The Merchant of Venice (1953 film)

1953 French-Italian drama film

The Merchant of Venice

Directed by| Pierre Billon
Written by| Pierre Billon
Louis Ducreux
Cesare Lodovici
Giuseppe Mangione
Corrado Sofia
Federico Zardi
Based on| The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Produced by| Giorgio Venturini
Eugène Tucherer
Starring| Michel Simon
Andrée Debar
Massimo Serato
Cinematography| Arturo Gallea
Edited by| Loris Bellero
Music by| Giovanni Fusco

Production
companies

Élysée Films
Venturini Film

Distributed by| DisCina
Venturini Film

Release date

* 1 February 1953 (1953-02-01)

Running time

| 102 minutes
Countries| France
Italy
Language| French

The Merchant of Venice (French: Le Marchand de Venise, Italian: Il mercante di Venezia) is a 1953 French-Italian drama film directed by Pierre Billon and starring Michel Simon, Andrée Debar and Massimo Serato. It is loosely based on William Shakespeare's Elizabethan play of the same name.[1][2]

The film's sets were designed by the art director Giancarlo Bartolini Salimbeni.

## Plot

[edit]

In order to come to the aid of his friend Bassanio, the wealthy merchant Antonio, while awaiting the imminent arrival of his ships, is obliged to ask the usurer Shylock to advance him a sum of money. The latter accepts, on the condition that, if the loan is not returned on time, he will pay himself by taking a pound of flesh from his creditor.

## Cast

[edit]

* Michel Simon as Shylock
* Andrée Debar as Portia
* Massimo Serato as Antonio
* Armando Francioli as Bassanio
* Giorgio Albertazzi as Lorenzo
* Liliana Tellini as Jessica
* Olga Solbelli as Bianca
* Clara Auteri as Nerissa
* Franco Balducci as Antonio's friend
* Nerio Bernardi as Doge
* Gualtiero Tumiati as Dr. Bellario

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia (1991). Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 1991. ISBN 8876055487.
2. ^ Jesús Angulo, José Enrique Monterde (1997). Cine francés 1945-1959: de la posguerra a la Nouvelle Vague. Donostia Kultura, 2005. ISBN 1557284539.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Burt, Richard. Shakespeares After Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture, Volume 1. Greenwood Press, 2007.

## External links

[edit]

* The Merchant of Venice at IMDb

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Films directed by Pierre Billon

* Venetian Nights (1931)
* Should We Wed Them? (1932)
* The Fakir of the Grand Hotel (1934)
* The House on the Dune (1934)
* Bourrasque (1935)
* Second Bureau (1935)
* In the Service of the Tsar (1936)
* Southern Mail (1937)
* The Silent Battle (1937)
* The Inevitable Monsieur Dubois (1943)
* Vautrin (1943)
* Mademoiselle X (1945)
* The Eternal Husband (1946)
* Ruy Blas (1948)
* Agnes of Nothing (1950)
* Chéri (1950)
* Farewell Mister Grock (1950)
* My Friend Oscar (1951)
* My Seal and Them (1951)
* The Merchant of Venice (1953)
* Storm (1954)
* Suspicion (1956)
* Until the Last One (1957)

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William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Characters|

* Shylock
* Antonio
* Bassanio
* Portia
* Jessica

Sources|

* Gesta Romanorum
* Il Pecorone
* The Jew of Malta

On screen|

* 1914
* 1916
* 1923
* Shylock (1940)
* 1953
* 1961
* 1969
* 1980 (TV)
* 2004

Music|

* Incidental music: Shylock (1889)
* Opera: Le marchand de Venise (1935); The Merchant of Venice (1982)
* Musical: Shylock (1987)

Adaptations|

* Serenade to Music (1938)
* The Merchant (1976)
* Shylock (1996)
* Yasser (2001)
* The Maori Merchant of Venice (2002)

Related|

* "All that glitters is not gold"
* "Between you and I"
* "The quality of mercy"

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