The Hunchback of Rome
The Hunchback of Rome (Italian: Il gobbo) is a 1960 Italian crime-drama film directed by Carlo Lizzani.[1] It is loosely based on the real life events of Giuseppe Albano, an Italian partisan that was involved in the Roman Resistance against German occupation between 1943 to 1945.[2][3]
| The Hunchback of Rome | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Carlo Lizzani |
| Written by | Tommaso Chiaretti Carlo Lizzani Luciano Vincenzoni Ugo Pirro |
| Produced by | Dino De Laurentiis |
| Starring | Gérard Blain |
| Cinematography | Leonida Barboni Aldo Tonti Giuseppe Aquari |
| Edited by | Franco Fraticelli |
| Music by | Piero Piccioni |
| Distributed by | Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica |
Release date | 1960 |
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Plot
Alvaro Cosenza is a young immigrant partisan from the south, who, in German-occupied Rome, fights against fascist forces, becoming a partisan leader in the process. His main enemy is Inspector Moretti, father of Nina, the woman Alvaro realizes he's is in love with after assaulting her and impregnating her as an insult to the inspector. Moretti is then killed by Alvaro after the inspector, having discovered the violence suffered by his daughter, tries to have Alvaro killed by his own companions. Discovering that Alvaro had killed her father, Nina aborts the child.
After liberation, together with members of his gang, he begins a series of illicit activities which earn him a dangerous reputation.
Left alone after her father's death, Nina becomes involved with Leandro, a former partisan, left maimed following a beating suffered by Moretti, who introduces her to prostitution. However, after meeting Alvaro again, she discovers that she still loves him.
Cast
- Gérard Blain: Alvaro Cosenza
- Anna Maria Ferrero: Nina
- Pier Paolo Pasolini: Leandro
- Bernard Blier: Maresciallo
- Nino Castelnuovo: Cencio
- Enzo Cerusico: Scheggia
- Ivo Garrani: Moretti
- Lars Bloch: German torturer
- Alex Nicol: U.S. official
- Franco Balducci: Pellaccia
- Guido Celano
Background
The film is inspired by the true story of Giuseppe Albano, known as the "hunchback of the Quarticciolo" and is set against the backdrop of the Nazi occupation and the post-war period of the Roman villages, presented in a neorealist style by Carlo Lizzani.
Furthermore, the plot only partially tells the real story of Albano, drawing only a few (albeit relevant) ideas from it. Of note in this film is one of Pier Paolo Pasolini's first appearances on screen in the part of Leandro known as "er monco".
Distribution
Broadcast on RAI for the first time in 1975, a few months before the killing of Pier Paolo Pasolini, with viewer discretion advised due to the crudeness of the subject and the dramatic sequence in which the actress Anna Maria Ferrero is seen from behind.