15 - Urban Noise in the Early Italian Sound Film Gli uomini, che mascalzoni …

Summary

Abstract: Using Gli uomini, che mascalzoni … (What Scoundrels Men Are!) (1932, dir. Mario Camerini) as a case study, this chapter argues that urban noise in early Italian sound film functions as a sonic reflection of Italian modernity and modernization under fascism: cinematic noises of cars and traffic resonated with contemporary developments in urban planning, and the almost documentary portrayal of Milan and its soundscape became part of a realist aesthetic that acknowledged working-class everyday life and concerns, anticipating 1940s Italian neorealism. Furthermore, Camerini's use of the soundtrack betrays a tendency towards experimentation enabled by a liberal climate of artistic exchange, which was possible despite fascism.

Keywords: noise, urbanism, modernity, fascism, working class

The various sound effects and noises heard in Italy's earliest sound films were made possible by the new recording and synchronizing technologies. They allowed, most importantly, for another layer to be woven into the foregrounded sounds of dialogue and music. Much like in other countries during the conversion to sound film, these noises and their narrative and aesthetic uses sparked vivid discussions among Italian film theorists and filmmakers (such as Sebastiano Arturo Luciani, Anton Giulio Bragaglia, or Luigi Pirandello), who debated whether sound did, in fact, enhance or rather diminish the expressive art of film.

Defining noise is a rather complex issue. In this chapter, I will speak of noise not as negatively defined, unwanted sound (such as the inevitable ground noise in early sound films) but as intentionally created diegetic sounds, predominantly industrial, mechanical, man-made sounds, or crowd noise, which reflect the urban environment. This metropolitan noise was an unmissable part of the “multiple modernities” across the globe and included the sounds resulting from technological inventions and infrastructural shifts in urban growth. Since film sound technology was one of these inventions, an exploration of urban noise in early sound films seems crucial. The sounds of modern city life were characterized by simultaneousness and a fast-paced rhythm, and sound film, in particular, offered an apt sonic representation of these modern realities.

Today, Mario Camerini's Gli uomini, che mascalzoni … (What Scoundrels Men Are!) (1932) is mostly known for its hit song “Parlami d’amore, Mariù,” sung by the famous actor and later neorealist filmmaker Vittorio De Sica. Various scholars have examined Camerini's importance for Italian filmmaking during the interwar period as one of the most successful commercial filmmakers of the time.