''Seven Hills of Rome'' (Italian title: ''Arrivederci Roma'') is an Italian-American film

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint vent ...

released in January 1958 and shot on location in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and at the

Titanus Titanus (also called Titanus Distribuzione) is an Italian film production and distribution company, founded in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo (1885–1951). The company's headquarters are located at 28 Via Sommacampagna, Rome and its studios on the Vi ...

studios. It was filmed in

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

and

Technirama __NOTOC__ Technirama is a screen process that has been used by some film production houses as an alternative to CinemaScope. It was first used in 1957 but fell into disuse in the mid-1960s. The process was invented by Technicolor and is an anamor ...

, distributed by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, was tenor

Mario Lanza Mario Lanza ( , ; born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza ; January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor and actor. He was a Hollywood film star popular in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Lanza began studying to be a professional singer a ...

's penultimate film, and

Marisa Allasio Maria Luisa Lucia "Marisa" Allasio (born 14 July 1936) is an Italian actress of the 1950s. She appeared in nearly 20 films between 1952 and 1958. Allasio was considered a typical sex symbol during her film career, which she abandoned in 1958, ...

’s last film.

Plot

Marc Revere, an American TV singer of Italian heritage, travels to Italy in search of his jet-setting fiancée, Carol Ralston. Revere moves in with his comical and good hearted cousin Pepe Bonelli, a struggling artist who also befriends a beautiful young girl, Raffaella Marini, whom Revere had met on a train, and who develops a crush on him. Revere, after some difficulty, lands a contract to sing in a fine nightclub, but misses his opening night due to unforeseen circumstances during a date with Carol. When Marc comes to the club later on to apologize, Carol's male escort insults him and the result is a fistfight that damages a good portion of the club. A judge orders Marc to sing there for free until he has attracted enough business to pay for the damages. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise, as Marc eventually decides Rafaella is his true love and that he will remain in Italy with her.

Cast

as Marc Revere *

as Raffaella Marini *

Renato Rascel Renato Ranucci (; 27 April 1912 – 2 January 1991), known by the stage name Renato Rascel (), was an Italian film actor and singer. He appeared in 50 films between 1942 and 1972. He represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 with t ...

as Pepe Bonelli * Anna Maria Saritelli as Extra * Peggie Castle as Carol Ralston *

Clelia Matania Clelia Matania (28 March 1918 – 14 October 1981) was an Italian film and voice actress. Life and career Born in London, the daughter of the Capri-born naturalized Briton painter Fortunino Matania (best known as Saturnino), Matania attended ...

as Beatrice *

Carlo Rizzo Carlo Rizzo (30 April 1907 – 26 July 1979) was an Italian stage and film actor.Chiti & Poppi p.333 He was the brother of the actor Alfredo Rizzo. A regular in post-war Italian cinema he also featured in several American films produced in It ...

as Club Ulpia Director *

Rossella Como Rossella Como (29 January 1939 – 20 December 1986) was an Italian actress and television personality. Life and career Born in Rome, Rossella Como started her career at just 16 years old as a TV presenter, in the RAI show ''Primo applauso''. ...

as Anita *

Guido Celano Guido Celano (19 April 1904 – 7 March 1988) was an Italian actor, voice actor and film director. He appeared in 120 films between 1931 and 1988. He also directed two spaghetti Westerns: '' Cold Killer'' and '' Gun Shy Piluk''. Selected f ...

as Luigi *

Carlo Giuffrè Carlo Giuffrè ( 3 December 1928 – 1 November 2018) was an Italian stage, film and television actor and a stage director. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1942 and 2002. Biography Giuffrè was born in Naples, Italy and was the broth ...

as Franco Cellis *

Marco Tulli Marco Tulli (20 November 1920 – 20 March 1982) was an Italian character actor, probably best known in the role of "Smilzo" in the Don Camillo film series. Born in Rome, Tulli debuted as actor while he was still a university student, at the en ...

as Romoletto * Paddy Crean as Mr. Fante

Music

The music was supervised and conducted by George Stoll, and included the following songs: * "The Seven Hills of Rome" - Music by

Victor Young Albert Victor Young (August 8, 1899– November 10, 1956)"Victor Young, Composer, Dies of Heart Attack", ''Oakland Tribune'', November 12, 1956. was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. Young was posthumously awarded the ...

, Lyrics

Harold Adamson Harold Campbell Adamson (December 10, 1906 – August 17, 1980)Larkin, pp. 41-42 was an American lyricist from the 1930s through the 1960s. Early life Adamson, the son of building contractor Harold Adamson and Marion "Minnie" Campbell Adamson, ...

* "

Arrivederci Roma "Arrivederci Roma" (English: "Goodbye, Rome") is the title and refrain of a popular Italian song, composed in 1955 by Renato Rascel, with lyrics by Pietro Garinei and . It was published in 1957 as part of the soundtrack of the Italo-American mus ...

" -

* "Calypso Italiano" - George Stoll * "Vogliamoci tanto bene" - Music

, Lyrics Roger Berthier * "Come Dance With Me" - Music

Richard Leibert Richard William "Dick" Leibert (April 29, 1903 – October 22, 1976) was an American musician who was the chief organist at New York City's Radio City Music Hall between 1932 and 1971. He also had a radio program of organ music on the NBC Radio ...

, Lyrics George Blake * Imitation Medley (see below) * "

Cielito Lindo "Cielito Lindo" is a Mexican folk song or '' copla'' popularized in 1882 by Mexican author Quirino Mendoza y Cortés ( – 1957). It is roughly translated as "Lovely Sweet One". Although the word ''cielo'' means "sky" or "heaven", it is also a ...

" - music by Quirino Mendoza y Cortes (1859-1957) * "Loveliest Night of the Year" - just a stanza from Lanza's hit song Among the selections that Lanza sings in this "vocal tour de force" (''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'') is "

", performed in the

Piazza Navona Piazza Navona () is a public open space in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the 1st century AD Stadium of Domitian and follows the form of the open space of the stadium in an elongated oval. The ancient Romans went there to watch the '' a ...

(and recorded) with a young street urchin, Luisa Di Meo. In typical Lanza fashion, the star had encountered the youngster while in Rome and insisted on her appearing in the film. Lanza also performs a sequence of imitations of famous singers of the era —

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

;

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performa ...

;

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...

; and

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

- "

When The Saints Go Marching In "When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as simply "The Saints", is a traditional black spiritual. It originated as a Christian hymn, but is often played by jazz bands. One of the most famous jazz recordings of "The Saints" was made o ...

" — committing to film what was one of his favorite party performances. Opera selections include "Questa o quella" from ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

''.

Production

The film was directed by Roy Rowland and was the first of only four films produced by Lester Welch. The screenplay was the last written by

Art Cohn Art Cohn (April 5, 1909 – March 22, 1958) was an American sportswriter, screenwriter and author. Cohn and Hollywood producer Mike Todd died in a plane crash in New Mexico in 1958. Career Sportswriter Cohn was born in New York City. Early in h ...

, who died two months after the film's release in the same airplane crash that killed famed producer

Mike Todd Michael Todd (born Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen; June 22, 1907 – March 22, 1958) was an American theater and film producer, celebrated for his 1956 ''Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film), Around the World in 80 Days'', which won an Academy ...

, whose biography Cohn was writing at the time. Cohn partnered with Giorgio Prosperi on the script for the Lanza film, which was based on a story by

Giuseppe Amato Giuseppe Amato (born Giuseppe Vasaturo; 24 August 1899 – 3 February 1964) was an Italian film producer, screenwriter and director. He produced 58 films between 1932 and 1961, and is especially known for ''Bicycle Thieves''. He was born in ...

. The Italian title, ''Arrivederci Roma'', was meant to be the American title of a film Lanza was scheduled to make in 1960, until he died in Rome in October 1959.

Reception

The film performed well at the box office. According to MGM records it earned $680,000 in the US and Canada and $1,275,000 in other countries, resulting in a profit of $162,000 for MGM.

Awards

''Seven Hills of Rome'' was nominated for a Laurel Award (1959) from ''Motion Picture Exhibitor'' magazine.

Sources

* Cesari, Armando. ''Mario Lanza: An American Tragedy'' (Fort Worth: Baskerville, 2004) * Notes accompanying the 1990 video release of the film

References

External links

* * * *
''New York Times'' review
{{Roy Rowland 1958 musical films Films set in Italy Films set in Rome Italian musical films English-language Italian films Films directed by Roy Rowland Films with songs by Harold Adamson Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Titanus films 1950s English-language films American musical films 1950s American films 1950s Italian films English-language musical films