La Strada - Criterion Collection (1954)

Briliant transfer!

I first saw La Strada when I was working as a usher at the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee in the early 70's. It played twice a night for two weeks and I never got tired of it. I have had it as a Beta tape, Laser disk and now DVD. This is by far the best quality transfer of one of my favorite films. Wonderful! September 15, 2009

Remembering a Black and White 1954 Classic Italian Film with Fondness.

This rather bleak picture of human nature is obscured by the mixed feelings we see Director Federico Fellini bestow upon the wretched characters in this intense black and white 1954 Italian film. The simplistic theme of La Strada reminds me of the famous Alfred Hitchcock classic, Rear Window, with Jimmy Stewart's amazing charm running the show. While a bored photojournalist, laid up with a broken leg, spies on his neighbors, he suspects one of them (Raymond Burr) has committed murder. What could a man of physical limitations do?

What could a man of emotional limitations do? We see the shrewd and calculating Zampano (Anthony Quinn), eager to take advantage of anything coming his way. He makes financial arrangements with a poor family by bargaining for one of their daughters, a young and innocent Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina), eager to have her assume the role of his wife. At first, he is delighted\ with her participation in his circus act, reasoning that she will enhance their financial intake each time they perform. At night, he viciously manipulates her, forcing her to do his deeds. Soon, however, he tires of her and ventures into local bars with the extra money he earned to pursue other women. Of course, a fight breaks out in one of his escapades and Zampano winds up at the losing end, never realizing that his chain-defying mentality is only circus born and cannot demonstrate the might he needs to muster in the real world.

They begin to perform in miniature circuses. As Gelsomina learns the ropes, she begins to steal the act, sending Zampano into rages. In their quest to take part in a real circus, she meets the fool, (Richard Basehart) who represents hope for her. Although he is allusive in his communication attempts, he appears to support her contentions to be her own woman. This arrangement only angers Zampano even more, pushing him to take strong action against the fool. Later in the film, Gelsomina and Zampano meet the fool again, this time on the road in a remote place. Zampano becomes so outraged at him that he fatally strikes him in the head. Zampano is left in a state of desperation to make his death look like an accident. Even though he appears sorry for having pushed his anger so far, his only alternative is to make Gelsomina feel responsible for the deed.

He summons the strength to realize his inadequacies, which comes, ironically at the end when he realizes what he missed when she finally leaves him. Believing he is invincible, he moves on, but eventually, comes to terms with his shortcomings in a strange twist. She never knew that he searched for her fruitlessly.

Federico Felini's attempt to give our exaggerated Italian macho man an invulnerable character is very successful, flavoring the mid 50's yarn with believable sketches that endure and reach out to our hearts with their limitations and human potential. Before the movie ends, Zampano does reveal his human frailty. When we see films like this, it's easy to understand how young Anthony Quinn rose to become one of the truly great icons of the screen. I could see this film again and again and again...
May 12, 2009

3 stars out of 4

The Bottom Line:

A simple but effective fable, La Strada has been romanced all out of proportion but at its core it's a well-made little movie; if you don't expect anything more than an uncomplicated but well-acted film, you're likely to be pleased with what Fellini serves up. February 5, 2009

another amateur throws his hat in the ring

I feel too small to do this but its by way of tribute. When Mr. Fellini made this film, Europe was still recovering from the war. But, most importantly, from the great challenge that Hitler and Facism had posed to human existance: that anyone who did not contribute something to society did not have a right to live. With this film Mr. Fellini masterfully answers this challenge, exposing it for the lie that it is. "Il Matto" put the answer into words when consoling the heart broken Gelsomina. She felt she was worthless but he explains that,of course she has worth because she is a creature of God and He has a purpose for her. What purpose? she asks the clown, to which he deftly answers that if he knew that he would be God. Yet Mr. Fellini dares to answer what the clown could not by making us love each of the characters, even the brutal Zampano. This is a victorious film. It declares in inarguable terms that our worth is not a result of wealth or what service we render to society but of the love of God. The fact that many, even "macho" types, are moved to tears, mourning over these loved ones, demonstrates the truth of what Mr. Fellini has conveyed in "La Strada". December 11, 2008

Good early Fellini

Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini's 1954 black and white film La Strada (The Road) is one of those films that is midway between his early Neo-Realism and his later Magical Realism, with touches of both aplenty. It made both him and its female lead, his wife Giulieta Masina, stars, won the 1954 Venice Film Festival's top award and the 1956 Best Foreign Picture Academy Award, yet there is something missing from it. It is a good film, arguably a very good or near-great film, but it is definitely not a great film. It lacks the intellectual and artistic depth that the couple's next famed collaboration, Nights Of Cabiria, three years later, would have. In a sense, those critics who have called it a simple fable are correct, but even the greatest of fables cannot compare with the greatest of novels, especially those modern masterpieces, for a novel takes an in-depth 360° spin around life, and within life, whereas fables and this film often rely too strongly on archetypes, schmaltz, and sentimentality. It is not a reworking of The Beauty And The Beast tale, either, for it's not really a love story, but a loveless story, in the sense of the human denial of love. Granted, it's a mark of Fellini's consummate filmic skill that one is so easily emotionally manipulated, to the point that most viewers even care about the wretched Zampano at the film's end. But, mastering puppetry is not the same as producing good art. If it was the old Lassie American tv shows from the 1950s and 1960s would be right alongside The Odyssey and Guernica in the pantheon of great human artworks. Yet, Fellini is so great a filmmaker that even where his art is not top notch it can inspire admiration for its excellence.... The story the film tells, penned by Fellini and his long time collaborator Tullio Pinelli, is first rate, even as it comes awfully close to syrupy, while the black and white cinematography by Otelo Martelli is solid. La Strada is not a visual feast for the eyes, and some mat shots as the pair drive around in their wagon date the film, even as they are better than the techniques that filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock were using in America. But, the film is renowned most for the film score by Nino Rota, and the theme for Gelsomina that, even millions who've never heard of, much less seen, La Strada, will know from just a few bars. Yet, it does not hold up as well as other, later Fellini films, to a modern eye. It does have more in common with 1940s Hollywood films than many critics would like to admit, especially in the screenplay and scoring aspects that link it back to the social realism of 1930s American studio films- those starring a James Cagney or John Garfield.
Still, given it's Fellini, it's much better than many other films ever made, for there are those moments one can only get in a Fellini film, just like Ingmar Bergman can only give you psychosexual angst at such a high and poetic level. With Fellini, it's those absurd moments that just stay within realistic bounds, like Gelsomina seeing a horse loudly clomping down a city street while alone and waiting for Zamapano to come back after a night with a whore, or seeing three country musicians marching by after she runs away from Zampano and is fascinated by an anthill, or her evocative theme song, first played on The Fool's mini-violin, or the oddly poetic and comic poof of a cloud that explodes from The Fool's inexplicably fiery car after Zampano pushes it off the road, into a ravine, after he kills the man. These are the touches that, even when a great artist is not in top form, separate that artist from all the many pretenders. Fellini was no pretender- he was the real thing, and La Strada is a very good film. But it was an even better augur.
September 14, 2008

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