Research finds

I came across this video about two months ago. This is from the television show What's My Line?. I don't think it is necessary to describe the rules of the game show. This video had an interesting impact on my current research project on the cross-cultural exchange that took place between Italian and American cinema via the film star. This particular episode aired in 1953. Anna Magnani was in New York to promote the Visconti film Bellissima (which was receiving its American premiere despite being released in Italy in 1951). What is most striking is that the celebrity panel knows Magnani and her work. This is before Magnani appeared in and won the Oscar for The Rose Tattoo. The fact that an Italian actress could come on American television and be recognized as such was surprising. This episode provided much food for thought for my research project.

And while Anna Magnani being identified is surprising, it is not shocking. After all, Open City was a huge success in the New York area. Rossellini's short The Miracle also caused a huge scandal in with American Catholic groups. What is shocking is that Silvana Mangano, a star who never achieved the international fame of Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren, or Gina Lollobrigida, appeared on the show roughly three years after Magnani and was correctly identified. Also, halfway in the video Robert Lewis makes a comment about all of the foreign stars being Italian. This is from August 1956 and it seems unlikely that Brigitte Bardot would have been well known in America as And God Created Woman was released in France that year. Both of these videos, but especially the Silvana Mangano, have opened my research questions to an interesting direction.