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A reconsideration of La Terra Trema after the stylistic discoveries of Le Notti Bianche, an epic of disintegration in five chapters. From the impoverished south to bustling Milan, the clan arrives "like an earthquake." Mama (Katina Paxinou) dreams of being called "signora," she storms into the engagement party of the oldest son (Spiros Focás) and promptly clashes with the rival matriarch, streets are carpeted with snow the next morning. The gorilla and the angel, one (Renato Salvatori) exudes brute force and shame while the other (Alain Delon) advocates for faith "in everything." Between the two is the putana (Annie Girardot) and the boxing gym. (The contrasting feminine arena is the laundrette where Suzy Delair reigns imperiously.) "Good morals are the first requisite for an athlete." Neo-realism revisited for its inherent extravagance, Luchino Visconti has vast sets for tenements and courtyards and crowds like Nabucco choruses. Ringside exploitation à la Odets, the hicks turn up in long underwear and are contemplated in the shower by the sinister impresario, whose shadowy lair comes with a TV screen for flickers of Renaissance art. The heroine is "a real Saint Agnes," cynical and soulful with arms outstretched before her violator's blade. Lovers break up in the cathedral with a high-angled view of traffic, "I'm lost in this city." Metaphors of unity and sacrifice, weeds amid seeds and the foundational brick, bare bulbs are prominent in the frame to humorously acknowledge Giuseppe Rotunno's stunning lighting. Hatred in a pure heart, "una cosa brutta." The brother working at the Alfa-Romeo factory (Max Cartier) consciously breaks with the bonds of the past, the youngest (Rocco Vidolazzi) might return home, he vanishes in the distance. "The whole world's a one-way street, huh?" Coppola analyzes it closely in The Godfather. With Claudia Cardinale, Roger Hanin, Paolo Stoppa, Alessandra Panaro, and Adriana Asti. In black and white.
--- Fernando F. Croce |