Rails (1929) User Reviews (5)

Industrial Films

[FerdinandVonGalitzien · 6/10 · 6 March 2009]

Among the different sub-genres not usually recognized during the silent era, this German count can say there are some outstanding and remarkable oeuvres that can perhaps be called "industrial films". These films emphasize the thrill of the city, the industrial rhythm of the machines that affects in one way or another the citizens who live in a new and modern society and had to confront new social challenges and a new way of life that began when WWI ended.

Having in mind those ruminations quoted by this Herr Von above, "Rotaie" (1929) is an Italian film that can be considered as one of those "industrial films", a remarkable oeuvre in which a young couple lives in constant uncertainty, surrounded by a modern and inhuman city and its unscrupulous inhabitants and the couple finds their unconditional love in jeopardy.

Herr Mario Camerini, director of the film, moves the camera in a vivid, agile way ( flashback, travellings ), and during the first part of the film uses rapid fire editing to capture the atmosphere of the city. The movie also shows the influence of European avant-garde film and, in the shadowy night sequences, the notorious German cinema. The latter scenes depict the vulnerability and helplessness of the young couple during their erratic wandering around the city and skilfully capture an oppressive and mean atmosphere. In spite of all this there is hope for a new start for the couple when they have an unexpected stroke of luck that allows them to escape the disquieting night and end up in a totally different place: a luxurious hotel full of decadent people. However, though the building may be shiny, it nevertheless hides the same night darkness inside.

The psychological portraits of the different characters of the film are quite interesting. There are carefree, heartless and even dehumanized beings who will try to take advantage of the couple's innocence and vulnerability. The two young people are aware of the dangers around them and consciously go with the tide, although at the end they will finally manage successfully to triumph over situations that almost put an end to their love. At last the tides of events drag them up to be a part of that new and industrial city turning them finally into a happy middle class couple.

"Rotaie" is a late silent that bears witness to the social changes and challenges of the big city. It is technically well structured and presents an interesting portrait of the uncertainties of a changing society entering a modern and industrial world.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must deal with a strike in the aristocratic factory at the Rhine.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

When Trains Were Glamorous

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 23 July 2017]

Photographed by Ubaldo Arata (who later shot 'Roma città aperta'), 'Rotaie' at first resembles a particularly bleak German kammerspielfilm, from which the train represents escape to a more fulfilling existence like the train in rural Bengal a quarter of a century later in 'Pather Panchali'.

It begins at night in an unfriendly Big City, where it is pelting down with rain and Giorgio and Maria, reduced to penury, are planning suicide in a cheap hotel room that they can't pay for. The railway however intervenes by first foiling their suicide attempt and then continues in its role as a rather eccentric fairy godfather by presenting them with a bulging wallet that falls from the pocket of a prosperous looking passenger at the station running for a train.

After rather half-heartedly pursuing and failing to catch the wallet's owner, Giorgio (Maurizio D'Ancora, giving the film's best performance in his first film lead), rather than taking it to lost property, uses this unexpected windfall to take Maria on a first class, expenses paid journey to the sunlit playground of the wealthy, Stresa; where they become the innocent young couple from 'Sunrise'. The first person they meet before they even get off the train is predictably an unctuous, moustached French bounder who soon gets fresh with Maria. Giorgio having blown all their money at the roulette table, they return home third class.

The overwhelming problems that had previously seemed so insurmountable now forgotten, Giorgio walks straight into a job in a factory and they joyously embrace an optimistic new future in Mussolini's confident new Italy; where the censor seems to have been remarkably sanguine over the speed with which Giorgio & Maria had squandered an enormous amount of money that hadn't been theirs in the first place.

The rails of luck.

[ItalianGerry · 9 June 2004]

(Some spoilers) "Rotaie" is a late silent film by the great Mario Camerini and is one of the most important Italian movies of that period. It came out in 1929, wholly silent, then with an evocative musical soundtrack added in 1931, composed by Marcello Lattes.

The story is of two young lovers, very poor and on the brink of suicide, who come into a bit of temporary good luck. They find a wallet lost in a train station. It is filled with money. The man it belonged to has hopped a train, and returning it would be difficult (no ID perhaps?) The two unnamed lovers, played by Käthe von Nagy and Maurizio d'Ancora, compulsively hop a train themselves, and the rails ('rotaie') deliver them to two thrilling weeks of high living, high dining, and high gambling in a casino.

The film's style is that of a fast-paced expressionistic work, no doubt influenced by the German cinema of the 1920s, particularly that of F. W. Murnau, whose use of tracking shots is imitated here, as is the lighting of that German master.

There are also hints here of Murnau's 1928 American film "Sunrise," and the movie has a similar progression of ascent to joy, turmoil followed by loss, disaster, and finally rebirth. As "Sunrise" has its temptress, here there is a tempter in the person of seducer Jacques Mercier (played Daniele Crespi) who tries to have sex with the woman.

The hedonistic life comes to an abrupt end. Lucky at finding a wallet, the man is less lucky at casino gambling. All is lost. The rails bring the couple back to Rome. The man gets a job in a Chaplin's-"Modern Times" factory. All shall be happy and reasonable henceforward.

The lead performers are both excellent. For the role of the woman, Camerini considered the German Brigitte Helm (of Lang's "Metropolis.") Maurizio D'Ancora, who plays the guy, clearly had no failure of luck later on in life. He became a multi-millionaire as president of the Gucci Corporation.

Wheels of Fortune.

[brogmiller · 9/10 · 9 November 2019]

I have nothing but praise for this film directed and edited by Mario Camerini. The art design by Umberto Torri is magnificent and the camerawork by Ubaldo Urata simply breathtaking. He later shot 'Rome, open City'. The scenes in the casino are especially impressive. One is mesmerised by the performances of Kathe von Nagy and Maurizio d'Ancona all the way from the gloomy opening to the happy ending. This is a work of art.

The 15th Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival, David Jeffers for SIFFblog.com

[rdjeffers · 5 July 2010]

Friday July 16, 6pm, The Castro, San Francisco

"Dove andiamo?..."

A destitute couple (Käthe von Nagy and Maurizio d'Ancora) on the verge of suicide gets a second chance when they find a large sum of cash, only to gamble it away. Escape to a seaside resort doesn't solve their problems but eventually, they see their way.

Adapted from Corrado D'Errico's story by director Mario Camerini, Rotaie reveals the considerable influence of German Expressionist Cinema in both content and technique. The camera hovers moodily over the couple as it tracks their movement, while angularity and mechanized abstraction conveys the tension and despair found in their modern, hostile world. As they find momentary respite from their fate, the internal movement of a clock is shown to mark the passage of time, while the violence of the locomotive conveys both escape and impending doom. Considering the darkness of this story, the decidedly Hollywood ending is a relief, but seems somewhat out of place.