This release can only be found in the following box set: Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy
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Licensor Information
Cinecitta
Directed by: Roberto Rossellini
This was Roberto Rossellini’s revelation, a harrowing drama about the Nazi occupation of Rome and the brave few who struggled against it. Though told with more melodramatic flair than the other films that would form this trilogy and starring some well-known actors—Aldo Fabrizi as a priest helping the partisan cause and Anna Magnani in her breakthrough role as the fiancée of a resistance member—Rome Open City (Roma città aperta) is a shockingly authentic experience, conceived and directed amid the ruin of World War II, with immediacy in every frame. Marking a watershed moment in Italian cinema, this galvanic work garnered awards around the globe and left the beginnings of a new film movement in its wake.
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Technical Specifications
Format:
DVD
Disc:
DVD-9 (1 Disc)
Total: 1 Disc
Regions:
1 (DVD)
Aspect Ratio:
1.37:1
Audio Options:
Italian Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Resolution:
480p/29.97
Subtitles:
English
Supplements
Types of Supplements Included: Introduction, Audio Commentary, Documentary, Interview, Video Essay
- Video introduction by Roberto Rossellini from 1963
- Audio commentary featuring film scholar Peter Bondanella
- Once Upon a Time . . . “Rome Open City,” a 2006 documentary on the making of this historic film, featuring rare archival material and footage of Anna Magnani, Federico Fellini, Ingrid Bergman, and many others
- New video interviews with Rossellini scholar Adriano Aprà
- Rossellini and the City, a new visual essay by film scholar Mark Shiel (Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City) on Rossellini’s use of the urban landscape in the war trilogy
- New video interview with film critic and Rossellini friend Father Virgilio Fantuzzi, who discusses the filmmaker and the role of religion in Rome Open City
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Release Credits
Producer: Johanna Schiller
Artwork: Jason Hardy
Release Notes on Restoration
Rome Open City
Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero are presented in their original aspect ratio of1.33:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. The pictures have been slightly windowboxed to ensure that the maximum image is visible on all monitors.
For decades, the available versions of these three films have been based on later-generation elements exhibiting both physical wear and tear and printed-in dirt and damage. These defects have often been attributed to the circumstances under which the films were made, especially Rome Open City, for which Rossellini resorted to using scavenged and mismatched film stocks. This new high-definition digital transfer of Rome Open City, created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from a 35 mm fine-grain master positive, displays remarkable detail, sharpness, and image clarity.
The disastrous condition of Paisan’s materials has rendered the film virtually unavailable for decades, while Germany Year Zero has never been seen in the United States in this original version, with German opening titles and its complete and correct original-language soundtrack. These new high-definition digital transfers of both films were created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from 35 mm fine-grain master positives.
All three films required extensive digital restoration, using MTI’s DRS system and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system, to remove, by hand, dirt, debris, stains, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker. Paisan alone required more than five hundred hours of MTI machine time for more than 265,000 individual manual fixes. Digital Vision’s DVNR system was also used for fine dirt, grain, and noise reduction.
The monaural soundtracks for all three films were mastered at 24-bit from the corresponding 35mm optical tracks. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated audio workstation.
For decades, the available versions of these three films have been based on later-generation elements exhibiting both physical wear and tear and printed-in dirt and damage. These defects have often been attributed to the circumstances under which the films were made, especially Rome Open City, for which Rossellini resorted to using scavenged and mismatched film stocks. This new high-definition digital transfer of Rome Open City, created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from a 35 mm fine-grain master positive, displays remarkable detail, sharpness, and image clarity.
The disastrous condition of Paisan’s materials has rendered the film virtually unavailable for decades, while Germany Year Zero has never been seen in the United States in this original version, with German opening titles and its complete and correct original-language soundtrack. These new high-definition digital transfers of both films were created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from 35 mm fine-grain master positives.
All three films required extensive digital restoration, using MTI’s DRS system and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system, to remove, by hand, dirt, debris, stains, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker. Paisan alone required more than five hundred hours of MTI machine time for more than 265,000 individual manual fixes. Digital Vision’s DVNR system was also used for fine dirt, grain, and noise reduction.
The monaural soundtracks for all three films were mastered at 24-bit from the corresponding 35mm optical tracks. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated audio workstation.