RossiniDVD
s/w " John Ardoin, reviewing in The Dallas Morning News": Filmed in Italy during 1943, this is one of the few conscionable and entertaining composer biopics. Starring Nino Besozzi as Rossini, the film is on the whole accurate (something in itself unusual where films of composers are concerned), and few will forget the moving moment in which Rossini and Beethoven come face-to-face in Vienna in 1822. There are important operatic sequences from The Barber of Seville, Moses and Otello featuring such well-known prewar Italian singers as Gianna Pederzini, Mariano Stabile, Tancredi Pasero and Piero Pauli. " " Alan Blyth, reviewing in Gramophone": Rossini has something of the flavour of Marcel Carné's masterpiece, Les Enfants du Paradis, in that it portrays its era and particularly its country in human, highly coloured tints. Like its French counterpart, it uses a host of character actors to portray, winningly, Rossini's colleagues and contemporaries, and has crowd scenes that are vivid and finely directed. Both Nino Besozzi as Rossini (a good likeness) and Paola Barbara as Colbran give performances that ring true. However, it's disappointing to find that famous singers listed on the case make only brief appearances. Even so it's a pleasure to see Stabile as Figaro, Pasero as Basilio and Pederzini as Rosina. Gatti is heard, all too briefly, as Desdemona. The film shows Rossini triumphing in Naples, Rome, Vienna (where he meets a romanticized Beethoven) and Paris from Elisabetta to Tell. I thoroughly enjoyed this offering and wished it had gone on longer. " Joe Pearce, Secretary of the Vocal Record Collectors' Society": This is an Italian wartime film of the most solid production values, with a cast of actors second to none in the pre-Open City Italian cinema. Rossini's career is covered from 1815 through 1829, with Nino Besozzi at age 42 presenting a rather mature portrait of the composer at age 23 and growing into his early middle age quite believably. An actor of considerable charm and humor, Besozzi is well-partnered by Paola Barbara as Isabella Colbran. Barbara at age 31 looks like an opera singer, and she was surely one of the classiest Italian actresses of her day. The remainder of this excellent company is composed of some truly lovable character actors, some of whom, like Paolo Stoppa, were still gracing Italian films in the 1980s. The entire production is well photographed and directed, with the meeting of Rossini and Beethoven, in 1822, in Vienna, being the most memorable scene in the film, so much so that I doubt I will ever forget it-it could easily have been the work of James Whale or Karl Freund. The singers provide a fascinating glimpse into the non-Gigli-Gobbi-Bechi Italian musical scene of the early 1940s. Many of the artists make their only film appearances ever, and Pasero steals the limelight with a panache that belies his sometimes not overly involved recorded performances. All in all, a surprisingly effective film that I highly recommend.
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