Verdi - The King Of Melody (1953)
Directed by Raffaello Matarazzo

Film Review

One of Italy's most accomplished directors of film melodrama, Raffaello Matarazzo was well-placed to direct this sentimental account of the life of the great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi.  As an artist reveals himself through his work, it is fitting that Verdi's own music should play such an important part in the film, revealing the complex, emotionally torn man beneath the conventional and controlled exterior.  Extracts of virtually all of the composer's most important operas (Nabucco, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Aida, Rigoletto, Otello) are included (and moving rendered by two legendary stars of Italian opera, the tenor Mario Del Monaco and baritone Tito Gobbi).  His music is also used to provide the score, allowing us to make connections between the characters and incidents in Verdi's own life and those which these presumably inspired in his work.

It is a shame that the original colour version of the film, made with the short-lived Ferraniacolor process, is of such poor quality and has yet to be restored.  Fortunately, the more widely available black-and-white print is in near-pristine condition and amply does justice to its subject matter - it can be argued that the moody photography (close to expressionism in some scenes) has far greater visual impact in monochrome than it would have in colour.  Matarazzo's direction is more workmanlike than inspired but he succeeds in delivering a worthy tribute to a great composer.  Compelling performances from Pierre Cressoy and Gaby André (both extremely well-cast as Verdi and Giuseppina, reputedly the inspiration for the courtesan Violetta in La Traviata) give the film its emotional core, on which Verdi's music is skilfully layered to render the latter scenes in the film intensely moving.  Lovers of the music of Giuseppe Verdi could hardly hope for a more involving and satisfying biopic than Raffaello Matarazzo's Verdi - The King Of Melody.

Film Synopsis

In January 1901, the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi lies on his deathbed and looks back on his eventful life and career.  He recalls his arrival in Milan as a young man with his wife Margherita and infant son Gino, only to find that the impresario for whom he was supposed to work has gone out of business.  Virtually penniless, Verdi perseveres and succeeds in selling his first opera, Oberto, to Bartolomeo Merelli, the impresario of La Scala.  The opera is a huge success, but this triumph is soon overtaken by tragedy as Verdi's son dies, followed by his wife a short while later.  The failure of his second opera, Un giorno di regno, almost convinces Verdi he should give up being a composer.  But then inspiration takes hold of him and he delivers another success, Nabucco.  This is the opera that establishes Verdi as one of Italy's great composers, but whilst professional success now comes easily, personal happiness proves far more elusive.  Verdi's love affair with the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi is abruptly ended when his father-in-law convinces Giuseppina she must give up Verdi so that he can devote himself to his music.  Heartbroken by Giuseppina's rejection, Verdi will go on to compose his great masterpieces before the couple are reunited, many years later...