Il Generale della Rovere



In a magnetic performance, Vittorio De Sica is Bardone, an opportunistic rascal in wartime Genoa, conning and cheating his fellow Italians, exploiting their tragedies by promising to help find their missing loved ones in exchange for money. But when the Nazis force him to impersonate a dead partisan general in prison to extract information from fellow inmates, Bardone finds himself wrestling with his conscience for the first time. Roberto Rossellini’s gripping drama, among his most commercially popular films, is further evidence of the compassionate artistry of one cinema’s most important voices.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• New video interviews with Isabella, Renzo, and Ingrid Rossellini, as well as film scholar Adriano Aprà
• New visual essay by Tag Gallagher, author of The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic James Monaco and an excerpt from a 2000 interview with Indro Montanelli, author of the story that inspired the film

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

I must cop to knowing exceedingly little about this title, and beyond De Sica's acting in it I can't see why Criterion would be releasing it in a standalone edition during a year that looks like it's going to be saturated with Rossellini already (barring the possibility its license came bundled with a number of other films/CC is working on all its Rossellini titles in close succession/Rovere wouldn't fit into an Eclipse box/some combination of the above). Anybody a big fan of this particular film and/or does this movie have an especially lofty reputation in any circles?

I think the distinction of this film is that it was one of Rossellini's most comercially successful from his later period (Venice win, Oscar nomination etc.), and it's often singled out as De Sica's greatest acting performance.

Two exceedingly good reasons, then. Thanks for the context.

Good news. It's a wonderful film, with a fine lead performance by DeSica. I'm pretty sure this is the first R1 Dvd release, meaning that this will be its first wide exposure in a long time. [Just checked and Gen. de Rovere has a mere 383 votes on IMDb.

I already have this Italian version:



but will grab the CC when it appears. Looking forward to the extras. I'd be particularly interested to learn more about DeSica's acting career, which I mostly know of only from Scorsese's My Voyage to Italy.

That Italian version has two wonderful printed extras, a huge booklet of essays and a reprint of the original story by Montanelli which inspired the film. The second disc of the Italian edition contains a slightly different cut of the film in addition. I guess they'd have to do nothing but make the whole thing English friendly to get a classy release.

I don't know what the reputation of the film itself is, apart from indeed being one of the few commercially successful Rosselini films. I think it's a surprisingly 'commercial' film (not in the bad sense of the word), less abrasive or provoking than many of his earlier ones. But the film is generally engaging, and De Sica's acting is a joy to behold. It's just not the most important of all Rosselini films, and I assume the reason why they release it has a lot to do with the quality of the restoration, which is generally excellent; clearly the best looking of all Rosselini films on disc.

From DVD Talk...


The Criterion edition is billed as 132 minutes, the shorter Italian release version... Indeed Tag Gallagher's RR filmography gives Venezia screening as 139 mins (Aug 1959) , Rome (Oct 1959) and Paris (Nov 1959) general release as 132 mins, New York release as 139 mins (in Oct 1960) and London release as 131 minutes (in Dec 1961)... I'm not sure how with PAL speedup, Minerva have those actual running times of 138 & 132 minutes on their set...

And i just purchased the VHS tape from Ebay 3 weeks ago.....but i only spent $15 for it!! Nice to see Criterion release this great film.

You should know by now that Criterion only announces a title after someone on this board buys an inferior copy of it. So, you did your part

Okay then, where can I get a bad VHS of "Stromboli"?

I think I have one in my attic, but it may take a few days to find.

Yeah, I have an OK VHS of STROMBOLI from RR retro circa 1989 on BBC.... Bring on the CC dvd!

You guys are cheating. You can't just rummage in the attic for your own old copy. You have to follow a very meticulous process:

1. After years of voodoo/meditation/earnest prayer, abandon all hope of the desired film ever being released on DVD.
2. Rationalize that desired film is criminally underrated, and that you alone can salvage it from obscurity.
3. Repeat step 2 until you have convinced yourself that a cheap-o VHS of desired film that cost $30 back in the day is now worth at least $300.
4. Haunt ebay for a month waiting for the right time to strike.
5. Success!
6. Sit back and wait 3-5 weeks for Criterion's official release announcement.

If you deviate from this process even one iota though, all bets are off.

I'm very happy with this release, beacause my Spanish print of Rovere was of course, cutten in Franco's times, and they sell us the same cut rubbish as before. Stromboli is here on DVD but with very poor image. I burned it from the library untill some foreign company ¿¿¿ criterion??? will release it. I paid 9 euros for the Spanish Europa 51 dvd, so, come on guys, give us more Roberto !

Vittorio de Sica as an actor is charming. I've seen lots of his films without subtitles. It's easy to find them in Italian because he was very popular as actor. Not as national icon as Sordi or Tote were, but well remembered. From the 30's, he's perfect as young "galán" in Gli uomini, che mascalzoni; Daro un millone, or specially in Il signor Max, a masterpiece of comedy "telefoni bianchi" that was their speciality in the 30's when Mussolini had the power.

In The 50's he bacame a middle agged "galán" How is galán in English, or French, or Italian? Sorry, I don't know, and he became the star of PINK NEORREALISM in films that I LOVE such us The sign of Venus, Bread, love and fantasy (with 2 sequels in Italy and one in Spain).

one of the greatest hit song from the 30's in Italy was sung by De Sica, from the film Che mascalzoni sono gli uomini, you can watch it here

I dunno - I think it might be enough if one of us agrees to buy the VHS off of ellipsis7. Except, yeah, it couldn't be some kind of token purchase. You'd have to really want the thing...

This film does indeed show what a talented actor de Sica was, and it is too bad he became typecast as the stereotypical latin seductor or old roué, a part he played in so many bad Italian comedies. It even came to a point where he did not even have to act and could just let his mere presence and screen persona do the work and earn him his paycheck (much as Orson Welles often did), which means many people don't fully know him as an actor.

In Ophüls Madame de... he plays a variant of the romantic "other man" character, but there he puts his art and heart in it.

Aha, if this is the case everyone can expect Il Caso Mattei to be released anytime soon!

Looks like a direct port of the Italian transfer. There is even a logo for Minerva after Criterion's. I expect that the Dillinger is Dead release will follow suit.

Surprised so little post-release discussion of this film. I'm inclined to blind-buy it on the BN sale but wondered if anyone has any more opinion, good or bad, on both film and release. thanks.

It's been a while since I've seen it ( I have the Italian Minerva edition of this, so I didn't bother with the Crit), so don't ask me for details, but I can only repeat what I wrote previously in this thread: it's a fine film, very well acted and constantly entertaining, though not as much a landmark as the post-war films. But nevertheless: recommended wholeheartedly, and if you can use the B&N-sale, jump for it! Have just placed my order there, but finally decided to postpone the Eclipse "History Films" until the next sale after not having been too much blown away by "Louis XIV". But "Generale" almost feels like the opposite of that film.

I have seen it and it's a good film and De Sica's performance is a joy to watch.....

While you should go with the other Rossellinis first, assuming you don't have them and you just want to go best first, this is a perfectly fine film and worth more than the fifteen or so dollars you'd be spending. As others have said it is very fun with a great performance by De Sica. Just don't expect it to blow you away. It does have a very interesting structure though.