Dov'è la libertà...? (Directors Suite) (1954)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1954
Running Time	87:56 (Case: 93)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Roberto Rossellini
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Totò Maria Bon Roseto Mario Castellani Andrea Compagnoni Ugo D'Alessio Nyta Dover Franca Faldini Ines Florentini Pasquale Fortunato Giacomo Gabrielli Augusta Mancini
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Renzo Rossellini

Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio, better known as Totò, is quite possibly the greatest Italian comedian and television personality of the 20th century. His hometown of Naples has a museum dedicated in his honour, a tombstone visited regularly by adoring fans (Totò died in 1967) and an iconic image that is easily recognisable to this day in Italy in much the same way as Alberto Korda's photograph of Che Guevara is instantly recognisable to westerners (Totò's bent long nose was the result of an accident in his teenage years).

Dov'è la libertà...? is an unlikely Roberto Rossellini film. This is because this film comes soon after his war films Rome, Open City, Paisan and Germany, Year Zero and his dramatic films such as Stromboli, The Flowers of St. Francis and Europa '51. These films alone make Rossellini an important director in the history of cinema, but where Dov'è la libertà...? differs from these aforementioned films is that it is a comedy. Perhaps Rossellini wanted to make a point about 1950s modern Italian life in a satirical way, rather than through the use of realist drama as in his pre-1950s work.

Totò is the central and main character in this film about a barber who commits a crime of passion, is gaoled for 22 years, is released, and then tries to break back into prison after he finds that he is disillusioned by life on the outside. The delicious irony here is that Totò's character, Salvatore, finds life on the outside unbearable due to his encounters with con-men and selfish schemers and seeks to return to his stable life behind bars. Thus, the premise of the title is key to the plot as Dov'è la libertà...? translated into English means Where is Freedom?

Unusually for a Roberto Rossellini film, the story is told in flashback with Salvatore re-telling it in front of a court. Perhaps this film is a metaphor for the state of modern 1950's Italian life at the time, and Rossellini may have been trying to use satire to emphasise that modern 50's Italy was not better off than the Italy he knew in the past. If this was the case, then that point of the film certainly takes a back seat to Totò's dominant performance.

Video

The film is presented on a single-sided DVD. Overall, the video transfer looks quite good for its age.

The aspect ratio is 1:33:1 full frame, not 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.

The video transfer looks quite detailed and sharp, although it is interlaced and not progressive. The average bitrate of the transfer is 5.11 mb/sec so there are no significant compression issues.

The black-and-white video image looks good for its age, with a decent contrast.

Film artefacts are present, however, with scratches, dust marks and lines across the image from time-to-time. These are relatively minor in comparison to other films released from the 1950's that I've reviewed that have not been restored.

Again, Madman's Directors Suite label offers us the choice of yellow or white subtitling which is highly commendable on their behalf.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The soundtrack is fairly lacklustre in comparison to the video transfer.

    The main audio track is in Italian. It is encoded in Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 kbps.

    Dialogue is fairly clear and synchronised.

    The main soundtrack contains background noise and hiss, with pops and crackles sometimes evident.

    There is no surround channel usage

    The subwoofer is not utilised either.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Dov'è la libertà...? has been released in Region 1 as a two-disc edition with another minor Rossellini film, Era Notte a Roma by Lionsgate. The Lionsgate version is identical to the Region 4 Directors Suite release, with both single-sided, interlaced transfers. Apparently the version of Era Notte a Roma is technically poor, meaning that the Lionsgate release is not significantly better than the Region 4 Directors Suite release.

    Instead of Madman's Directors Suite label marketing this a Roberto Rossellini film, perhaps they should have really emphasised it as a Totò vehicle. There are many more important and significant Rossellini films that deserve to be released in Region 4 prior to this one. Despite this, the film is still quite enjoyable, definitely worth getting if you are familiar with Italian film and television culture for Totò's performance in the film.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall