Anna

This is melodrama with a capital M ,a genre which was thriving in the Italian cinema of the fifties. Amedeo Nazzari and Yvonne Sanson were par excellence the king and the queen of the soap opera ;if you like melo, you'll like it .Silvana Mangano , on the threshold of a brilliant career ,plays a nun -a recurrent feature in this kind of movie and in photo love stories - devoted to her patients in the hospital where she works as a indefatigable nurse; the first thirty minutes are given over to her relationship with her patients ;but mother superior (played by French Gaby Morlay ,herself often cast in melodramas ,"le voile bleu" (1942)being the best example ,both this film and "Anna " have much in common) thinks that maybe she's not ready to take her definitive vows .

Hence the long flashbacks which reveal Anna 's tormented past , where two men, the loyal Raf Vallone and the baddie Vittorio Gassmann play a prominent part ;but it takes about thirty minutes before them, which is a good thing ,considering the denouement which , eventually ,makes sense.

Judging by the mostly ecstatic reviews it would appear that this film of Alberto Lattuarda has had quite an emotional impact and understandably so. It has been dismissed by critics as laughable melodrama. There are oodles of laughable melos out there but they are not all as well made and well played as this one. Having scored a hit three years earlier with 'Bitter Rice' it was obviously felt that there was more mileage to be had from the trio of Raf Vallone, Vittorio Gassman and Silvana Mangano. Vallone is again the honourable one, Gassman the rat and Silvana the meat in the sandwich. What can one say of La Mangano? An imperious, majestic and enigmatic artiste of great emotional power and depth. The highlight of the film for many will be Trovajoli's 'El Negro Zumbon' which she performs in a nightclub before becoming a nun(yes, it's that kind of film!) She is able to utilise her early training as a dancer but she lip-syncs to the voice of Flo Sandons whose singing career certainly benefited. As Sister Anna she is obliged to make a tough moral choice and her last line 'I have not lost' spoken to the strains of Nino Rota's lush score, should have you reaching for the Kleenex. At least I sincerely hope so!

What a movie , this is the best Italian movie from he early 50s Silvana Mangano at the top of her game very beautiful , sensual and fantastic the musical number are great and the song El negro sumbon is extraordinary , La Mangano never was better here she is better than in Bitter Rice , Silvana Mangnao love to be a mother more than a movie star and for sometime she retired to have children with her husband producer Dino di Laurenti eventually Silvana comeback to the movie and she was as good as always she did few movies for Luchino Visconti and Pier Paolo Pasoline all of then were great, La Mangano die in 1989 of cancer she die in Madrid Spain her life at the end was sad her son die in a plane crash in 1981 she never recovery from his death

I saw the movie 'Bitter Rice" and 'Anna' as a young woman, and they and the star, Sylvana Mangano had a galvanizing affect on me. I went to Catholic convent school as a youngster but was enrolled in public schools in the fourth grade so I identified with convent life.

I have never forgotten the songs she sang nor her leading man, Vittorio Guzeman. Only tonight (March 30, I thought to enter her name on a music site and was amazed when the two songs appeared! I down-loaded them (Non Dimenticar) and (Anna)! I think the movies above mentioned are the greatest movies of all time. Haven't been able to see either of them since I was that young girl...

Long before Sophia, Gina or Monica there was Silvana, both beautiful! and could act as well. As a child my ItalianAmerican parents took me to see her films that made it across the Atlantic, namely the classic Bitter Rice, and Anna ... Both were great films, but Anna was unforgettable, the mood the score and the performances were just great. I realize it must be 50 yrs. since Ive seen this film/ maybe once on TV! Never appears in revival houses... It should be seen.. It is not on USA tape,(Bitter Rice is sometimes shown on Bravo), Im going to contact TCM and Bravo to please revive this movie. It had 2 hit songs "Anna" # 1 hit, sung by Mangano herself, and "Non Dimenticar" done by everyone including Nat King Cole, Jerry Vale and others. If someone is aware of a video release please let me know... long live Anna and its sultry sexy star, who people are forgetting, Silvana Mangano!