Word: paisan
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When Producer Roberto Rosselini ("Open City") made "Paisan," he was not trying to create a polished masterpiece. He knew that war is not a plot, a story, a typewritten script. Rather, war is no more than an endless sequence of horrible episodes, and that, precisely, is what the movie "Paisan," successfully puts across...
...Paisan" has no plot, but this adds to the film rather than harming it. The movie is composed of six entirely unrelated episodes with the common background of war; specifically, the war in Italy. Each episode lights up one side of the conflict, giving the observer a closer glimpse into the effect of total war on ordinary, inconspicuous persons. Of the six episodes, two stand out so forcefully that they grip you, make you feel the awful futility...
...little comedy, Sitting Pretty, RKO's I Remember Mama and Samuel Goldwyn's The Bishop's Wife. Films that placed on one list: Call Northside 777, Apartment for Peggy, The Naked City, State of the Union, A Foreign Affair, The Pearl, Italy's Paisan and Denmark's Day of Wrath...
...National Board of Review bowed respectfully to Actress de Havilland, to Director Roberto Rossellini for his Paisan (which it called the best film, artistically, of the year), to Actor Walter Huston for his fine performance in Treasure of Sierra Madre, and to his son, Director John Huston, for writing the screen play of the same film...
Would Italy's best directors surrender to the invaders? Vittorio de Sica (Shoeshine) was negotiating with David O.Selznick. Roberto Rossellini (Open City, Paisan) was reported flirting with representatives of Sam Goldwyn...