This may not rank as one of his best films and he himself was none too keen on the finished product but any film of Mario Soldati deserves attention. It concerns an Italian war criminal Riccardo Forte and his young son attempting to escape to France. Whilst staying at a pensione he is recognised by a woman who was once his maid. Father and son are obliged to trek across the mountains to the border with a motley trio of illegal migrants but they too discover his true identity. Following a slow start this builds into a gripping and suspenseful tale as Forte tries every means at his disposal to save his skin even at the expense of his son who never betrays him. Forte is played by excellent character actor Folco Lulli, best known perhaps as Luigi, one of the truck drivers in 'Wages of Fear'. Nice performances also from Rosa Mirafiore as the maid and Enrico Olivieri as the son. The most eye-catching performance is that of Pietro Germi as one of the migrants. Interesting that as a director he was to continue the same theme of migrant workers attempting to cross the border in search of a better life in his monumental 'Path of Hope'. I would not hesitate to recommend this film although the post-syncing can be a little annoying as the characters sound as if they are talking in a bathroom. Taut direction by Soldati, great camerawork by Domenico Scala and a splendid score by Nino Rota. A film ripe for rediscovery.
3 Reviews
An Italian war criminal flees with young son.
ItalianGerry25 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Little known today, this solid film garnered a good deal of acclaim after its release as another example of postwar Italian neo-realist film-making. Though not as strong an entry perhaps as some of the better-known films of the period, Mario Soldati's movie is still quite interesting and dramatically appealing.
The movie focuses on Riccardo Torre, a former Italian fascist authority who had been responsible for the death of many during the war and who has just now escaped from post-war imprisonment. He retrieves his young son Fabrizio at a boarding school run by a childhood friend and together the man and his innocent young son make their way toward the French border.
Folco Lulli, often seen in smaller character roles, carries much of the movie as its main character, weighed down by his evil past, yet loving of his son, at the same time he is relentlessly determined to escape justice and is not above using the boy as sentimental deterrent to suspicions en route. On the way he and the boy stay at an inn where the maid recognizes Riccardo as her former boss. Fearing exposure, Riccardo kills her and moves on with his son. In the mountains near the French border, they meet again three men they had encountered at the inn, two workers and a Gino and Tembien, and the "Tunisian", a guitar player. The "Tunisian" accidentally discovers that Riccardo is a fugitive when he sees a magazine photo while the group spend a night in a mountain refuge.
The scene in which the Tunisian keeps playing and singing while Riccardo, realizing he has been discovered, tries to wrest the magazine from the musician in a kind of game-dance is a marvelous little tour-de-force.
The final half-hour of the movie has the men making plans to turn the fugitive over to the law. Violence erupts and Riccardo accidentally wounds his little son though a gunshot. The fugitive's boy has taken a liking to the worker Tembien, played by Pietro Germi, and the affection is returned and ultimately the man becomes a second father to the boy once papa is apprehended and the boy is removed by ambulance.
It is interesting that the actor who plays the boy Fabrizio, Enrico Olivieri, bears an uncanny resemblance to the young actor that Germi as director in 1956 of "The Railroad Man," (in which he also acted) would select for that movie, namely Edoardo Nevola. There are similarities too between this film and Germi's "The Path of Hope," made two years later, which is also about a long trek to the French border, this time by a group of Sicilians escaping village poverty.
The movie gets off to a very deliberate start and builds up momentum as it goes along. It is a rare noir-like adventure that has some very human qualities to it as well. The settings, whether the interiors of a third-rate inn or the mountain exteriors, never fail to convince.
I think "Flight into France" joins the ranks of the good Italian films of the 1940s, of which there are a legion.
The movie focuses on Riccardo Torre, a former Italian fascist authority who had been responsible for the death of many during the war and who has just now escaped from post-war imprisonment. He retrieves his young son Fabrizio at a boarding school run by a childhood friend and together the man and his innocent young son make their way toward the French border.
Folco Lulli, often seen in smaller character roles, carries much of the movie as its main character, weighed down by his evil past, yet loving of his son, at the same time he is relentlessly determined to escape justice and is not above using the boy as sentimental deterrent to suspicions en route. On the way he and the boy stay at an inn where the maid recognizes Riccardo as her former boss. Fearing exposure, Riccardo kills her and moves on with his son. In the mountains near the French border, they meet again three men they had encountered at the inn, two workers and a Gino and Tembien, and the "Tunisian", a guitar player. The "Tunisian" accidentally discovers that Riccardo is a fugitive when he sees a magazine photo while the group spend a night in a mountain refuge.
The scene in which the Tunisian keeps playing and singing while Riccardo, realizing he has been discovered, tries to wrest the magazine from the musician in a kind of game-dance is a marvelous little tour-de-force.
The final half-hour of the movie has the men making plans to turn the fugitive over to the law. Violence erupts and Riccardo accidentally wounds his little son though a gunshot. The fugitive's boy has taken a liking to the worker Tembien, played by Pietro Germi, and the affection is returned and ultimately the man becomes a second father to the boy once papa is apprehended and the boy is removed by ambulance.
It is interesting that the actor who plays the boy Fabrizio, Enrico Olivieri, bears an uncanny resemblance to the young actor that Germi as director in 1956 of "The Railroad Man," (in which he also acted) would select for that movie, namely Edoardo Nevola. There are similarities too between this film and Germi's "The Path of Hope," made two years later, which is also about a long trek to the French border, this time by a group of Sicilians escaping village poverty.
The movie gets off to a very deliberate start and builds up momentum as it goes along. It is a rare noir-like adventure that has some very human qualities to it as well. The settings, whether the interiors of a third-rate inn or the mountain exteriors, never fail to convince.
I think "Flight into France" joins the ranks of the good Italian films of the 1940s, of which there are a legion.
Italian noir with a small boy in the lead
clanciai5 September 2020
Like always in Mario Soldati's films, there as comprehensive polyphony of different characters that all play a major part, especially in the scenes where they all are together, like in the railstation café - the best scene in the film, but the character to keep watching here is the boy. His part is not very great, but it gradually grows in significance, particularly because of his increasing silence; but he is the crown in this actually very neo-realistic drama of post-fascism complications of a limitless harvest of dramatic destinies. There are some very upsetting scenes here, against which you will react heavily in outrageous protest, and you might even feel inclined to interrupt the film, but there is a reward in the end. Pietro Germi is another important actor here, and music plays a major part, mainly by the harmonica played by one of the migrants, and another major scene of precious dramaturgy is when he discovers the identity of the man they are dealing with while playing a sprightly and gay Napolitan tarantella. The music score is by Nino Rota, which of course also underscores much of the quality of the film. It's a rather neglected and much underrated contribution to the invaluable lot of Italian neo-realistic films, and there is even some timeless quality about this one, since there will always be political refugees, clandestine migrants and children getting caught in their troubles, getting hurt the most for nothing, but here at least two tragedies join to both be released.
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