The Old Guard (1934 film)

The Old Guard
Directed by	Alessandro Blasetti
Written by	Livio Apolloni Giuseppe Zucca Alessandro Blasetti
Starring	Gianfranco Giachetti Mino Doro Franco Brambilla Maria Puccini
Cinematography	Otello Martelli
Edited by	Ignazio Ferronetti Alessandro Blasetti
Music by	Umberto Mancini
Production company	Fauno Film
Distributed by	Filmimpero
Release date	1934 (1934)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

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]