Cinema and Fascism: Italian Film and Society, 1922-1943

Ricci turns his attention next to films that have often come under the heading of popular, escapist entertainment (the so-called "white telephone" films), such as Mario Camerini's Rotaie (1929) and II signor Max (1937). Since these films often revolve around narratives of travel and s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Film Criticism 2008, Vol.33 (2), p.77-80
Main Author: Heins, Laura
Format: Review
Language:English
Subjects:
Educational activities
Motion pictures
Ricci, Steven
Telephones
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Ricci turns his attention next to films that have often come under the heading of popular, escapist entertainment (the so-called "white telephone" films), such as Mario Camerini's Rotaie (1929) and II signor Max (1937). Since these films often revolve around narratives of travel and social mobility in which the protagonists return to their origins by the end, Ricci sees them as contributing to the Fascist project of suppressing class conflict: "the cinematic circulation of images about travel - where that travel always means returning to an original, natural point of departure - delineates the symbolic boundaries of a single and harmonious, unified social order" (124).
ISSN:0163-5069
2471-4364