Sophia Loren Archives - Fatto di sangue (1978)

FOREIGN TITLES & RELEASE DATES

Italy - December 21, 1978 - Fatto di sangue fra due uomini per causa di una vedova - si sospettano moventi politici - 124'
France (Paris) -

November 19, 1980 - D'amour et de sang - 100'
USA (New York, Plaza Theater) - February 22, 1980 - Blood Feud - 99'
Canada (Toronto, International & Cineplex) - March 1980 - Blood Feud - 99'

West Germany -

December 18, 1981 - Blutfehde - 100'

Spain -

La viuda indomable - 100' (attendance: 77,313)


Spanish poster	American poster	Italian poster	French DVD

PLOT

In a small Sicilian town at the beginning of the Twenties, Titina Paternà, of Neapolitan origins, nurtures an secret grudge against Vito Acicatena, a mafia member who killed her husband. Titina has two men in her life: one is Spallone, the attorney who defended her against the violence that the mafioso tried to use against her, and to whom she gives herself in gratitude; the other is her Italo-American cousin, Nick, who has returned to Sicily with orders from the New York mafia to clean up the town. Dividing her love equally between the two, Titina becomes pregnant without knowing which of them the father is. The two men become rivals on account of the woman, but then tragedy occurs: fatally wounded by Nick, the mafioso Acicatena has Titina’s two lovers killed by a mob of fascists. Titina closes the eyes of the two dying men, telling each that he is the father of the child that she is carrying. (Enrico Lancia)
Story and screenplay: Lina Wertmüller.

FILMING LOCATIONS

DePaolis-Incir Studios, Rome (Italy)

Filing dates: August through September 1978

MAIN CAST

Sophia Loren (Titina Paternà)
Marcello Mastroianni (attorney Rosario Maria Spallone)
Giancarlo Giannini (Nick Sanmichele)

CREDITS

Photography (Technospes):
Tonino Delli Colli
Costume design:
Benito Persico
Music:
Carlo Dangiò and Nando de Luca
Costumes:
Benito Persico
Makeup Artists:
Michele Trimarchi, Cesare Paciotti
Hair Stylist :
Nicola Pertosa Palombi
Production:
Lord Grade for Liberty Films (Rome)

NOTES

During the shooting in Rome about 500 walk-ons and extras stage in noisy confrontation against Loren, brandishing signs of protest and and reciting slogans such as "Go away Sophia" at the time Sophia and Carlo are accused of exporting huge capital sums abroad while their own economic conditions are quite different.

The film opens a test run in New York's Plaza Theater, but is quickly withdrawn after brutal reviews and is never shown again.

Loren's fashions were made by the Norwegian designer Per Spook. A onetime apprentice under Marc Bohan at the House of Dior, Spook opened his own concern in Paris in 1977. He not only designed Sophia's costumes for the Wertmüller picture, but also provided filmy, clinging silk dresses for Loren's U.5. publicity tour promoting her Coty perfume, called Sophia, which debuted late in 1980.

QUOTES AND REVIEWS

"Miss Loren is naturally remarkable, with her hazel cat's eyes, her Mannerist forehead and those lips that promise ineluctable bliss - but in
Blood Feud she is aided by makeup that transforms her into an imposing, elemental Anna Magnani-Irene Papas hybrid, with touches of
Dietrich's Golden Earrings gypsy."
Jay Scott, Globe and Mail, 26 mar 1980

"The best of what Blood Feud offers is the acting: especially that of Loren, fierce, aggrtessive, with wild, venomous outburst, made ugly by crude makeup; covered in heavy black clothes, very talented and extremely expressive, she is a popolana."
Sergio Lori, Roma, 25 dec 1978