Underplayed Gems

The White Ship (1941)

The White Ship poster
Original title
La nave bianca
Directed by
Francesco De Robertis, Roberto Rossellini
Genre
drama film
Country
Kingdom of Italy
Runtime
1h 09m
Rating
5.5 of 10 from 14 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

It follows the crew and wounded soldiers aboard a navy hospital ship in World War II. The story shows daily life, duty, and sacrifice at sea using real sailors as actors.

patrioticdocudramaearnestpropagandisticrestrainedsolemnvisually straightforward

What happens

The White Ship (Italian: La nave bianca) is a 1941 Italian war film directed by Roberto Rossellini. Its cast was made up entirely of amateur actors, many of them the real crew of a hospital ship of the Italian navy. The production was a work of propaganda intended to support the war aims of the Fascist Italian regime during the Second World War. It was made with the close co-operation of the Italian Navy, particularly Francesco De Robertis. Vittorio Mussolini, the son of the Italian dictator, was also a supporter of the project. It was the first feature film directed by Rossellini, and commenced what has been described as his "Fascist Trilogy" which also includes A Pilot Returns (1942) and The Man with a Cross (1943). Along with a number of other films of the era, it is considered a precursor to Italian neorealism. Rossellini went on to be a leading Italian filmmaker, and a major figure in the development of neorealism. The film was screened at the 1941 Venice Film Festival, before going on general release the following year. Because of this 1941 and 1942 are both often cited as its release date. It was awarded the Cup of the National Fascist Party at Venice. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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