''Difficult Years'' ( it, Anni difficili) is a 1948 Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Luigi Zampa Luigi Zampa (2 January 1905 – 16 August 1991) was an Italian film director. Biography Son of a worker, Zampa studied filmmaking from 1932 to 1937 at the Italian film school Centro sperimentale di cinematografia in Rome. He directed several ...

and starring

Umberto Spadaro Umberto Spadaro (8 November 1904 – 12 October 1981) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in around 95 films between 1940 and 1979. His brother Peppino Spadaro was also an actor. Selected filmography * ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (1939) – ...

, adapted from the 1946 short story ''Vecchio con gli stivali'' (''Old Man in Boots''), by the Sicilian author Vitaliano Brancati.

Cast

as Aldo Piscitello *

Massimo Girotti Massimo Girotti (18 May 1918 – 5 January 2003) was an Italian film actor whose career spanned seven decades. Born in Mogliano, in the province of Macerata, Girotti developed his athletic physique by swimming and playing polo. While studying eng ...

as Giovanni *

Ave Ninchi Ave Maria Ninchi (14 December 1914 – 10 November 1997) was an Italian supporting actress who played character roles on stage, television, and in over 98 feature films that included ''Tomorrow Is Too Late'' (1949) and Louis Malle's '' Murm ...

as Rosina *

Delia Scala Delia Scala (born Odette Bedogni; 25 September 1929 – 15 January 2004) was an Italian ballerina, actress and singer who played a leading role in the nascent ''commedia musicale''. Career Scala was born as Odette Bedogni in Bracciano, Lazi ...

(as Odette Bedogni) as Elena *

Ernesto Almirante Ernesto Almirante (24 September 1877 – 13 December 1964) was an Italian film and stage actor. Life and career Born in Mistretta into a family of actors, Almirante worked several years on stage along his father Nunzio. He was also active as a ...

as Grandpa * Milly Vitale as Maria *

Enzo Biliotti Enzo Biliotti (28 June 1887 – 19 November 1976) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 80 films between 1916 and 1958. He was born in Livorno, Italy and died in Bologna, Italy. Selected filmography * '' The Betrothed'' (1923) * ''Villafr ...

as The Baron *

Carlo Sposito Carlo Sposito (1 May 1924 – 9 September 1984) was an Italian character actor, sometimes credited as Carletto Sposito. Born in Palermo, he was among the most active actors in the post-war Italian genre cinema. He was also pretty active on sta ...

(as Carletto Sposito) as Riccardo *

Loris Gizzi Loris Gizzi (16 August 1899 – 6 October 1986) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Life and career Born in Rome, after his university studies Gizzi attended a school of dance and singing. He abandoned the courses when he became an employee ...

as The Fascist minister *

Aldo Silvani Aldo Silvani (21 January 1891 – 12 November 1964) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 110 films between 1934 and 1964. He was born in Turin, Italy and died in Milan, Italy. Selected filmography * ''Cardinal Lambertini'' ...

as The pharmacist *

John Garfield John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle, March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. He grew up in poverty in New York City. In the early 1930s, he became a member of ...

as Narrator (English-language version)

Plot

Italy under Mussolini, 1922 to 1943. In 1922 Aldo Piscitello (Umberto Spadaro) is a municipal employee in the town of Modica, Sicily. With the rise of Mussolini to power, he is forced by his boss (Enzo Biliotti) to join the Fascist Party. If he fails to do so, he would lose his job. Piscitello reluctantly joins the Fascists and even backdates his enrollment to 1921. His wife Rosina (Ave Ninchi) and his daughter (Delia Scala) support his move. As a member of the Fascist party, he however maintains contacts to his anti-Fascist friends who meet at the shop of the local pharmacist (Aldo Silvani). The power and the ideology of the Fascists are omnipresent. There are military drills on weekends, public gatherings and secret agents. Even Bellini's Norma is censored by the Fascists. Piscitello’s son Giovanni (Massimo Girotti) returns from the military service and hopes to take up an ordinary life. He marries the daughter of the pharmacist Maria (Milly Vitale) but, as Italy allies with Germany’s war, he has to re-join the military. The pharmacist is imprisoned after his intonation of the French anthem when Italy declares war against France. 1943: The war returns to Italy and the allies land in Sicily. Piscitello and his family leave their house in order to take refuge on the countryside. At the same time, Giovanni is on furlough. Things take a tragic turn when he is stopped by a unit of fleeing German soldiers. Everyone celebrates the end of the war in Sicily. Piscitello, however, is saddened. Former Fascists claim to be Anti-Fascists. The boss of Piscitello sits with an officer of the US army and sacks Piscitello for his erstwhile membership of the Fascist Party.

English-language version

In 1949, Lopert Productions hired playwright

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' (19 ...

to adapt an English-language version of the film which they had obtained rights in. With dubbing and with narration (by American star

), the film was released in the United States in 1950.Beaver, James N., ''John Garfield: His Life and Films'', Cranbury NJ: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1978,

References

External links

* {{Nino Rota 1948 films 1948 drama films Films scored by Nino Rota 1940s Italian-language films Italian black-and-white films Films directed by Luigi Zampa Italian drama films 1940s Italian films