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

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audience that extended across five
continents. Only the Vietnam War
received more coverage, but then
television was used extensively in the
reporting.
The countries involved in the War: on
the one hand, Germany (and the
countries it gradually occupied), Italy
and Japan; and. on the other, England,
the U.S.A. (and allied countries) and
the U.S.S.R., dedicated themselves
wholly to filming their own glorious
victories and their enemies' shameful
defeats, and when the public saw the
newsreels in the cinema, were
astonished at the blatant propaganda.
And yet, the newreels had been filmed
by cameramen sent to the front (who
were not, however, responsible for
either the editing or the commentary).
And on many occasions, these men
from all the different nations —
Germans from the P.K. (Propaganda
Kompanie), Americans from the Signal
Corps, French from the S.C.P.A.,
Russians, Italians from the various
cinematographic units, English from
the A.F.P.U.Japanese, Poles and
Estonians etc., — found their courage
and professionalism truly tested when
they either had to face death, or work
with the wounded scattered all around
them However, they did succeed in
communicating what was happening
on both sides of the front (even though
cuts were very often made by the
military censors, or the film was
"doctored" by the interested parties at
the editing stage).
In Italy, the cameramen who had been
working for the Istituto Nazionale
LUCE before they were called to arms,
were either assigned to the Army Film
Units — reponsible to the General
Staff, The Air Force's Film and
Photography Centre or the Navy's
Film Centre. Francesco De Robertis,
the director, was in charge of the latter
centre from 1941 onwards, while
Vittorio Mussolini (the Duces son)
was in charge of the Air Force Centre.
Both centres were directly responsible
to the Ministero Cultura Popolare
which liased with the Istituto LUCE
and Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
responsible for creating the
propaganda.
A selection of the material filmed
during the various land, sea and air
battles was sent to the Istituto LUCE
to be developed and printed. It was
only after it had been checked by the
Mi litary Censors, that the Istituto
LUCE could either incorporate it into
their bi-weekly newsreel, Giornale
LUCE or use it for their
documentaries. After it was given a
political screening, it was then edited,
the post scoring was effected and a
commentary added (1 well remember
the voice of Guido Notari).
The Giornale LUCE was the only
Italian newsreel in existence during the
Fascist period — and, therefore, during
World War II. Neverthless, Mussolini's
final O.K. was necessary before the
newsreel could be shown to the public.
He screened every edition personally,
and often required that certain images,
and sometimes whole scenes, be cut if
they were either contrary to Fascist
propaganda, or the image he wished to
project of himself. He continued to
screen the newsreels, even after the
Said Republic was created — after the
Istituto LUCE had moved to Venice
in November '43. The last edition of
Giornale LUCE appeared on March
18th, '45.
It has been discovered that filmed
reports from Yugoslavia, Albania and
Greece were rarely featured in the
newreels, even though the Istituto
LUCE had an office in Tirane, and
abo used a Yugoslavian correspondent,
a cameraman by the name of Metod
Badjura who filmed documentaries in
Slovenia. Instead, the Istituto LUCE
Fronte Russo 1942 - Cineoperatore con P"Arriflex"
utilized filmed reports from German
P.K. cameramen. It is, however, true
that filmed reports from Albania were
used before the War, showing Ciano's
visit to Tirane and the meeting with
King Zog 1 in May '37; King Tog I's
wedding in '38; the Tirane Constituent
Assembly's voting that Albania's
crown should be offered to Victor
Emanuel III. Very little newsreel space
however, was given to Albania after it
became a part of Italy.
A similar lack of coverage, which,
under the circumstances, was fairly
dbturbing, occurred during the
Yugoslavian and Greek Campaigns in
World War II (both of which ended in
Germany's intervening on a massive
scale and Italy's defeat). Apart from a
documentary entitled "A Day in
Lubiana", filmed by Domenico
Paolella for the INCOM in 1940;
news cameraman, Franco Vitretti s
being sent on an assignment to
Montenegro; Massimo Sallusti being
sent to Greece but returning after the
retreat from Kalibakan and Kalamas,
and a few filmed reports coming in
from Slovenia where the militia of the
Social Republic was operating, very
little else was apperently filmed. And
one is still not certain how much
filmed material was actually
incorporated into the Giornale LUCE
A quick look at what type of film was
used, reveals that in the main it was
manufactured by the Italian Company,
Ferrania, and was, in fact, the
Ferrania Panerò C 6 (the C 7 wasn't
invented until '49). The German
"Agfa Superpan" and Belgian
"Gevaert" film was abo used by the
Istituto LUCE, according to its
availability.
The cameraman used the following
Italian-built cameras: the AVIA 35
m/m — designed by Donelli and
Orlandi and built by Cinemeccanica of
Milan — motor driven, with one lens
and a 120 m. loader — used mostly by
the Air Force and the Navy; the
REPORTER, another camera built by
Cinemeccanica, motor driven, turret
with four lenses and 120 m. loaders,
used on a tripod; the NOVADO —
designed and built by Donelli — turret
with three lenses and a 120 m. loader,
used on the shoulder; the
BENEDETTI — invented and built by
Vittorio Benedetti, one of the Istituto
LUCE technicians — a small camera
with one lens, springloader and 25 m.
spook The Italian cameraman abo
used foreign cameras, amongst which
were the Zeiss KINAMO, the Bell &
Howell EYEMO, the German
ASKAN1A (used on the shoulder), a
few American AKELEYS, and even
Arnold & Ritcher's ARR1FLEX -
when it finally arrived in Italy — which
greatly improved the quality of the
images.
There were both older, experienced film
reporters and beginners amongst the
cameramen who documented the
various phases of the War on the
different fronts. It is difficult to name
them all, especially as tracing their
names in the Istituto LUCE' archives
is a complicated business. However, 1
feel it my duty to list all the names 1
have managed to track down: Vittorio
Abbati, Antonio Ballerini (Russian
Campaign), Enzo Barboni (sent to
Russia to film documentaries for the
INCOM), Leonida Barboni
(Marmarica), Alberto Pasinetti
Bessone (North Africa), Mirko Bisogni
(assigned to naval units), Mario
Bonicatti (North Africa), Gervasio
Cardinale (Albanian and Greek
Campaigns), Giuliano Cherici (with
the Air Force's Photography and Film
Centre, wounded during a battle),
Duilio Chiaradia (Russian Campaign,
then followed the First Italian
Motorized Division which had joined
up with the British Eighth Army
Command), Giuseppe Comodi
(Albania and Greece), Mario Damicelli
(Greece, North Africa - together with
Romolo Marcellini), Vittorio della
Valle (North Africa), Giovanni Elli
(filmed the Battle of Punta Stilo,
documentaries on Mussolini in Salò
and was responsible for creating the
first Italian sportsreel, Cinesport
immediately after the War), Rino
Filippini, Giulio Frati, Paolo Granata,
Giorgio Lastricati, Bruno Miniati
(Greek Campaign), Mario Montuori
(Russian Campaign), Francesco
Pieraccioli Colombo, Giuseppe
Rotunno (Greek Campaign:
photographed enemy defences along
the coast and German tanks occupyng
Olympia, and who today is one of the
great Directors of Photography), Carlo
Ruspoli (Battle of Pantelleria),
Massimo Sallusti (ltalo-French front
and Greek Campaign), Marco Scarpelli
(ltalo-French front, Yugoslavia and
Russia campaign until the retreat),
Renato Sinistri, Renato Spinotti (North
Africa), Augusto Tiezzi (Russian
Campaign), Fedele Toscani
(ltalo-French front, then became a
famous photo reporter after the War),
Franco Vitrotti (Yugoslavia, front in
Italy, wounded in action).
And we must not forget those who bst
their lives: Mario Anelli (bst at sea,
when the torpedo bomber from which
he was filming a battle was shot
down), Walter Nencini (hit while in an
aircraft above Marmarica), Bruno
Razzanelli and Ezio Varisco, all of
whom were with the Air Force's film
and photography Centre; and others
who were simply reported missing:
Ubaldo Brasi, Francesco Cupisaggi
and Gino Ghircme (at the Battle of
Capo Matapan).
A number of foreign documentaries
were made after the War, which
rendered a small tribute to the wartime
cameramen and the incredible
challenges and dangers they had to
face. These documentaries were on the
lines of "Cameraman at War", which
the British Ministry of Information
compiled using material either from
newsreels or filmed war sequences, and
which showed famous cameramen
filming the battles, which won or bst
the War, at the various fronts.
There's no doubt that the activity of
the news cameramen was not only
ignored by the public — who basically
went to see the news — but has abo
been ignored, both in peacetime and
war by the cinema experts; however, 1
think it is largely due to the fact that
the cameramen's names never appeared
in the credits.
It's more than time a complete and
comprehensive history was compiled on
these men, who did their best to keep
us informed of what was happening
during World War II.