The Great Appeal

The Great Appeal (Italian:Il Grande appello) is a 1936 Italian war film directed by Mario Camerini and starring Camillo Pilotto, Roberto Villa and Lina d'Acosta. It is sometimes known by the alternative title The Last Roll-Call. Camerini was considered to have no sympathies with the Fascist regime of Italy, but he made this propaganda film that endorsed the colonial policies of the Italian government.^[1] It was one of a number of African-set films made during the Fascist era including The White Squadron (1936), Sentinels of Bronze (1937) and Luciano Serra, Pilot (1938).^[2] The film portrays the rediscovery of his patriotism of an Italian, who eventually dies for his country.

Synopsis

Giovanni Bertani is a rootless Italian emigrant who is currently running a hotel in French-ruled Djibouti, while selling arms to the Abyssinian forces fighting the Italians in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War although his son Enrico is serving on the other side. Following a journey to Abyssinia Giovanni regains his sense of Italian identity, and is fatally wounded blowing up the shipment of arms to the Abyssinians.^[3]

Cast

• Camillo Pilotto as Giovanni Bertani
• Roberto Villa as Enrico
• Lina d'Acosta as Pepita
• Guglielmo Sinaz as Miller - il contrabbandiere d'armi
• Bruno Smith as Il giornalista Patti
• Pedro Valdes as Salvador
• Nino Marchetti as Il chirurgo
• Enrico Poggi as Un operaio genovese

References

1. ↑ Gundle p.31
2. ↑ Palumbo p.294
3. ↑ Ben-Ghiat p.134

Bibliography

• Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922-1945. University of California Press, 2004.
• Gundle, Stephen. Mussolini's Dream Factory: Film Stardom in Fascist Italy. Berghahn Books, 2013.
• Palumbo, Patrizia. A Place in the Sun: Africa in Italian Colonial Culture from Post-unification to the Present. University of California Press, 2003.

External links

• The Great Appeal at the Internet Movie Database