Allo Giallo!
During the height of World War II, Italy responded to the film noir genre when Luchino Visconti, who was both a Marxist and one of Jean Renoir's assistants, directed his very first film Ossessione (1943). This film was actually the second adaptated version of James M Cain's lubricious crime novel The Postman Always Rings Twice ( the first, being Le deuxieme tournant in 1939), Ossessione has been long hailed the first reference of neo-realism, an Italian film movement (1939-52) which centered on the suffering of a working -class society in the height of a war-torn Italy. The fascist authorities were livid, as these stories actually condoned adultery. Visconti's interpretation of the Cain novel, actually reached audiences quite a few years before Hollywood would charter this cinematic territory. However, Ossessione would not be seen in US theatres for several years itself, on account of copyright infringement.
Neorealism had a child and it's name was neorealismo nero ( black neorealism) , which is theorized to be related to noir. Releases such as The Bandit (1946) focused on the dislocation that ensued following the return of Italian soldiers post-war, and the onset of ports that would be notorious as criminal hotspots . And just as Visconti had accomplished with Ossessione, neorelismo nero blended elements of the Hollywood signature crime movie with it's indigenous melodramatic traditions. Michaelangelo Antonioni's Cronaca di un Amore ( Chronicle of A Love Affair , 1950), in which a detective investigates the past of an executive's wife, centered on day to day ennui and alienation themes which would inspire the director to take into art-house realms in his later films.
Irrespective of these efforts, noir was not acknowledged in Italy's cinema until the 1960s, which was well past it's golden age, and even then it was by way of a very distinctive provincial style, albeit similar to noir - and this style would be known as giallo. With references to both literature and film, giallo was a concoction of crime, horror and even eroticism. The name was inspired by the term that was used to describe a series of crime pulp and detective novels that were published by the Mondadori publishing house from 1929 onwards. These series were printed and released on inexpensive yellow-covered paperbacks, the majority of them were whodunits, similar to their American counterparts. Much of the earliest "gialli," were English language novels that would be translated into Italian ( mirroring the serie noire books of France). Noted foreign mystery writers such as Edgar Wallace, Agatha Christie and Georges Simenon were also labelled "gialli" on entry publication in Italian. This would metamorphasise into the word giallo becoming synonymous with the mystery and crime story genre.
An example of a signature Giallo cover.
The film genre that emerged from these works in the 1960s began with faithful adaptations of the novels, but would veer into its own territory and separate path to become a unique genre of it's own right. Giallo films were
characterized by elaborate and gore laden murder sequences featuring slick camera work and inimitable musical arrangements. The whodunit vibe was still very much alive and well, but it would be in tandem with modern slasher horror and filtered through the venerable tradition of Italian opera and grand guignol drama. These releases were known for their gratuitous sex , nudity and scenes of ultra-violence. They were also prone to psychological themes; alienation, paranoia and general madness.
The actual film that created giallo as a cinematic genre would be The Girl Who Knew Too Much ( La Ragazza che sapeva troppo)(1963), directed by Mario Bava, a key figure in the giallo movement. In his 1964 effort, Black Blood And Black Lace, the talisman of giallo would be introduced : the cloaked murderer with a shiny weapon in gloved hand of black leather. Giallo would have it's heyday in the 1970s, where scores were released. The most famed directors of the giallo set were Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi, Pupi Avati and Aldo Lado. The high-contrast lighting in concert with the shadows ( amidst excessive blood-red and yellow colours) were all part of the Gothic trimmings of giallo films, but Argento would up the proverbial ante and gravitate towards noir, very often using a criminal investigation that would catalyse the action itself. Argento became the front running cult name amongst giallo auteurs for international audiences. Giallo would continue to develop as a 1970s genre, soon moving into political territory as it eluded to conspiracy theories and murky links between Italian politicians and criminal elements. Bernardo Bertolucci 's Il Conformista ( The Conformist, 1970), which looked back on a fascist past, garnered international plaudits, whereas other releases with social thematics, did not.
More recently one of the nearest rapprochements with noir's Hollywood style, was Gioco di ripley (2002) which was adapted from Patricia Highsmith's eponymous novel, released overseas as Ripley's Game - with John Malkovich on board as the aging Ripley. Like the novel, Liliana Cavani's film referenced the splendours of Italy's artistic architecture and would convey once again that despite Italy having an unrecognizable noir tradition in the way Britain or France did, you could rely on the fact that noir elements would be very much an ingredient in Italy's own native traditions, be they neorealism, horror or even art-house chic.
Neorealism had a child and it's name was neorealismo nero ( black neorealism) , which is theorized to be related to noir. Releases such as The Bandit (1946) focused on the dislocation that ensued following the return of Italian soldiers post-war, and the onset of ports that would be notorious as criminal hotspots . And just as Visconti had accomplished with Ossessione, neorelismo nero blended elements of the Hollywood signature crime movie with it's indigenous melodramatic traditions. Michaelangelo Antonioni's Cronaca di un Amore ( Chronicle of A Love Affair , 1950), in which a detective investigates the past of an executive's wife, centered on day to day ennui and alienation themes which would inspire the director to take into art-house realms in his later films.
Irrespective of these efforts, noir was not acknowledged in Italy's cinema until the 1960s, which was well past it's golden age, and even then it was by way of a very distinctive provincial style, albeit similar to noir - and this style would be known as giallo. With references to both literature and film, giallo was a concoction of crime, horror and even eroticism. The name was inspired by the term that was used to describe a series of crime pulp and detective novels that were published by the Mondadori publishing house from 1929 onwards. These series were printed and released on inexpensive yellow-covered paperbacks, the majority of them were whodunits, similar to their American counterparts. Much of the earliest "gialli," were English language novels that would be translated into Italian ( mirroring the serie noire books of France). Noted foreign mystery writers such as Edgar Wallace, Agatha Christie and Georges Simenon were also labelled "gialli" on entry publication in Italian. This would metamorphasise into the word giallo becoming synonymous with the mystery and crime story genre.
An example of a signature Giallo cover.
The film genre that emerged from these works in the 1960s began with faithful adaptations of the novels, but would veer into its own territory and separate path to become a unique genre of it's own right. Giallo films were
characterized by elaborate and gore laden murder sequences featuring slick camera work and inimitable musical arrangements. The whodunit vibe was still very much alive and well, but it would be in tandem with modern slasher horror and filtered through the venerable tradition of Italian opera and grand guignol drama. These releases were known for their gratuitous sex , nudity and scenes of ultra-violence. They were also prone to psychological themes; alienation, paranoia and general madness.
The actual film that created giallo as a cinematic genre would be The Girl Who Knew Too Much ( La Ragazza che sapeva troppo)(1963), directed by Mario Bava, a key figure in the giallo movement. In his 1964 effort, Black Blood And Black Lace, the talisman of giallo would be introduced : the cloaked murderer with a shiny weapon in gloved hand of black leather. Giallo would have it's heyday in the 1970s, where scores were released. The most famed directors of the giallo set were Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi, Pupi Avati and Aldo Lado. The high-contrast lighting in concert with the shadows ( amidst excessive blood-red and yellow colours) were all part of the Gothic trimmings of giallo films, but Argento would up the proverbial ante and gravitate towards noir, very often using a criminal investigation that would catalyse the action itself. Argento became the front running cult name amongst giallo auteurs for international audiences. Giallo would continue to develop as a 1970s genre, soon moving into political territory as it eluded to conspiracy theories and murky links between Italian politicians and criminal elements. Bernardo Bertolucci 's Il Conformista ( The Conformist, 1970), which looked back on a fascist past, garnered international plaudits, whereas other releases with social thematics, did not.
More recently one of the nearest rapprochements with noir's Hollywood style, was Gioco di ripley (2002) which was adapted from Patricia Highsmith's eponymous novel, released overseas as Ripley's Game - with John Malkovich on board as the aging Ripley. Like the novel, Liliana Cavani's film referenced the splendours of Italy's artistic architecture and would convey once again that despite Italy having an unrecognizable noir tradition in the way Britain or France did, you could rely on the fact that noir elements would be very much an ingredient in Italy's own native traditions, be they neorealism, horror or even art-house chic.
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