Toth Database - Cinema
Old Guard
A 1934 drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti. Considered by critics one of the best films produced in Italy during the Fascist era. The film was released in Germany with the title Mario was especially appreciated by Adolf Hitler, always admirer of fascism, so much so that the Führer received Blasetti and the small Franco Brambilla in Germany for a visit.
Plot
Central Italy, during the first world war fascist activist Roberto if refined veteran of the great war and now unemployed, stands out in the fight against the striking workers. His father, John, is a doctor who runs an asylum paralyzed in boycotts and in the claims of the nursing staff. Mario, the younger brother of just 12 years is eager to get into action alongside Roberto. The young age does not allow him to participate in the clashes with opponents, as he would like. One night, without being seen, manages to climb aboard a truck and to participate in a punitive expedition in which he lost his life, hit by a shot fired by a worker. The outrage that results in the death of the boy convinces town also many antifascists to join the PNF (fascist party) and to engage after the March on Rome, accompanied by Roberto and his father Claudio. At dawn the fascists, raggruppatisi at Orte, they set off on foot and by other means to the eternal city.
Film notes
Original title: Old guard
Country of origin: Italy
Year: 1934
Duration: 91 min
Color: Black/White
Audio: Sound
Genre: Drama
Director: Alessandro Blasetti
Subject: Livio Apolloni, Giuseppe Zucca
Screenplay: Alessandro Blasetti, Guido Albertini, Leo Bomb
Manufacturer: Faun Film S.A.
Distribution: Movie Empire
Photography: The Otello Martell
Editing: Alessandro Blasetti, Ignazio Ferronetti
Music: Umberto Mancini, Capolongo
Art Director: Leo Bomb
Actors
Gianfranco Giachetti
Franco Brambilla
Mino Doro
Andrea Checchi
Giovanni Grasso Jr
Ugo Ceseri
Cesare Zoppetti
Maria Puccini
Graziella Antonelli
Umberto Sacripante
Ugo Sasso
Gino Viotti
Alfredo Varelli
Ugo Gracci
Walter Lazzaro
Barbara Monis
Memmo Carotenuto
Aristide Garbini
Vasco Creti
Amina Pirani Maggi
Dina Romano
Martin Bailey
Leo Bomb