Fari nella nebbia

This film, known in English as HEADLIGHTS IN THE FOG, was the third film directed by Gianni Franciolini (1910-1960), a talented Italian director who died of a heart attack at the early age of 50. The film was made during the Second World War, under the Mussolini regime, but there is no hint whatsoever in the film that there is a war going on, and nothing of politics or public life is shown at any point. It is a self-contained small story in its own small private world. The characters are all from what is called the working class. The men in the story are all drivers of oil tankers from Savona to neighbouring cities and towns. Savona is on the Italian coast west of Genoa. They are often driving to La Spezia, which is east of Genoa (halfway to Luccca), and to Acqui Terma, which is inland. These men, who would be called 'truckers' in America or 'lorry drivers' in Britain, all work for the same firm and know each other well. The lead character is Cesare, a handsome but somewhat taciturn man whose wife has just left him because she can't stand his always being away. He is played by Fosco Giachetti. There seems to be little point in identifying all the actors, as none of them is known outside Italy and probably they are mostly forgotten in Italy as well. They are all very good however. This tight little drama involves the love lives of the characters and their tense interrelationships. Will a wife who has left come back? Will the abandoned husband find someone else? Will it last? Will his friend and colleague betray him? These mini-dramas, within their small compass, are treated very thoroughly, and the film is absorbing. Because the film is well made, one does not lose interest.

An interesting film from the period in Italy when there was a call for more realist type of filmmaking (rather than escapist) which eventually resulted in Italy's great Neo-Realist era.

Cesare (Fosco Giachetti), a long-distance truck driver separates from his young wife Anna (Mariella Lotti) after an argument during which she complains of being too lonely. Angry and withdrawn he goes about life mechanically until one day he meets Piera (Luisa Ferida) and he falls in love. But will this new love last?

There is some good location shooting, mostly along the Ligurian coast between Savona and La Spezia which is mixed with some studio shots for the interior scenes. Overall, it's a competently made film.

One interesting aspect of the film is the presence of Luisa Ferida. A leading actress during the Fascist era, she followed the Mussolini clan along with her lover and fellow actor Osvaldo Valenti when the republic of Salo' was formed in Northern Italy after the Nazis had rescued Mussolini from prison. Three years after this film was made, Ferida and Valenti were executed by the Partisans after a summary trial for alleged association with a Fascist torturing gang. This association was later disproved. It appears that the Partisans seeking revenge for years of persecution at the hands of the fascists were a little too-trigger happy on several occasions and the Ferida/Valenti charges were just concocted to justify the execution.