Photograph of Luchino Visconti, IMDB.com

Another prominent film maker who helped revitalize the Italian film industry was Luchino Visconti who directed films within the city of Venice throughout his career.  Senso from 1954, was the first color film directed by a major Italian filmmaker.  This love story takes place in Venice around 1866 when Italian-Austrian tensions were high but coming to an end.  The film highlights the Venetian rebellion against Austrians and has an overarching theme of freedom with Venetians breaking-away from Austrian rule.  Visconti’s film was nominated for a Golden Lion at the 1954 Venice Film Festival and marked an important step toward the dependence of Italian film production upon foreign capital as American money bankrolled the production.[1]  Visconti originally wanted to cast Marlon Brando for the main role, however American actor Farley Granger was cast instead.  The English adaptation of the dialog was developed by American writer and actor Tennessee Williams.[2]

Photograph from Senso,1954, The Italian Cinema by Pierre Leprohon, 1966, p149

While Senso served as an important film that popularized the city of Venice, it was his 1971 film Death in Venice that is of particular importance (fig. 13).  Death in Venice is centered on the protagonist Gustav Van Aschenback who travels to Venice for health reasons and stays at the Grand Hotel des Bains on the Lido while the city is being gripped with Cholera (fig.14).  The film presents themes of homosexual love and unpalatable death as aspects of everyday occurrences in society.  During post-production of the film Visconti setup a “pre-premier” viewing at the Warner Brothers Studio in Los Angeles to persuade the American production company to hold the premier of the film in that city.  However, the U.S. Motion Picture Association executives dismissed the film because they deemed the subject matter obscene by standards and regulations they had just implemented.  Will Hayes was responsible for pushing legislation through the film industry that would provide censorship of crude subject matter in films produced and shown in the United States.
Rather than premiering Death in Venice in the city in which it was set in, the film was premiered in London in 1971 and again at the Cannes Film Festival where it won the 25^th anniversary prize.[3]  Funds received from the opening of Death in Venice and prize money from the Cannes Film Festival were given to the city of Venice to support ongoing service projects need to maintain the man-made city.  Winning the 25^thanniversary prize is interesting when considering the politics between the city of Venice and Cannes given the competition between film festivals.

 Death in Venice Movie Poster, 1971, Source: Google Images