Il Generale Della Rovere [Blu-ray]

Director: Roberto Rossellini Roberto Rossellini

Overview

In General Della Rovere, a black market criminal (Vittorio DeSica) is arrested by the Nazis, who forces him to impersonate a recently executed Italian general in hopes that he will direct them to the leader of the Resistance. DeSica, who normally directs films, gives a terrific performance as the con-man who becomes a martyr.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/03/2013
UPC:	0816018010487
Original Release:	1959
Rating:	NR
Source:	Raro Video Usa Ltd.
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	2:18:00
Sales rank:	6,566

Special Features

Adriano Apra interview: 39:58; Renzo Rosellini interview: 32:06; Aldo Strappini interview: 3:38; Video essay: Truth of fiction: 45:19; Original theatrical trailer: 2:10; Theatrical version

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Vittorio de Sica	Victorio Emanuele Bardone/Grimaldi
Hannes Messemer	S.S. Colonel Mueller
Vittorio Caprioli	Aristide Bianchelli
Guiseppe Rossetti	Pietro Valeri
Ivo Garrani	Fabrizio
Sandra Milo	Valeira
Giovanna Ralli	Olga
Anne Vernon	Chiara Fassio
Baronessa Barzani	Contessa della Rovere
Kurt Polter	German Officer
Kurt Selge	Schrantz
Mary Greco	The Madam
Lucia Modugno	The Prostitute
Linda Veras	German Attendant
Otto Messmer	Actor
Nando Angelini	Actor
Luciano Pigozzi	Actor
Renzo Rossellini	Composer

Technical Credits

Roberto Rossellini

Diego Fabbri

Indro Montanelli

Sergio Amidei

Roberto Rossellini	Director,Screenwriter
Moris Ergas	Producer
Diego Fabbri	Screenwriter
Indro Montanelli	Screenwriter
Sergio Amidei	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

The transformation of an ordinary man to something resembling a hero is the stuff of many war films, but they're usually about a soldier who finds the courage to throw himself into the thick of battle. Here, the transformation is wrought on a con man, played by Vittorio De Sica, who manages to look elegant even as he's playing a man of reduced means. Presenting himself as "Colonel Grimaldi", he preys upon the fears of those whose relatives have been incarcerated by the Germans in occupied Genoa, offering promises of access and a better deal in exchange for the money he needs to pay his gambling debts. The fact that Bardone (the character's real name) is taking advantage of his fellow Italians is a terrific setup for his own incarceration as General della Rovere. The Germans hope to use his charismatic presence in a jail packed with political prisoners to elicit information on which of them is the leader of the resistance, opening him up to intense torture for information on his organization's activities. Not surprisingly, Bardone undergoes a conversion once he's behind bars. Setting up this scenario takes a bit too much screen time, though it's a lot of fun to watch De Sica's routine. The payoff scenes -- his reading the last graffiti of condemned men written on a cell wall, using his con man's skills to bluff his fellow prisoners into being brave during an air raid -- are well worth the slow build-up. Also of note is Hannes Messemer's performance as Bardone's Colonel Mueller, a cultured Nazi officer who only reluctantly uses physical intimidation to get his way and then shrugs philosophically when a mass execution thwarts his quest for the leader's identity.