Old Guard

Story

Synopsis

There were very few commercial feature films made during the Italian fascist era that were as openly propagandistic as this famous (notorious?) dramatic paean to the Blackshirts. The story takes place in a small village in Italy in October of 1922, on the eve of the fascist "March on Rome", in which King Victor Emanuel III was persuaded to consign power to Benito Mussolini. Gianfranco Giachetti is Dr. Cardini, a doctor at the local psychiatric hospital, where a strike has been called by the local socialists. Cardini turns to the fascists to help avert the strike. His son Roberto (Mino Doro) rounds up fascist friends to fight those aligned with the strikers and the town's socialists.

Director

Alessandro Blasetti

Writers

Giuseppe Zucca, Alessandro Blasetti, Leo Bomba

Language

Italian

Country

Italy

Release date

1 June 1934

Ensemble

Cast

• Gianfranco Giachetti

  Dott. Claudio Cardini

• 

  Mino Doro

  Roberto

• Franco Brambilla

  Mario

• Maria Puccini

  La moglie

• Barbara Monis

  La maestra

• Graziella Antonelli

  La sorella della maestra

• 

  Ugo Ceseri

  Marcone

• Umberto Sacripante

  Il pazzo Tralicò

• Graziela Betti

  La ragazza del convento

• 

  Gino Viotti

  Il sindaco

• Cesare Zoppetti

  L'assessore

• Aristide Garbini

  L'uscere