LA TERRA TREMA (1947) B/W 160m dir: Luchino Visconti

w/Luchino Visconti, Antonio Pietrangeli (narrators); Antonio Arcidiacono; inhabitants of Aci Trezza, Sicily

From Georges Sadoul's Dictionary of Films: "Derived from a novel by [Giovanni] Verga, I Malavoglia, set in Sicily and intended as the first part of a trilogy (the sea; the sulphur mines; the countryside). Only this first part was completed. It is the story of the Valastros, a fisherman's family, poverty-stricken and exploited by canotieri (the men of the fish market). ...

"Visconti wrote, 'In La Terra trema I was trying to express the whole dramatic theme as a direct outcome of an economic conflict.' After several years in the theater, Visconti returned to the cinema with this film, shot under difficult conditions in carefully selected locations in Sicily with an entirely nonprofessional cast recruited on the spot. The canotiero was in fact a mercenary fish merchant. Maria, the daughter, a servant at the inn, had a face which, as Visconti said, 'took on a Leonardoesque beauty as soon as I put a black veil over her hair.' The characters all speak Sicilian and use everyday words. But Visconti directed them as rigorously as if they were true actors.

"Though La Terra trema follows the neorealist approach, its style is quite different from Paisà ... and Bicycle Thieves [sic] .... Visconti planned many of his shots very carefully in advance and draws from G.R. Aldo's photography an almost classical visual quality. André Bazin drew attention to the operatic nature of the characters. [Michelangelo] Antonioni, contrasting it to [Laurence] Olivier's Hamlet ..., whose 'technique was an end in itself,' found 'Visconti's technique always used poetically ... every shot expresses something, even a simple spiritual state, and the photography always powerfully creates the atmosphere.' He also noted 'in the angry voices, the twilight murmurs as the fishermen leave, the masons' songs, the livid light of the storm, the inflections of N'Toni, and the resignation of his mother, is found not only the inevitable social polemic but also the most sincere tone of Visconti's poetic voice.' Although somewhat too elaborate in its style, the original, complete version of La Terra trema has a powerful realism and sense of lyrical grandeur, almost a kind of operatic cinéma vérité.

"La Terra trema was hailed as a revelation by critics at the Venice Festival but it appeared very low down on the list of awards and was a commercial disaster. The Sicilian dialect baffled even Italian audiences. After the production company, Universalia, went bankrupt (because of its spectaculars not on account of this modestly budgeted film), it was cut severely and dubbed into Italian. In France, it was ruined by an overlaid commentary that reversed its meaning. It was not released commercially in Britain or North America and screenings have been restricted to film societies and specialized film theaters. After this film, Visconti again returned to the theater for several years."