Pietro Germi

An often underrated or simply overlooked figure of note in the history of Italian cinema, Pietro Germi had the misfortune to be labeled a "follower" of such seminal figures as Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio de Sica and Cesare Zavattini in the annals of the most notable and studied movement within Italian film, neorealism. Simultaneously, he was castigated for not following the movement closely enough, seemingly indulging his fondness for Hollywood films and genre formulas, making crime films and Westerns at first and later specializing in comedy. As the "art cinema"