Fuite en France

This may not rank as one of his best films and he himself was none too keen on the finished product but any film of Mario Soldati deserves attention. It concerns an Italian war criminal Riccardo Forte and his young son attempting to escape to France. Whilst staying at a pensione he is recognised by a woman who was once his maid. Father and son are obliged to trek across the mountains to the border with a motley trio of illegal migrants but they too discover his true identity. Following a slow start this builds into a gripping and suspenseful tale as Forte tries every means at his disposal to save his skin even at the expense of his son who never betrays him. Forte is played by excellent character actor Folco Lulli, best known perhaps as Luigi, one of the truck drivers in 'Wages of Fear'. Nice performances also from Rosa Mirafiore as the maid and Enrico Olivieri as the son. The most eye-catching performance is that of Pietro Germi as one of the migrants. Interesting that as a director he was to continue the same theme of migrant workers attempting to cross the border in search of a better life in his monumental 'Path of Hope'. I would not hesitate to recommend this film although the post-syncing can be a little annoying as the characters sound as if they are talking in a bathroom. Taut direction by Soldati, great camerawork by Domenico Scala and a splendid score by Nino Rota. A film ripe for rediscovery.

Like always in Mario Soldati's films, there as comprehensive polyphony of different characters that all play a major part, especially in the scenes where they all are together, like in the railstation café - the best scene in the film, but the character to keep watching here is the boy. His part is not very great, but it gradually grows in significance, particularly because of his increasing silence; but he is the crown in this actually very neo-realistic drama of post-fascism complications of a limitless harvest of dramatic destinies. There are some very upsetting scenes here, against which you will react heavily in outrageous protest, and you might even feel inclined to interrupt the film, but there is a reward in the end. Pietro Germi is another important actor here, and music plays a major part, mainly by the harmonica played by one of the migrants, and another major scene of precious dramaturgy is when he discovers the identity of the man they are dealing with while playing a sprightly and gay Napolitan tarantella. The music score is by Nino Rota, which of course also underscores much of the quality of the film. It's a rather neglected and much underrated contribution to the invaluable lot of Italian neo-realistic films, and there is even some timeless quality about this one, since there will always be political refugees, clandestine migrants and children getting caught in their troubles, getting hurt the most for nothing, but here at least two tragedies join to both be released.