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