Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)
This is so great. It would've totally been a candidate for my top 100 had I seen it in time. The first half plays practically like a propaganda film, very light, very easy, and then there's this dramatic tone shift that is totally jarring and great, at which point it just goes totally into a different place, but it's still so good. I think I'm gonna resurrect the spoiler/marathon thread on this one some time soon and have a discussion there.
B+ (Right at the top end of the B+, so nearly an A-)
Envy (Roberto Rossellini, 1952) (short)
Really quite awful. I can't say I really liked anything about it. I'm not sure if that's because of the utterly awful print, or if I still wouldn't have been a fan if the print was in good condition. I found the content and the characters terribly frustrating.
Stromboli (Roberto Rossellini, 1949)
I want to like this a lot more than I do, because it has some really great stuff in it. Like the Tuna hunt. Or the final scenes. And Ingrid Bergman, who gives a pretty great performance. But I was kept at a distance by the story, which felt so old hat (although this might be blame on me as a modern viewer) and utterly repugnant. I was also really so strongly put off by the voiceovers, which were utterly, totally unnecessary. The last one especially is just so disappointing. And I can already feel myself compensating for it - I'm already, just over an hour after it finished, starting to block out the parts I didn't like. Which was huge swathes of it.
C