Director Roberto Rossellini allegedly denied responsibility for the film, claiming that the US version was cut beyond recognition by RKO. Cut or not cut, the movie reflects no credit on him. Given the elementary school dialogue to recite and the impossible scenes to act out, Ingrid Bergman is never able to make the lines real or the emotion motivated enough to seem like more than an exercise.
Apparently, so many morally questionable scenes had to be cut that RKO felt it necessary to insert a great deal of detail into other actions in order to stretch the film to its 81-minute runtime.
Director: Michiel van Erp
Writers: Saskia Noort, Roos Ouwehand, Paula van der Oest
Stars: Elise Schaap, Tim McInnerny, Christian Hillborg
The famed Italian director's only visible touch is in the harsh photography, which adds to the realistic, documentary effect of life on the lava-covered rocky island. Rossellini's penchant for realism, however, does not extend to Bergman. She is always fresh, clean and well-groomed.
The story is about a girl (Bergman) in an Italian displacement camp who marries a native fisherman from Stromboli so that she can be freed. Miss Bergman hates him from the start, but she grows to love her man.
The language of the photo is a bit confusing. Bergman, on an Italian island, speaks English with a Swedish accent. Vitale's voice has been dubbed and there is little effort to decipher his English. Renzo Cesana as the priest does the best job on the photo.
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