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Open City (1954)

Anna Magnani , Aldo Fabrizi , Roberto Rossellini  |  NR |  DVD
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)


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Product Details

  • Actors: Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero, Vito Annichiarico, Nando Bruno
  • Directors: Roberto Rossellini
  • Writers: Roberto Rossellini, Alberto Consiglio, Federico Fellini, Sergio Amidei
  • Producers: Roberto Rossellini, Ferruccio De Martino, Giuseppe Amato
  • Format: AC-3, Black & White, NTSC
  • Language: Italian (Dolby Digital 1.0)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rated: NR (Not Rated)
  • Studio: Image Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: November 5, 1997
  • Run Time: 100 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: 6305075573
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,421 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • Learn more about "Open City" on IMDb

Special Features

None.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Allies had barely driven the Nazis out of Rome when Roberto Rosselini went to work on Open City, considered by most to be his greatest work. Shot on bits and short ends of scavenged film, this film helped define Italian neorealism. Audiences were convinced that the actors were all amateurs (they weren't) and the whole film was improvised (it wasn't; the three screenwriters included Federico Fellini). With its semidocumentary camera style and use of actual locations, the film does feel very real. Of course, so does the opening half-hour of Saving Private Ryan, and like that film Open City is at its heart a classic war yarn any Hollywood studio would feel at home with. The story involves members of the Italian underground trying to smuggle badly needed cash out of Nazi-occupied Rome to partisan fighters in the mountains, while the Nazis are hunting down one of the underground, a notorious freedom fighter and seditionist. Anna Magnani (an actor well established in her own country who became an international star with this film) is often singled out for her portrayal as the pregnant, unwed woman who gets caught up in the action on her wedding day, but the entire cast is topnotch. The sparse subtitles are both a blessing and a curse--there is less to read, which allows the viewer to concentrate on the visuals, but there are times when non-Italian-speakers will feel like they're missing out on some juicy dialogue. --Geof Miller

Product Description

The stars play an impoverished mother-to-be and a parish priest whose loyalties are tested by the sinister German forces that occupy their homeland during World War II.

Customer Reviews

Rossellini's film certainly presented a communist leader as noble and heroic. E. Nilsson  |  7 reviewers made a similar statement
This is an awesomely powerful film - great movie! E. Dolnack  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 44 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars great film ruined by bad transfer December 11, 2000
Format:DVD
I agree with most of reviewer here that Roberto Rossellini's Open City is a great film - ground-breaking work that is yet entertaining in the most simple way. However, it appears that most of the reviewers refer to the VHS version. I bought this DVD the moment I heard that it was on DVD, and am much disappointed. Overall transfer is substandard, subtitles miss a bulk of dialogues, and most of all, there is at least one missing shot that I noticed in this transfer (It is the famous shot in which the resistant is being tortured by blowtorch). I had VHS released by Connoisseur, which is superior to this DVD on every level.

So buy VHS or better yet tell Image to restore this gem.

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31 of 35 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars So dark, and so brilliant. January 17, 2002
By tom
Format:DVD
I wonder about some complaints over this DVD. The transfer is fine - it's an old, black-and-white film and for all that looks pretty darn good. Less than 5% of the dialogue is untranslated in subtitles, and as an Italian speaker I can tell you what's left out is insignificant chit chat.

See it for the fine performances, the achievement of its making, and for the history it portrays.

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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars a great film ruined by bad transfer December 11, 2000
Format:DVD
I agree with many reviewers here that this is truly a great film. Someone mentioned that the story is melodramatic or even propagandistic, which is true, but it is really beside the point in this case. What is important here is how the simple story is told in even simpler way in this ground-breaking film, transporting the viewers to the breathtaking moments of last days of WWII in Rome. However, I think many reviews actually refer to VHS version because DVD (released by Image, I think, from Blackwell Films) is even worse than VHS (released by Connoisseur). I bought this title as soon as I heard it was on DVD, and I was much disappointed to say the least. The transfer is substandard in overall, subtitles miss whole bulk of dialogues, and most of all, there is even a missing shot from the film (It is the famous shot in which the resistant is being tortured with torchblow). My advice is: Buy VHS (Connoisseur one), or better yet ask Image for new restored release.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Rossellini Invents Italian Neo-Realism On the Screen
"Rome: Open City," (1945), black and white, 100 minutes long, presents us with a classic of Italian cinema. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Stephanie DePue
5.0 out of 5 stars A precise shot
Roma, città aperta (Roberto Rossellini, 1945, 100')

There are cases where, as a critic, one runs into a review that simply can not be bettered: Wikipedia's review... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Dr René Codoni
4.0 out of 5 stars Good
Rome Open City is a good film, but it is clearly a far more historically important film than an artistically great one (the predominance of hagiography and agitprop make this... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Cosmoetica
5.0 out of 5 stars Birth of a new cinematic idiom
This film is a great treat on many levels. There is the story, of course, about the Italian underground during the period that the Germans took over from Mussolini, essentially... Read more
Published on December 16, 2010 by Robert J. Crawford
5.0 out of 5 stars The beginning of modern cinema
This movie was considered revolutionary in its day and it's still deeply moving, upsetting and powerful. Read more
Published on September 12, 2010 by Alan A. Elsner
1.0 out of 5 stars Wait for Criterion/Eclipse edition coming in 2010
If you want a better quality version of this film, wait a couple of months. Criterion's Eclipse division will be releasing it as part of a set called "Roberto Rossellini's War... Read more
Published on October 30, 2009 by Neil57
5.0 out of 5 stars Only Buy The Connoisseur Video Copy!!!
The only copy of this film worth owning is the one by Connoisseur Video. It has the most complete subtitle translations and is heads and shoulders above all of the DVD editions. Read more
Published on May 26, 2009 by Mark Twain
5.0 out of 5 stars Almost a Documentary because its so REAL
Roma, citta aperta or Open City is another great movie about Nazi Germany. I have recommended this along with Olympia, Triumph of the Will, Night and Fog, Metropolis and The Power... Read more
Published on January 12, 2009 by Tony
5.0 out of 5 stars Prompt and perfect
Prompt and perfect.....and, of course, A Classic (for this American guy and his bella Italian wife)
Published on July 6, 2008 by Emanuel M. Offen
4.0 out of 5 stars Unique and Powerful.
I have to agree with a couple of the reviewers here that this film is rather dated, but I can think of few movies from the late forties, even the great ones, that the same thing... Read more
Published on May 30, 2007 by Bernard Chapin
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