Journey to Italy (1954)

terrible... so disappointed.

Brilliant and touching

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

When I finished watching this movie, I remembered F.W. Murnau's "sunrise" and also Michelangelo Antonioni's (later) films. Also in this "viaggio in italia" there is not much that happens, however everything "little" that happens in the movie holds us attention, hypnotizes us and "glue" to the screen. This is just the third film I have seen of Roberto Rossellini, after "rome citta aperta" and "stromboli" (the latter also with Ingrid Bergman), films that I also liked a lot. Lately I have seen a lot of European cinema, mainly French and Italian, essentially from the 50s, 60s and 70s. European cinema is different, especially for those who are used to American cinema only. What happens is that when we first see Antonioni, Godard, Malle, Truffaut, Rosselini, Chabrol, etc., the first sensation we have is strange, but if we insist on continuing to watch films of these fantastic filmmakers we soon begin to discover a new cinema, which we learn to see with immense pleasure, that stimulates us, that opens us perspectives, that makes us think and that gives us immense joy to see. As with this beautiful Rossellini film.

An unhappily married wealthy couple drive to Naples to dispose of a deceased uncle's villa. He is dry as an old bone, completely unfeeling around his wife, while she grows more and more upset as time passes at their lack of connection and romance. Eventually they decide to get a divorce, before the final scene where they abruptly change their mind and declare their love for one another, without any indication as to how they reached such a conclusion. The film does a pretty good job of avoiding melodrama until that point, but a more insipid ending you couldn't imagine.The lack of any human warmth in this film makes it an emotionless affair, though it does manage an inviting mood thanks to the wonderfully scenery. Set mostly in sunshine, mountains rise in the background, oceans sit on the horizon, stony streets are woven, and we get a travelogue of the southwest coast of Italy - Naples, Capri, Pompeii - volcanic smoke, catacombs, and marbled statues. Rossellini does well to pull back from the actors and let these locations breathe fresh life into a relationship of stale air. Learning foreign history and observing foreign life pass around them, the mood is that of disconnect - though there is a sense of wonder and searching for our place within it all. Certain nods to the macabre along the way impart some vague thematic elements, though I empathise with any who thought this was made by a tourism promotion company.

This film is one I found listed in the pages of the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I would probably never have been attracted to this film if it weren't for this recommendation, I hoped it would be deserved of it. Basically husband and wife Alexander 'Alex' (George Sanders) and Katherine Joyce (Ingrid Bergman) are a wealthy and sophisticated English couple who have travelled to Italy to to sell a large property they have recently inherited from a deceased uncle near Naples. Alex is a workaholic businessman, while Katherine is more sensitive, their relationship is cooled and strained by the journey to Italy, as well as Katherine remembering poignant memories of now deceased poet friend Charles Lewington, he died in the war. Katherine tours museums of Naples and Pompeii, Alex flirts with women on Capri, his sarcasm and bluntness and her critical nature cause their marriage to disintegrate within days of arrival, they agree at one point to consider divorce, but it is a religious procession in Pompeii that they are caught up and their love for each other is rekindled. Also starring Maria Mauban as Marie, Paul Muller as Paul Dupont, Anthony La Penna (Leslie Daniels) as Tony Burton and Anna Proclemer as Prostitute. To be honest, I could not concentrate fully on everything going on, because it was so chatty, only my interest in Bergman and the sights of Italy kept me engaged a little, it is perhaps to simple in narrative and plot, but if you see the journey of the title being both physical and spiritual I suppose you can get a little something out of watching this romantic drama. Worth watching, at least once, in my opinion!

Rosselini did everything he could to ruin Ingrid Bergman. This is another one of his miserable movies which is boring and unexciting about a middle-aged couple whose marriage is on the rocks. Why would you take a beautiful exciting women and make her a frump? And what did he do to George Sanders? A clever actor and wonderfully adept at delivering witty lines. All he does is flirt with women. The women he flirts with are more interesting than his wife. The usual European attraction for the morbid. Lots of skeletons and skulls to make you feel like life has no meaning and we're all going to die. Don't watch it unless you're studying what not to do if you want to make a really good film. The photography was good for the time and that's about all I can say good about it. I think his objective was to destroy their careers. I believe secretly (or maybe not so secretly) he was jealous and hated actors. It's no wonder their marriage didn't last. I gave it a 3 rating because I have seen worse and after all Bergman and Sanders were in it.