Escape by Night
Encyclopedia
Era notte a Roma is a 1960
Italian
war film
epic
directed by Roberto Rossellini
. In France the film is known as Les Évadés de la nuit, and in the USA Escape by Night. It is also known internationally as Blackout in Rome.
pursues a wartime theme in this 145-minute "personal epic" Era Notte a Roma. The story concerns three Allied POWS
, who escape from their camp and hide out in Rome
. The trio is given shelter by a beautiful young woman. The three prisoners (one is Russian, one English, one American) display a genuine warmth towards each other that probably is meant to reflect the joint effort the three countries had in fighting Nazi Germany. Their effort is depicted heroically as they escaped together and helped each other in their joint quest to rejoin their respective armies. See this link for a thorough review of the movie, http://www.cinemathequeontario.ca/filmdetail.aspx?filmId=146. For reasons which remain obscure, Era Notte a Roma was never initially given a widespread American release.
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
epic
Epic film
An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...
directed by Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta to the movement.-Early life:Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had...
. In France the film is known as Les Évadés de la nuit, and in the USA Escape by Night. It is also known internationally as Blackout in Rome.
Overview
In keeping with his previous film Generale Della Rovere, filmmaker Roberto RosselliniRoberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta to the movement.-Early life:Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had...
pursues a wartime theme in this 145-minute "personal epic" Era Notte a Roma. The story concerns three Allied POWS
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, who escape from their camp and hide out in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. The trio is given shelter by a beautiful young woman. The three prisoners (one is Russian, one English, one American) display a genuine warmth towards each other that probably is meant to reflect the joint effort the three countries had in fighting Nazi Germany. Their effort is depicted heroically as they escaped together and helped each other in their joint quest to rejoin their respective armies. See this link for a thorough review of the movie, http://www.cinemathequeontario.ca/filmdetail.aspx?filmId=146. For reasons which remain obscure, Era Notte a Roma was never initially given a widespread American release.
Cast
- Giovanna RalliGiovanna RalliGiovanna Ralli is an Italian actress. She was born in Rome, 2 January 1935.Ralli won a Nastro d'Argento for her supporting role in C'eravamo tanto amati.- Filmography :* I bambini ci guardano by Vittorio De Sica...
... Esperia - Renato SalvatoriRenato SalvatoriRenato Salvatori was an Italian multi-purpose character actor.-Biography:Salvatori was born in Seravezza, Province of Lucca....
... Renato - Leo GennLeo Genn- Early life :He was born at 144 Kyverdale Road, Stamford Hill, Hackney, London, England to a Jewish family. His father, Woolfe Genn, was a jewellery salesman and the maiden name of his mother, Rachel, was Asserson....
... Michael Pemberton - Sergei BondarchukSergei BondarchukSergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and actor.- Biography :Born in Belozerka, in the Kherson Governorate, Sergei Bondarchuk spent his childhood in the cities of Yeysk and Taganrog, graduating from the Taganrog School Number 4 in 1938. His first performance as an...
... Fyodor Nazukov - Peter BaldwinPeter Baldwin (director)Peter Baldwin is an American actor and director of film and television.Baldwin started his career as a contract player at Paramount Studios. He played the character Johnson in Stalag 17. He eventually became a television director with an extensive résumé. As well as directing all of the episode's...
... Peter Bradley - Paolo StoppaPaolo StoppaPaolo Stoppa was an Italian actor and dubber.Born in Rome, he began as a stage actor in 1927 in the theater in Rome and began acting in films in 1932...
- Enrico Maria SalernoEnrico Maria SalernoEnrico Maria Salerno was an Italian theatre & film actor, also a film director. He was also the voice of Clint Eastwood in the Italian version of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy films, and the voice of Christ in The Gospel According to St...
- Hannes MessemerHannes MessemerHannes Messemer was a German actor best known for his role as the commandant in The Great Escape . The movie had a star-studded cast, but it was the relatively unknown Messemer who uttered the film's most famous line Hannes Messemer (May 19, 1924 – November 2, 1991) was a German actor best...
... Colonel Von Kleist - Sergio FantoniSergio FantoniSergio Fantoni, is an Italian actor.He was born in Rome, the son of actor Cesare Fantoni . In films from the late 1940s, he has worked mainly in his own country but made several appearances in American films in the 1960s, most notably opposite Frank Sinatra in the war film Von Ryan's Express,...
- Laura BettiLaura BettiLaura Betti was an Italian actress.Born Laura Trombetti in Bologna, this blonde and flamboyant actress started her career as jazz singer. Betti made her film debut in Federico Fellini's La dolce vita. In 1963 she became a close friend of the poet and movie director Pier Paolo Pasolini, for whom...
- Rosalba NeriRosalba NeriRosalba Neri , sometimes credited as Sara Bey or Sara Bay, is a retired Italian actress.-Biography:When she was very young, she won a beauty pageant and attended il Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia...