Abstract
Abstract This essay deals with a number of Italian and Austrian films produced around the mid-1930s as a result of the cinematic cooperation that developed between Rome and Vienna at the time. The essay’s goal is to investigate a complex chapter in the history of Italian and Austrian film which has yet received little attention. The Austro-Italian cooperation in the field of film, which developed against the backdrop of the political alliance between Fascist Italy and Austria’s so-called Corporate State, involved some of the biggest names in Italian and Austrian cinema of the time, including Italian directors Carmine Gallone, Augusto Genina and Goffredo Alessandrini, Viennese screenwriter Walter Reisch, and Italian novelist Corrado Alvaro. In particular, the essay will consider the Italian film Casta Diva (1935) and its debt to one of the most famous Austrian productions of the 1930s, Willi Forst’s film Leise flehen meine Lieder (1933). Further films to be discussed include Tagebuch der Geliebten (1935), Una donna tra due mondi (1936), Opernring (1936), and Blumen aus Nizza (1936). Tagebuch der Geliebten was based on the diary of Russian painter Marie Bashkirtseff, who lived in Paris in the late 19th century. Una donna tra due mondi starred Italian diva Isa Miranda, Opernring Polish tenor Jan Kiepura, Blumen aus Nizza German singer Erna Sack.These films should be truly regarded as transnational productions, in which various cultural traditions and stylistic influences coalesced. By investigating them, this essay aims to shed light on a crucial period in the history of European cinema.
Highlights
Marta Eggerth, a star of German musical films in the 1930s; Austrian screenwriter Walter Reisch; Franz Planer, a master of cinematography, active in Berlin and Vienna; film composer Willy Schmidt-Gentner; and set designer Werner Schlichting: what do they have to do with the Italian film Casta Diva, directed in 1935 by Carmine Gallone and generally considered a high point in Italian cinema of the 1930s? The question may serve as an introduction to the following investigation of a number of Austrian and Italian films, among which Casta Diva, made in cooperation between Rome and Vienna around the mid-1930s
Linking to previous studies by the author on AustrianItalian cinematic cooperation during the 1930s (Bono, 2015) as well as the influence of German cinema on Italian musical films of the time (Bono, 1999), this essay will examine some of the major Austrian-Italian cooperation projects in the field of film developed in the mid-1930s
Beside Gallone’s film Casta Diva, further films which will be considered in this essay are Tagebuch der Geliebten (1935), Una donna tra due mondi (1936), Opernring (1936), and Blumen aus Nizza (1936)
Summary
Marta Eggerth, a star of German musical films in the 1930s; Austrian screenwriter Walter Reisch; Franz Planer, a master of cinematography, active in Berlin and Vienna; film composer Willy Schmidt-Gentner; and set designer Werner Schlichting: what do they have to do with the Italian film Casta Diva, directed in 1935 by Carmine Gallone. Beside Gallone’s film Casta Diva, further films which will be considered in this essay are Tagebuch der Geliebten (1935), Una donna tra due mondi (1936), Opernring (1936), and Blumen aus Nizza (1936). Their production involved some of the biggest names in Italian and German-speaking cinema of the time, including, besides Gallone, Italian directors Augusto Genina and Goffredo Alessandrini; the Germans Arthur Maria Rabenalt and Hermann Kosterlitz (who would later work in Hollywood as Henry Koster), as well as Italian novelist Corrado Alvaro and some of the greatest stars of Italian and German film in the 1930s, from the aforementioned Eggerth to Italian Isa Miranda and Polish tenor Jan Kiepura.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
