L’ombra di Cicerone, da Operation Cicero a Spartacus

Abstract

The article examines the representation and use of the figure of Cicero in two films by Joseph L. Mankiewicz,  Julius Caesar  and  Five Fingers , and in Stanley Kubrick’s  Spartacus . By comparing these films with the original theatrical and literary sources on which they are based, I argue that Cicero’s appearance and disappearance in these films is linked to the US historical context, in particular McCarthyism and the notorious “black list”. L’articolo verte sull’uso allusivo, strategico o trasversale, giocando sulla presenza/assenza della figura storica di Cicerone in due film chiave di Joseph Leo Mankiewicz, Julius Caesar e Five Fingers, e in uno di Stanley Kubrick, Spartacus. Attraverso i rispettivi testi teatrali o letterari di partenza il personaggio di Cicerone compare e scompare dentro contesti storici legati principalmente negli Stati Uniti al maccartismo e alla famigerata “lista nera”. L’article traite de l’usage allusif, strategique ou transversal, de la figure historique de Ciceron, en jouant sur sa presence ou son absence, dans deux films de Joseph Leo Mankiewicz, Julius Caesar et Five Fingers, ainsi qu’un film de Stanley Kubrick, Spartacus. A travers les textes theâtraux et litteraires qui en sont les sources, le personnage de Ciceron apparait et disparait dans des contextes historiques etatsuniens lies au maccarthysme et a la tristement celebre blacklist.