This is a region-free DVD-R without case or artwork.
In Italian with English subtitles. The title translates to
Without Pity.
Filmed in 1948 as
Senza Pieta from a script by
Federico Fellini, this
Alberto Lattuada-directed effort came to America the following year as
Without Pity. The film's sensitive subject matter caused problems in distribution and approval; Lattuada was never known to shirk from a sociopolitical statement, even when it meant loss of revenue overseas. The plot is based on an actual postwar dilemma: in Northern Italy, dozens of black American GIs chose to go AWOL rather than return to a racially divided United States. John Kitzmiller plays an occupation soldier named Jerry, who decides to remain in Italy when he falls in love with a blonde, Caucasian local girl named Angela (
Carla Del Poggio). Reviewers in 1949 felt that Lattuada exercised poor taste in depicting the interracial romance: while these scenes cannot realistically be described as offensive when seen today, they are still quite frank by 1940s standards. The film also stars
Giulietta Masina.
