Blue Soldier (1970) The Western – typical American fiction genre – tells stories set during the period from about 1860 (or the Gold Rush – corsa all’oro) to the end of the so-called Indian Wars at Wounded Knee in 1890. Some westerns incorporate the American Civil War. They are simple morality tales, usually set (girati) against the spectacular scenery of the…

The story  of  Stagecoach (letteralmente, La diligenza –  Ombre Rosse il titolo italiano, 1939) by John Ford pivots around (ruota intorno) the passengers of a stagecoach ready to leave Tonto, New Mexico for a distant settlement in Lordsburg. They are various people from every social class, all determined to leave the place with different reasons: Dallas, a woman with a scandalous…

The American film director John Ford was born in 1894, in Maine. He felt a strong attraction for his Irish roots which he explored but reached popularity for his poetic visions of the American West, depicting its harsh (duri) heroes and pioneering families. Ford left Maine for Hollywood in 1913, and worked there as a stagehand (macchinista teatrale) and prop…

The Dead is the last story included in Dubliners (1914) by James Joyce. Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories whose protagonists are conditioned by rigid canons of personal, religious and social conformity and can’t  free themselves (non possono liberarsi) from frustration, alcoholism or inertia. The stories cover four steps of man’s life: childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life….

John Marcellus Huston (1906 –1987) the  titan,  rebel, the renaissance man of  Hollywood, was an American film director who also wrote the screenplays (sceneggiature) for his movies. As he had studied art in Paris,  he directed his films with the ideas of an artist exploring the visual aspects of what he was describing. He used to sketch (disegnare, schizzare) the…

Charlotte Bronte was born on 21st April 1816 at Haworth, Yorkshire, the third daughter of the Rev. Patrick Brontë. Her early life was troubled (turbata)by the loss (perdita) of her mother (1821) and by the death of her two older sisters. In 1831 Charlotte attended (frequentò) the Roe Head school for one year and returned there in 1835 as a…

David Lean ( 1908 – 1991) was brought up (allevato) in a strict (severa) Quaker family and as a child he wasn’t allowed (non gli fu permesso) to go to the movies. He found a job in a cinema studio in 1927 where he  worked as feature film editor. In 1942 Noel Coward, playwright, encouraged him and Lean launched (lanciò)…

George Dewey Cukor (1899 –1983) – born in New York to a Hungarian Jewish family – is considered one of the most skilful technician in Hollywood, he created the scenes of comedies unrivaled up (ancor oggi insuperate) to now. He directed the most popular and remarkable actors of his period from Claudette Colbert to Katharine Hepburn, from Ingrid Bergman to…

Towards the end of the Second World War American directors come to England to shoot (girare) their movies. Among the most  famous  were King Vidor (1894-1982) who produced  The Citadel (1938) taken from Cronin’s novel; Sam Wood (1883-1949) with Goodbye Mr.Chipps (1939) and Basil Dean (1888-1998), Twenty one Days (1938) starring Laurence Olivier and his wife, Vivien Leigh, with the…

King James V was born on 10 April, 1512  (died in 1542) in Scotland. He was the son of James IV and of his queen Margaret Tudor, a daughter of Henry VII of England. He  became king at seventeen months when his father was killed at Flodden in 1513.  The regency (reggenza) was at first given to his mother, but…