Renato Castellani

Forfatter, Instruktør, Skuespiller

4. september 1913 — 28. december 1985 (72 år)
Renato Castellani (4 September 1913 – 28 December 1985) was an Italian film director and screenwriter.

Son of a representative of Kodak, he was born in Varigotti, at the time a hamlet of Final Pia, which became Finale Ligure (Savona) in 1927, where his mother had returned from Argentina to give birth to his son. He spent his childhood in Argentina, in the city of Rosario. After 12 years, he returned to Liguria and resumed his studies in Genoa. He moved to Milan, where he graduated from the Polytechnic University in architecture. In Milan he met Livio Castiglioni and together they aired for GUF (Fascist University Group) L'ora radiofonica and La fontana malata by Aldo Palazzeschi, experimenting with new techniques for sound editing on radio.

He began collaborating in 1936 as a military consultant for The Great Appeal, a film by Mario Camerini. He worked as a film critic and worked - as a screenwriter or assistant director - with important names of the Italian cinema of the time, such as Augusto Genina, with whom he signed the script for Castles in the air (1939), by Mario Soldati, of which he was assistant director on the set of Malombra (1942). He then worked with the director Alessandro Blasetti, signing the screenplays of his movies An Adventure of Salvator Rosa (1939), The Iron Crown (1941), Four Steps in the Clouds (1942) and with the director Camillo Mastrocinque, signing the screenplay of The Cuckoo Clock (1938).

His first work as a director was A Pistol Shot (1942), based on a story by Aleksandr Puskin, in which Alberto Moravia also took part in the screenplay, with Fosco Giachetti and Assia Noris. This movie, as well as the subsequent Zazà (1942), fit into the caligraphism genre.

With Under the Sun of Rome (1948), It's Forever Springtime (1950), both shot outdoors with non-professional actors, and especially Two Cents Worth of Hope (1952), Castellani gave rise to a new genre, defined as "pink neorealism", considered by critics at the time as the downward trend of neorealism, but destined to a vast audience success.

With Two Cents Worth of Hope, he won the ex aequo Grand Prix at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. With Romeo and Juliet (1954), he won the Golden Lion at the 1954 Venice Film Festival.

After some other significant films such as Dreams in a Drawer (1957) and The Brigand (1961), Castellani devoted himself mainly to biopics in episodes shot for television, widely followed, such as The Life of Leonardo da Vinci (1971) and The Life of Verdi (1982).

Kendt for

  • Ægteskab på italiensk
    Ægteskab på italiensk1964
  • For to øre håb
    For to øre håb1952
  • Romeo og Julie
    Romeo og Julie1954
  • Under Roms sol
    Under Roms sol1948
  • Bag kvindefængslets mure
    Bag kvindefængslets mure1959
  • Spøgelser er ingen spøg
    Spøgelser er ingen spøg1967
  • The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci
    The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci5 episoder
  • Treasure Island in Outer Space
    Treasure Island in Outer Space5 episoder
  • The Life of Verdi
    The Life of Verdi9 episoder
  • Department Store
    Department Store1939
  • Jernkronen - Manden fra Løvedalen
    Jernkronen - Manden fra Løvedalen1941
  • Mare matto
    Mare matto1963
  • Professor, My Son
    Professor, My Son1946
  • It's Forever Springtime
    It's Forever Springtime1950
  • The Brigand
    The Brigand1961
  • I sogni nel cassetto
    I sogni nel cassetto1957
  • Brief Season
    Brief Season1969
  • Opstandelse
    Opstandelse1958
  • 100.000 Dollars
    100.000 Dollars1940
  • Balnatten
    Balnatten1940

Filmografi

1987
1982
1978
1971
1969
1969
The Archangel · as Screenplay
1967
Ghosts, Italian Style · as Screenplay
1964
Marriage Italian Style · as Screenplay
1964
1964
3 notti d'amore · as Screenplay
1963
Mare matto · as Screenplay
1961
The Brigand · as Screenplay
1958
1957
1950
1949
Fabiola · as Screenplay
1946
Professor, My Son · as Screenplay
1945
In High Places · as Screenplay
1944
The Mountain Woman · as Screenplay
1944
Zazà · as Screenplay
1942
Malombra · as Screenplay
1942
A Pistol Shot · as Screenplay
1942
La cena delle beffe · as Screenplay
1941
The Iron Crown · as Screenplay
1940
A Romantic Adventure · as Screenplay
1939
1939
Department Store · as Screenplay
1939