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Women Without Names (1950 film)

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Women Without Names
Directed byGéza von Radványi
Written byCorrado Alvaro
Liana Ferri
Géza von Radványi
René Barjavel
Geza Herczeg
Jesse Lasky Jr.
John Ney
Fausto Tozzi
Produced byE. Lopert
R. Solmsen
Giorgio Agliani
Géza von Radványi
StarringValentina Cortese
Simone Simon
Vivi Gioi
Françoise Rosay
Gino Cervi
CinematographyGábor Pogány
Edited byTatiana Casini Morigi
Elena Zanoli
René Le Hénaff
Music byRoman Vlad
Production
company
Navona Film
Distributed byENIC
Release date
  • 23 March 1950 (1950-03-23)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItaly

Women Without Names (Italian: Donne senza nome) is an Italian drama film of 1950 directed by Géza von Radványi and starring Valentina Cortese, Simone Simon, Vivi Gioi, and Françoise Rosay.[1]

Plot

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The film is set in the Casa Rossa displaced persons concentration camp in Alberobello, Apulia, after the Second World War. It shows what happened soon after the war to many women of different nationalities, coming into Italy from other parts of Europe, hoping to be repatriated or accepted by some other country. Yvonne Dubois (Simone Simon) is a Frenchwoman, ready to marry anyone to get out of the camp. Anna Petrovic (Valentina Cortese) is a young widow from Yugoslavia, locked up in the camp and expecting a child. Her husband was shot down before her eyes by the enemy. Janka Nowotska (Irasema Dilian) is a Pole who was working in a German brothel and has lost her mind. Hilda von Schwartzendorf (Vivi Gioi) is a German woman doctor, and there are also British women.

One day, with the help of Dubois, Anna tries to escape, but she goes into labour, gives birth to a baby boy, and dies in childbirth. The middle-aged Brigadier Zanini (Gino Cervi) hears the baby crying. Having lost his own wife and son, he tells his commanding officer that the baby is his. He is forced to resign, but he is allowed to keep the child.

Production

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The film's sets were designed by the art directors Piero Filippone and Dario Cecchi. It was filmed at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome.

Partial cast

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References

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  1. ^ Davidson, John & Hake, Sabine. Framing the Fifties: Cinema in a Divided Germany. Berghahn Books, 2007. p. 237

Bibliography

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  • Van Heuckelom. Polish Migrants in European Film 1918–2017. Springer, 2019.
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