The Old Guard (1934 film)

The Old Guard
Directed byAlessandro Blasetti
Written by
Starring
CinematographyOtello Martelli
Edited by
Music byUmberto Mancini
Production
company
Distributed byFilmimpero
Release date
  • 1934 (1934)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

The Old Guard (Italian: Vecchia guardia) is a 1934 Italian drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Gianfranco Giachetti, Mino Doro, and Franco Brambilla. It was one of several pro-Fascist films made by Blasetti during the era.[1] The film is set in a small Italian town in 1922, where a local group of Fascist blackshirts battle against rival socialists who have called a strike at the hospital. Mario, the young son of Doctor Cardini, is killed in the fighting. The film ends with the March on Rome that brought Benito Mussolini to power.

Although intended as sympathetic to the regime, and the methods by which it came to power, the film was not popular with the Fascist hierarchy who felt its portrayal of violence undermined the respectable image the party was now trying to cultivate.[2]

  1. ^ Gundle p.30
  2. ^ Moliterno p.41