AIC, 1988 - AIC Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia ...

AIC
of the "product".
And then there were the greedy
producers who mounted films in a
slapdash and disorganized manner, and
who very rarely reinvested any profit
they might have made in new
productions, but either put it into
cattle in Yugoslavia, went into chicken
farming, bought up apartments,
"invested" it in Switzerland, bought
precious stones by the kilo or amassed
vast art collections worth a fortune!
Speaking of "learning one's craft" in
Italy today, one would automatically
think of a school like the "Centro
Sperimentale di Cinematografia".
However, the truth is that this school
offers the absolute minimum of what a
cinema school should offer, as it does
not function as it should, has not for
some time, and whether you're just
embarking on one of the courses, or
have finished there, it teaches you very
little.
The "Centro Sperimentale di
Cinematografia" is like an animal (do
they exist?) that devours itself. The few
people who are able to find work after
having had the painful experience of
attending it, owe it to decidely other
talents than those instilled in them by
the school. I would therefore like to
emphasize that the "Centro
Sperimentale di Cinematografia" was
not our "school", and I can say this
because I was a student there for two
years, and then taught there for three.
There is something false and cheating
about it which stops it functioning as
it should, so that it fails utterly as a
school. As far as 1 am concerned, the
one thing that needs to be taught to
promising young talents, or people
faking it, is discipline.
No, we learned our craft on the set,
working alongside some of the most
truly modest professionals in the
business — that was our "school"! And
I want to try and list them all, even if 1
run the risk of forgetting someone.
Naturally, I'll start from way back,
and I except it'll be a bit of a
hotchpotch, arid some people would
like to see more order, but 1 consider
these people to be the true maestros of
our cinema — some of them endowed
with the most extraordinary talent —
who have created some of the most
beautiful and moving images.
Fiorini, the architect, with his
incredible passion for 18th Century
French architecture — and Violet Le
Due in particular. Filippone, a set
designer who knew his craft inside out
and was capable of doing anything: a
man who had all sorts of strange ways,
and who is now living in a retired
people's home in America.
Nebbiolo, a Director of Photography,
who went through good and bad
periods. Di Venanzio, a photographic
genius, with great charm, who sadly
died young. Carmine Gallone,
responsible for the Roman legionary
with the wrist watch, about which he
was ribbed constantly: but a great
ideas man who put everything he had
into creating his films. The Director,
Giacomo Gentilomo, famous for the
economy of expression in his images,
which came from his previously having
been an editor.
Camerini, warm-hearted and genial —
a real father figure. Italo Tommasi, the
prestigious head painter at Cinecittà —
who has worked way past retirement
age and is still going strong! Giacobbe,
the carpenter. Achille, gruff,
authoritarian and undisputed head of
constructions at Cinecittà, in charge of
400 men: stagehands, scaffolding men,
carpenters, painters, metalworkers,
plumbers etc. Steno, a man of great
kindness, a tireless worker, who was
perhaps more familiar than anyone
with the "ways of his Italy". Gallea, a
precise, pernickety photographer with
an inimitable style. Mario Mattoli,
who opened my eyes with his economy
of technique, which was extremely
ecise and effective, and permitted
R htr im to shoot millions of feet of comic
films with unerring use of his talents.
Ettore Giannini, who said everything
he had to say in one unforgettable
film: "Carosello Napoletano".
Benvenuti and De Bernardi, who
literally worked like slaves, as I did,
during a splendid period, and became
(also because of the force with which
they expressed themselves pillars of the
following decades — almost always in
the frontline. Age and Scarpelli with
whom I have shared some
extraordinary creative moments.
Francesco Rosi, Visconti's and
Giannini's assistant director,
punctilious, hot-tempered but also very
wise — with great patience, he taught
me everything that Naples had taught
him and which filled his soul.
Lattuada... Aldo Puccini... Dino De
Laurentiis.
Mario Monicelli, cheery, sceptical,
possessive and an unrelenting tease.
God knows how many glasses of wine
I've shared with this man, whose
wonderfully human films have taught
half the world to laugh and cry, just as
life does. Strong as an ox, he'll get the
better of the stupid accident thet
nearly cost him his life, but it'll be a
long, hard fight. Ruggero Mastroianni,
patience personified. Marcello
Mastroianni, reserved, tries to hide,
would prefer to be invisible — but
there's nobody to touch him as far as
acting's concerned! Mario Chiari: 1
think it is his capacity to understand
the most complex situations in an
instant that most endears him to me.
He was, and still is a great maestro,
the kind that existed in the Florentine
workshops during the Renaissance. It
was Mario who taught me my craft,
and I shall, as far as 1 am capable,
continue in his tradition to the very
end, with humility, tenacity and pride.
One thing I do know, though, is that 1
would never try to match one of his
cutting remarks which destroy whoever
is on the receiving end — and who
inevitably deserves it!
Carry on with the good work, Mario!
Pietro Gherardi, whom I liked
instinctively, and whose original
inventions I both admired and
respected. Nino Rota, as gentle as his
music. Suso Cecchi D'Amico who,
underneath that gruff exterior, is one
of the sweetest ladies you could meet —
and there's not one of us who doesn't
have something to thank her for.
And then the man with whom I
worked for all of twenty one years... To
call him a maestro is not enough, not
enough. There will never be another
like him. He rises up like a Titan in
one's memory, and his work will be
admired the world over for generations
to come. He had a passion for
expressing himself with
precisely-defined, meaningful images
that he constructed with great
punctiliousness. He is one of the great
myths that will never die. 1 loved him
like a second father, and I will always
remember him as such: Luchino
Visconti.
Peppino Rotunno: an Etruscan, carved
in stone, whose work has a wonderful
limpid quality, and who has the
courage of his convictions.
How many others have there been — a
thousand, maybe — and where are they
now?! Because their teachings are
being derided by ignorant fools who
retain that the work of our infinity of
maestros serves no purpose, is
demaging, fanatical and has no
function nowadays as "nobody
understands anything".
Certainly, the cinema is a strange
mixture of elements, a complex creative
process, in which the image spins out
the thread of the concept, like a
silkworm, to which the actors, and the
dramatic, comic and musical elements
all attach themselves to become
swathed in that same concept.
To continue: Michelangeb Antonoini,
whom 1 came to know profoundly
while working on "L'Awentura", an
ingenious maestro whose intuition and
inventiveness permit him to enrich his
main visual concept with the most
amazing and unique images.
Tonino Delli Colli, sardonic,
intriguing, another of the photographic
greats. Pietro Germi, who I worked
with briefly on "La città si difende":
actor, director, characterized by the
half-smoked Tuscan cigarilb clenched
between his teeth, his taste for bizarre
adventure and his love for life in
general. Roberto Rossellini, the genius
who invented that wonderful cinema
that communicated the problems of the
poor, and who, by using his
intelligence, and drawing on some
hidden reserve of strength, would
always succeed in emerging from the
worst of situations, undisputed leader
and full of good cheer! The Producer,
Peppino Amato, a real charmer, who
always got everybody's names wrong,
but who could get you out of bed when
you were running a high fever, or win
you over with his great powers of
persuasion! He also had all kinds of
wonderful ideas, and would receive you,
in his underpants, in the bathroom of
his suite at the Excelsior, to excitedly
recount a story on which he wanted
you to start work immediately! The
wonderfully lucid, and implacable
Ennio Flaiano. Marco Ferreri, devourer
of watermelons, always hatching new
stories in his mind, at times malicious
but softened by the smile hidden
beneath his beard. He always liked
everything, and it was incredible to see
him become a little boy again when,
fascinated, he watched the "moving
shadows" on the screen. And how
many months I spent with you, Aldo
Tonti, in all parts of the globe! I think
what I appreciated about you most
was your ability to play down
situations. You had such a wonderfully
practical attitude towards life which
enabled you to smooth out prottems
created from nothing, causing them to
disappear in an instant.
Perhaps, the most special of all the
craftsmen was my dear friend, Memmo
Modestini. A painter, with great
ingenuity, who used to paint with a
brush in either hand! He really was
incredible — once, all alone, in the
middle of the sea, he painted the entire
side of a ship in a few hours, while they
filmed the other side! Then, he painted
another, and another! Of all the people
who have worked alongside me, I think
I miss him the most. It used to give me
so much pleasure to have a glass of
something with him, and see his eyes
sparkle with sheer joy!
I studied with Piccoli at Cinecittà
where, in his "magic theatre" he
revealed the secrets of all the wonderful
devices he had invented. A maestro, a
real wizard who, alas, has been lost to
us. How very sad! Even more so,
because his department was closed
down by the bureaucrats who
maintained that it was redunant —
how blind can you be?! Now, forty
years later, no one knows anything
about cinema created from sheer
intelligence. A real shame.
Alvaro Belsole, who grew up with me
(arid my films) professionally, and who
was chosen as head of construction on
"Il Gattopardo" and "Compagni".
Strong as a lion, docile as a kitten.
Completely inexhaustible.
Sordi. Sergio Leone. Bertolucci. Carlo
Egidi. AG. Bragaglia. Scaifiotti.
Pasolini. Luigi Zampa. Piero Tosi.
Vera Marzot. Sensani. Duilio Coletti.
Goffredo Lombardo. Comencini.
Armando Nannunzzi. De Sica.
Zavattini. Pinelli. Telimi. Barbaro.
Pasinetti. Diamate — one of the noble
breed of stagehands. Soldati. Aldo.
Rocchetti. Rivo Garbini. De Rossi — a
world-renowned make-up artist.
1 don't want to leave anybody out,
more than anything else because it was
their "school" which made our
renaissance possible. A renaissance
which must, in its turn, pass, with our
learning to re-express the perfection of
the image, the one universal
"language" that can enrich our future
in a united Europe, and hopefully in a
peaceful world, by illuminating the
minds of men with the wonderful fire
of our much-loved, and extremely
modest genii.