Sad to report, but Italian scriptwriter Ennio De Concini has died. De Concini was a hugely prolific scriptwriter and one of the unheralded architects of the golden age of Italian cinema – directors are acclaimed, but it was the producers and writers who powered Cinecitta as much as anyone. Despite being best known for his comedies and dramas, he first made his mark working on historical adventures such as the Revenge of the Black Eagle (51) and contemporary thrillers (Camerini’s I brigante Musolino (50), Freda’s See Naples and Die (51)). He also tackled melodrama (Matarazzo’s Vortice (53)), war films (Human Torpedos (53)), peplums (Hercules (58)), horror (Black Sunday (60)), spy films (Dirty Game (65)) and even westerns (China 9 Libery 37 (78)). He also directed a handful of films, including Hitler: The Last 10 Days (with Alec Guinnes and Simon Ward) and Daniel and Maria (73, with Peter Firth).
There’s an Italian language biog on La stampa, which I have (very roughly) translated below.
Last night, in Rome, the prolific scriptwriter Ennio De Concini died in his home in via Stoppani in Parioli. In silence. He was accompanied by his wife, Ninni, his son Conrad and the ‘noise’ of silence, so mystical, unreal, something that Ennio alwatys put in his work. It was his seal, the unmistakeable mark of a great writer and also a great character. Shy, reserved and humble, he preferred quiet walks in the small village of Albaneto to the clamour of the limelight.
And there, in that tiny home to some fifty familes, his doors were always open to people famous and unknown; friends, celebrities, great actors and directors. All looking for advice, a converstaion or idea. And Ennio had plenty of ideas, and it was thanks to them that he was able to make his great fortune. He was the ‘maestro’, the so called ‘greatest architect of cinema’, whose close friends included Dino Risi and Giuliano Montaldo. But De Concini was also, and primarily, a great chronicler of emotions, a cultured and refined writer whose death leaves a great void in the italian film scene. In his long career he examined Italy itself, a changing, evolving country.
His work included Divorce Italian Style for which, along with Germi and Gianetti, he won the 1963 Oscar for Best Screenplay. Ennio called his prize the ‘Oscaretto’, keeping the statuette in his library along with dozens of other awards and thousands of books of all kinds. Every day, he’d isolate himself in his writing. He was puzzling, curious, constantly looking at himself, and in his work he told of his doubts and uncertainties, the precariousness of life, as well as his hopes. In all he wrote over 200 film scripts, after moving into writing having started his career as an Assistant Director on Sciuscià.
He was soon tasting considerable success: Mambo, L’ombrellone, La lunga notte del ‘43, Il ferroviere, Italiani brava gente, Il grido. He also wrote epic and historical films, such as the Colossus of Rhodes, which he called ‘the sandaloni’, as well as a lot of television.