Mussolini and I

1985 docudrama film directed by Alberto Negrin

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Mussolini and I

DVD cover of Mussolini and I

Written by| Alberto Negrin
Nicola Badalucco
Directed by| Alberto Negrin
Starring| Bob Hoskins
Anthony Hopkins
Susan Sarandon
Theme music composer| Egisto Macchi
Country of origin| Italy
France
West Germany
Switzerland
Spain
United States
Original language| English
Production
Producers| Mario Gallo
Enzo Guilioli
Editors| Roberto Perpignani
Egisto Macchi
Running time| 130 mins. (original)
240 mins. (extended)
Production companies| HBO Premiere Films
Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana
Original release
Network| Rai Uno
HBO
Release| 15 April 1985 (1985-04-15)

Mussolini and I (alternately titled Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce) is a 1985 made-for-television docudrama film directed by Alberto Negrin.[1] It chronicles the strained relationship between Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and his son-in-law and foreign minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, based on Ciano's diaries. Made in English as an Italian-French-German-Swiss-Spanish-US co-production, with Bob Hoskins, Anthony Hopkins and Susan Sarandon in the leading roles, it first aired on Rai Uno on 15 April 1985 in a 130-minute version. On 8 September 1985, it premiered in the USA on HBO in an extended four-hour version.

All filming was done in Italy, including northern Italy's Gargnano, Merano, Bolzano, Verona, and in central Italy, Rome and L'Aquila. Filming was also done at the well known Villa Torlonia and Palazzo Venezia. It was released on a 2 disc DVD in August 2003. It is divided into four segments for a total of 240 minutes and was released by Koch Entertainment.

## Plot

[edit]

The film starts just before World War II and shows the political and personal side of Benito Mussolini's fall from power and his death and the end of the war. It delves into his relationship with his son in-law, daughter, wife, mistress, and Hitler.

## Production

[edit]

Locations used included Mussolini's former residences Villa Torlonia and Villa Feltrinelli.[1] The film reunited Hoskins and Hopkins after they had played Othello and Iago for the BBC Television Shakespeare series a few years earlier. Its Italian shoot overlapped with the filming (in Yugoslavia) of Mussolini: The Untold Story starring George C. Scott: when asked about the rival series by a journalist, Scott called Hopkins "the best English-speaking actor today". Hopkins's fee was reported in the press as $450,000.[2]

## Reception

[edit]

John J. O'Connor, reviewing for The New York Times, wrote that the script "keeps reducing historical issues to the dimensions of a kitchen drama. These particular kitchens just happen to be in magnificent Italian palazzos". He described Hoskins as "all done up in elaborate makeup with no place to go except to look terribly unhappy but determined to stick it out to the end", but praised the other leading performances and the production values.[1]

## Cast

[edit]

* Bob Hoskins as Benito Mussolini, dictator of Fascist Italy
* Susan Sarandon as Edda Ciano, Mussolini's daughter
* Anthony Hopkins as Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari, Mussolini's son-in-law
* Annie Girardot as Rachele Mussolini, Mussolini's wife
* Barbara De Rossi as Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress
* Massimo Dapporto as Vittorio Mussolini, Mussolini's son
* Vittorio Mezzogiorno as Alessandro Pavolini, friend of Galeazzo's and leader of the Republican Fascist Party
* Kurt Raab as Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany
* Marne Maitland as King Victor Emmanuel III
* Hans-Dieter Asner as Joachim von Ribbentrop, Foreign Minister of the Third Reich
* Carlheinz Heitmann as Karl Wolff, Military Governor and Supreme SS and Police Leader of Northern Italy
* Harald Dietl as Otto Skorzeny, led Operation Oak to rescue Mussolini from Campo Imperatore
* Dietlinde Turban as Frau Beetz, born as Hildegard Burkhardt: she was a German intelligence agent who visited Galeazzo in prison and tried to help him
* Ted Rusoff as Francesco Saverio Nitti
* David-George Brown as Giuseppe Castellano
* Gianni Pulone as Enzo Galbiati
* Stefano De Sando as Dino Grandi
* Luciano Baglioni as Carlo Scorza
* Franco Meroni as Giuseppe Bottai
* Leslie Thomas as Emilio De Bono
* Piero Palermini as Roberto Farinacci
* Robert Sommer as Giacomo Suardo
* Franco Mazzieri as Giovanni Marinelli
* Ulrich Engst as Major Otto-Harald Mors
* Franco Fabrizi as Quinto Navarra

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c O'Connor, John J. (6 September 1985). "Decline and Fall of Mussolini Depicted on HBO". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
2. ^ Falk, Quentin (1994). Anthony Hopkins: The Authorized Biography. New York: Interlink. p. 146\. ISBN 1-56656-125-6.

## External links

[edit]

* Mussolini and I at IMDb

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Benito Mussolini

Head of the Government and Duce of Fascism (1922–1943)
Assassination attempts * Death

Politics|

* Duce
* Fascist Manifesto
* Italian Fascism
* Spazio vitale
* Economic policies
* Racist policies
* Leggi razziali
* Manifesto della razza
* Fascist propaganda
* Model of masculinity
* Rome–Berlin Axis
* Pact of Steel

Events|

* March on Rome
* Mussolini Cabinet
* Second Italo-Ethiopian War
* Foundation of the Empire
* Spanish Civil War
* Invasion of Albania
* World War II
* Mussolini's escape
* Italian Civil War
* Dongo Treasure

Elections|

* 1924 general election
* 1929 general election
* 1934 general election

Political parties|

* Italian Socialist Party (1901–1914)
* Fascio d'Azione Rivoluzionaria (1914–1919)
* Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (1919–1921)
* National Fascist Party (1921–1943)
* Republican Fascist Party (1943–1945)

Family|

* Rachele Mussolini (wife)
* Clara Petacci (lover)
* Ida Dalser (wife)
* Margherita Sarfatti (lover)
* Edda Mussolini (daughter)
* Vittorio Mussolini (son)
* Bruno Mussolini (son)
* Romano Mussolini (son)
* Maria Scicolone (daughter-in-law)
* Alessandra Mussolini (granddaughter)
* Rachele Mussolini (granddaughter)
* Fabrizio Ciano, 3rd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari (grandson)
* Romano Floriani Mussolini (great-grandson)

Popular culture|

* Television:
* Dwight's Speech
* Mussolini: Son of the Century

* Books:
* Mussolini diaries
* Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall
* M: Son of the Century

* Films:
* Benito
* The Eternal City
* Mussolini and I
* I'm Back
* The Killers of Mussolini
* Last Days of Mussolini
* Mussolini Speaks
* Mussolini: The Untold Story
* Vincere

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