Mario Soldati (17 November 1906 – 19 June 1999) was an Italian writer and film director. In 1954 he won the Strega Prize for Lettere da Capri. He directed several works adapted from novels, and worked with leading Italian actresses, such as Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida.
Biography
Having attended a Jesuit-run school in his native Turin, Soldati then studied humanities at Turin’s university, and later History of Art at the University of Rome. He started publishing novels in 1929. He achieved the widest notice with America primo amore, published in 1935, a memoir of the time he spent teaching at Columbia University. He won literary awards for his work, most notably the Strega Prize for Lettere da Capri in 1954.
Also interested in film, Soldati began directing in 1938. His most well-known films are Piccolo mondo antico (1941) and Malombra with Isa Miranda, both based on novels by Antonio Fogazzaro. These two films belong to the early 1940s movement in Italian cinema known as calligrafismo.
Other popular films were Eugenie Grandet, based on Balzac’s novel, with Alida Valli; Fuga in Francia (1948); The River Girl (starring Sophia Loren), and La provinciale (starring Gina Lollobrigida).
Soldati also regularly published articles in Italian newspapers, including Il Mondo, Il Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, Avanti, L’Unita and Il Giorno.
He died at Lerici in 1999.
Legacy and honors
- 1954, Strega Prize for Lettere da Capri
- 2010, his 1950 film I’m in the Revue was shown as part of a retrospective on Italian comedy at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.
Filmography
- 1936 The Countess of Parma
- 1938 The Woman of Monte Carlo (La signora di Montecarlo)
- 1938 Betrayal (La principessa Tarakanova)
- 1939 Due milioni per un sorriso
- 1940 Dora Nelson
- 1940 Tutto per la donna
- 1941 Piccolo mondo antico
- 1942 Tragic Night (Tragica notte)
- 1942 Malombra
- 1945 In High Places (Quartieri alti)
- 1945 His Young Wife (Le miserie del Signor Travet)
- 1947 Daniele Cortis (also known as Elena)
- 1947 Eugenie Grandet (Eugenia Grandet)
- 1948 Flight Into France (Fuga in Francia)
- 1948 Chi è Dio
- 1950 I’m in the Revue (Botta e risposta)
- 1950 Her Favourite Husband (The Taming of Dorothy; Quel bandito sono io)
- 1950 The King’s Guerrillas (Donne e briganti)
- 1951 O.K. Nero (O.K. Nerone)
- 1951 È l’amor che mi rovina
- 1952 Three Corsairs (I tre corsari)
- 1952 Jolanda, the Daughter of the Black Corsair, a.k.a. Yolanda (Jolanda, la figlia del corsaro nero)
- 1952 The Adventures of Manderin (Le avventure di Mandrin)
- 1952 Il sogno di Zorro
- 1953 The Wayward Wife (La provinciale)
- 1954 Of Life and Love (Questa è la vita)
- 1954 The Stranger’s Hand
- 1955 The River Girl (La donna del fiume)
- 1956 The Virtuous Bigamist (Sous le ciel de Provence)
- 1957 Italia piccola
- 1959 Policarpo (Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura)
UTK Cinema Studies: History of Italian Cinema 