Scalera Film was an Italian
film production
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...
and
distribution Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
*Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...
company which operated between 1938 and 1950. It had strong backing from the Italian state, as the
Fascist
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...
government of
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...
was keen to build up and centralise the
Italian film industry. It was founded by the brothers Michele and Salvatore Scalera, and primarily based at the
Scalera Studios in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. In 1943 during the German occupation of Rome, the studio was relocated to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
in the
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...
as part of a planned
Cinevillaggio film complex developed by Mussolini loyalists.
[Brunetta p.103]
Following the end of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the studio had some difficulties repossessing its Rome Studios as it was considered politically suspect due to its close links with the old regime. Eventually production was restarted with attempts to build
co-production arrangements with film-makers in other countries. In late 1950 Scalera opened a distribution subsidiary in the United States, but then suddenly collapsed financially during the shooting of ''
Othello
''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cyp ...
'', and the company was formally liquidated two years later; the American office, which had acquired reissue rights for 70 films formerly handled by
Superfilm Distributing Corp., was closed before the end of 1951.
References
Bibliography
* Brunetta, Gian Piero. '' The History of Italian Cinema: A Guide to Italian Film from Its Origins to the Twenty-first Century''. Princeton University Press, 2009.
* Ricci, Steven. ''Cinema and Fascism: Italian Film and Society, 1922–1943''. University of California Press, 2008.
Film production companies of Italy
Film distributors of Italy
{{IT-film-company-stub