IL FERROVIERE (116’)
by Pietro Germi
cast: Pietro Germi, Luisa Della Noce, Sylva Koscina, Saro Urzì, Carlo Giuffrè
Italy, 1956
Restoration curated by Cineteca di Bologna
in collaboration with Surf Film
Introduced by Roberta Novielli
Screening in the original language
“The films by Germi, a controversial, antifascist, anti-Communist, often arrogant and hot-tempered filmmaker, were often misconstrued by the critics of the time, who were equally bewildered by Il Ferroviere. Germi came from a series of box-office flops and in seeking new subjects was captivated by an original story written by a young Communist screenwriter Alfredo Giannetti, about a worker and his family. The producer, Carlo Ponti, did not believe in the project, and in an attempt to slow down its production proposed impossible names for the starring roles, such as Spencer Tracy and Broderick Crawford. Giannetti was the one who understood that Germi wanted to and could play the main character, and it was he who directed him in the auditions that convinced Ponti.
With its Nastro d’Argento awards to the director and the producer, Il Ferroviere was a hit, in smaller towns even more than in big cities. Audiences were transfixed by the sincerity of the film, which reflected Italy as it was at the time: the city of Rome, under construction, where buildings were encroaching upon and stealing children’s playgrounds, the insufficient wages, the strikes, the scabs, the union leaders who don’t listen, a society in which the only salvation lies in the feeling of belonging to an ancient, popular world, that through its affection and its deep roots, could bestow the strength to deal with life’s dramas. […]
A choral work about the passing of time, the film should have been titled One day and every day because it is about “the slow drift of life, the bitter, tender, sweet and dramatic meaning of life.” (Gianluca Farinelli)
