Cavalleria Rusticana - Film

Film

Apart from video recordings of live performances, there have been several cinematic versions of Cavalleria rusticana, the most notable of which are:

  • The 1916 silent film accompanied by Mascagni's score, directed by Ugo Falena, with Gemma Bellincioni, who had created the role of Santuzza in the opera's world premiere.
  • The 1953 film directed by Carmine Gallone, using actors miming to the voices of opera singers, with a young Anthony Quinn as Alfio miming to the voice of Tito Gobbi. (Released in the US with the title Fatal Desire)
  • The 1968 film directed by Åke Falck, with Fiorenza Cossotto as Santuzza, Gianfranco Cecchele as Turiddu, Giangiacomo Guelfi as Alfio and Anna di Stasio as Lucia. (La Scala, Milan conducted by Herbert von Karajan.)
  • The 1982 film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, using opera singers for actors with Plácido Domingo as Turiddu, Elena Obraztsova as Santuzza, Renato Bruson as Alfio and Fedora Barbieri as Lucia.

The opera's symphonic Intermezzo has figured in the sound track of several films, most notably in the opening of Raging Bull and in the finale of The Godfather Part III, the latter of which featured a performance of the opera as a key part of the film's climax.

Read more about this topic:  Cavalleria Rusticana

Famous quotes containing the word film:

    “All film directors, whether famous or obscure, regard themselves as misunderstood or underrated. Because of that, they all lie. They’re obliged to overstate their own importance.”
    —François Truffaut (1932–1984)

    “Is America a land of God where saints abide for ever? Where golden fields spread fair and broad, where flows the crystal river? Certainly not flush with saints, and a good thing, too, for the saints sent buzzing into man’s ken now are but poor- mouthed ecclesiastical film stars and cliché-shouting publicity agents.
    Their little knowledge bringing them nearer to their ignorance,
    Ignorance bringing them nearer to death,
    But nearness to death no nearer to God.”
    —Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)

    “[Film noir] experiences periodic rebirth and rediscovery. Whenever we have any moment of deep societal rift or disruption in America, one of the ways we can express it is through the ideas and behavior in film noir.”
    —John Briley (b. 1925)