The Swindlers

Κατάλογος Αφιερώματος
movie poster
  • Greek Title Σκιές του υπόκοσμου
  • English Title The Swindlers / Il Bidone
  • Original Title Il Bidone
  • Year: 1955
  • Genre: Fiction
  • Country: Italy, France
  • Duration: 113'
  • Director: Federico Fellini
  • Scriptwriter: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli
  • Cinematography: Otello Martelli
  • Editing: Mario Serandrei, Giuseppe Vari
  • Music / Score: Nino Rota
  • Sound: Giovanni Rossi
  • Cast: Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, Franco Fabrizi, Giulietta Masina, Giacomo Gabrielli, Alberto De Amicis, Sue Ellen Blake, Lorella De Luca, Mara Werlen, Irene Cefaro
  • Production: Titanius/S.G.C.
  • Color: Black & White
  • Audio: Sound
  • Language: Italian, Latin, English
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
  • Format: DCP
  • Subtitles: Greek, English
  • Restoration: The 35mm camera and sound negatives, as well as the original fine-grain were used to restore the full-length version of Il bidone that was presented by Fellini at the Venice Film Festival in 1955. The restoration was undertaken by the Cineteca di Bologna and The Film Foundation in collaboration with Titanus, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation. Restoration works were carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2019.
  • Print Source: Luce Cinecittà - CSC

Three swindlers seize the savings of the poor, helpless and God-fearing provincial—with unfaltering orchestration: they unbury “sinful” treasures from their fields; they “cash in” on overdue housing applications; they retract “loans” by pawning wool over people’s eyes. They ruthlessly exploit their victims, yet at the same time, feel that their time is expiring. Contradictory feelings, draw them in directions, diverging from crime which “yields income”. The eldest, Augusto, wants to make amends with his daughter he has abandoned. The youngest, “Picasso”, to remain, with his faithful wife he found late in his swindling. Many consider, the director’s return to his (neo)realist roots, a backward step from the “Felliniesque” phantasmagoria of the future. Yet, no one else directed a microcosm of the laypeople in a social “noir” without passing judgement on any of its characters—showing such great warmth, vitality, humanity and compassion.


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