Release and reception

Guarany was submitted to the Italian board of censors in November 1949.[6] 'Guarany was distributed theatrically in Italy by Universalia Film on 3 January 1950.[1][2] The film grossed a total of 8,750,000 Italian lire domestically, which Curti described as being "virtually ignored by the public"[2] and being panned by critics on its release.[6] The film was popular in South America, where it earned Universallia and Gianna Maria Canale a lot of press.[6]

Curti stated in 2017 that Guarany was unavailable in any form, not even at Rome's Cineteca Nazionale.[6] A copy of the 303 page script remains.[5]

References

Bibliography

  • Curti, Roberto (2017). Riccardo Freda: The Life and Works of a Born Filmmaker. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476628387.
  • Testa, Carlo (2002). Italian Cinema and Modern European Literatures, 1945-2000. Greenwood Publishing Group.


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