I girasoli

Vittorio de Sica achieved a remarkable feat in this eye-catching 1970 production, bringing together Americans and Soviets, in the midst of the Cold War, in the co-production of a Franco-Italian film.

From the Americans he got a memorable soundtrack, written and directed by Henry Mancini and nominated for an Oscar. From the Soviets he received the footage from Mosfilm, directed by Andrey Konchalovskiy, as well as the actress Ludmila Saveleva.

The script by Tonino Guerra and Cesare Zavattini has everything it needs to work, but the film gets lost somewhere in between so many attributes.

The story is basic and excessively melodramatic. The soundtrack is beautiful but quickly becomes cloying. The footage of the sunflower fields and the cemeteries of Russian combatants is powerful and eloquent, but inconsequential. This is, after all, a story of the living, not the dead. Only the final notes of the fatalism of war, which determines people's fates, far beyond their individual will, remain to give the film any meaning.

But it is not enough. A final result clearly less than the sum of its parts.

Epic romantic melodrama , set at the end of World War II , dealing with an Italian woman , Giovanna, she is a bereft war bride living near Milan , she conducts a desperate search for her husband, a soldier considered missing in action in Russia during WWII. As her husband never returned after serving on the Russian front . As Giovanna wandering over what feels like the whole of Russia and looking for clues her hubby. A woman born for love. A man born to love her. A timeless moment in a world gone mad. In a world gone mad...a love story. Filmed in Russia from the Kremlin to the Ukraine. A love story that spans two tempestuous decades in a motion picture of extraordinary power and enchantment!

Excruciating drama in which Sophia Loren plays a headstrong Italian wife looking for hubby , going to Russia to find him, starting in the town near the winter battle when he disappeared and much picturesque and soul-searching later she finds him with unexpected consequences . It is a heart-rending and heart-breaking studio of a beloved couple sadly separated by an unfortunate fate . There's a flashback to their brief courtship near her hometown of Naples, his 12-day leave to marry her, and ruses to keep from deploymentby posing as a nutty man . Sofia Loren gives a nice acting as the obstinate woman who refuses to accept that her husband missing on the Russian front, is dead. While Marcello mastroianni is perfect as the amnesic man missing in battle . The Technicolor cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno and David Vinitsi is truly gorgeous. Shot on location in Russia and infact , this film is deemed to be the first occidental film to be shot in Poltava, Ukraine .And positively soaked in one of Henri Mancini's lushest soudtracks.

The motion picture produced by Carlo Ponti and Joseph H Levine , was stunningly directed by Vittorio de Sica . De Sica told about Loren : ¨I consider Sophia a great , a good actress and a great personality. Because she is a Neopolitan. Like me. We are the same people, the same origin. And we feel together the same. Yes, for me, I am very happy when I work with Sophia¨. De Sica was a famous actor and director .He turned to filmmaking in 1940 , making light comedies. His fifth movie collaborated with writer Cesare Zavattini , I Bambi ni ci guardano ,in which showed great sensitivity and nice fIl making . It was also the first movie he made with writer Zavattini with whom he would subsequently shoot "Shoeshine" , and Bicycle thief .After the boxoffice disaster "Umberto D" , he abandoned the Neorrealist genre to make more commercial films than previous . Subsequently , he he made "Yesterday , Today and Tomorrow" with Marcelo Mastroiani and Sofia Loren in which he won another Oscar . His two final films were Garden of Finzi Contini and A brief vacation that had limited success .Rating 7/10 . Worthwhile watching . Above average . Essential and indispensable seeing for Italian films buffs .

I just finished watching the stunning Blu Ray of the original Italian English-subtitled version of this film--the best version available. I do not understand all the naysayers reviewing this film. If you are a fan of Loren and Mastroianni, if you are a fan of DeSica, if you enjoy a good old-fashioned melodrama that will tear at your heart, you MUST see this film! To dismiss this film as Soviet propaganda, or as unrealistic, is like criticizing "The Little Mermaid" for having a singing mermaid and talking fish. It utterly misses the point. This movie contains one of the very best, if not THE best Sophia Loren performance on film. Henri Mancini's score is unforgettable. This film makes you care about the plight of both characters. It is available as part of the new "Sophia Loren Collection" box set, and for me, this, along with "Marriage Italian Style," is the "jewel" of the set. See it!

I went to a san francisco theatre to see this film along with my mother when I was a teenager in the 60's. It was in english and I loved it so much I saw it twice. I never forgot it, and although it was never shown again, I was told by someone a few years ago, that it was featured on one of the cable channels, and unfortunately I must have missed it. I don't think its ever been shown since. In my humble opinion, this classic movie depicting love, war, passion, separation, hope, and tears should be rated right up there along with Dr. Zhivago, Casablanca, In Love and War, and many other great films of all time. It's a pity that this movie "Sunflower" is nowhere to be found on video or better yet DVD in the english version in the U.S. I did purchase it on video in Italian, and even though I am fluent in Italian and can understand it, others in my household cannot. Can somebody PLEASE see that it gets some recognition, and becomes a familiar movie and available here in the U.S.A.?

As another reviewer pointed out this bit of cold war propaganda (pro Soviet) was absurdly impossible. An axis soldier would have been shot period or arrested as a spy and killed slowly in a prison camp.

So you have to dismiss the story as absurd as it stands and place it in Iran or Finland or some place where it could have happened. Or just suspend your disbelief.

Once you do that you can enjoy this bit of really well done maudlin romance. Loren had to be at the height of her classy beauty in this film (before she was aged for the story).

I loved the part where she spots an Italian man---the only handsome well dressed stylish man in any of the Russian scenes. Of course Loren herself is like a super nova star compared to the kerchiefed thick legged Russian women. Italian audiences must have loved this film.

I give it a 7 as it is very enjoyable once you deal with the absurd story and the maudlin nature of the movie. As another reviewer states what is so wrong with first class maudlin??