Live Poll: 35 Films from the Golden Age of Italian Cinema

I love you for that answer... the last minute of that film is the most devastating ending of cinema's history***... and I mean it!!!







*** that's right, even more than Bicycle Thief

I agree about the strict cut-off of '52 and especially how that intersects with Fellini. And seeing 'Black Magic' on the list but not 'La Strada' or 'Nights of Cabria' seems off for a few reasons. 

I think DC used Wikipedia, which identifies Italian neorealism as the golden age and gives 1952 as the end year. Since DC made his list Wikipedia has altered the start year slightly from 1944 to 1943.

David Bordwell's Film History doesn't refer to a golden age, but dates neorealism even more strictly, from 1945 to 1951.

Pibby & Suzy,

Please tell me what should I do.

As far as I'm concerned, it's your call. It's entirely possible that ElMo could know more about Italian cinema than an unidentified person on Wikipedia and, although I don't know a whole lot about Italian cinema specifically, I personally would define any golden age more liberally if there are masterpieces slightly outside very specific years but these things are bound to have different perspectives from different people. 'Too bad David Bordwell didn't refer to a golden age because he's an authority you could cite if you wanted to. My books are all packed in boxes right now so I couldn't check a few sources that I trust, although I do have access to several academic databases that I could check later when I have a little more time.

I suppose, if you wanted to include ElMo's recommendations, you could always add the word "arguably" into the intro (something like "the period from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s is arguably considered to be the "Golden Age" of Italian cinema by film historians") or simply refer to Post World War II. 

Boy, do I sound pompous sometimes... annoying much lol?

Hi Dibby, I quickly went through some article from JSTOR and, while you wouldn't be able to access those articles without a subscription to JSTOR or the specific journals, what I gather is that Neorealism's era, alone, is defined differently by different scholars: I saw 1943-1950, 1945-1954, and "Post war era of De Sica, Rosselini, and Fellini under Rosselini's tutelage." Beyond that, things get murkier: some film scholars, from what I could gather, use Neorealism and "Itailan's Golden Age" interchangeably, while others distinguish between the two, especially because as Fellini's films evolved, they moved out of Neorealism. An article in the journal out of NYU's Tisch School of Arts defined the Golden Age as widely as the mid-40's all the way to the 70's. It seems to me that you're completely safe defining it as the Post World war II era; also, everything I read that mentioned individual films included 'La Strada' and 'Nights of Cabiria.' 

Following is what I found just using Google that seemed to reflect what I found on JSTOR:

This first one is not necessarily very reliable because even the names of the person or people who write this blog aren't identified but I included it because it's very easy to navigate and does indeed reflect what I perused in some scholarly articles. The second link seems more reliable and I can vouch for the reliability of the last two:

http://earthoceanfire.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-golden-age-of-italian-cinema.html

https://www.filminquiry.com/evolution-italian-cinema/

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0107.xml

https://libguides.usc.edu/c.php?g=235045&p=1559960

'Hope this helps. 

Thank you guys.

The list is ready!

Thanks Suzy!

I have updated the intro.

You added two films from the early 60s. Wouldn't it be better to stick closer to the time period stated in the intro?

Pibby,

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinem...

But your text doesn't refer to a style, it refers to a time period.

Pibby,

I have updated the list according to the described time frame.

Done. Thanks Suzy!

AHH finally!!!