1848

The real masterpiece among these early works by Risi is certainly 1848 Made to order for the centenary of the Milan uprising against Austrian rule the film opens with a group of soldiers apathetically attending the dress rehearsal for a ballet at La Scala Who knows if Visconti remembered it for the opening of Senso at the Fenice in Venice when he certainly had in mind a little film directed by Corrado DErrico in 1941 La Compagnia della teppa in which a group insurgents use a Rossini premiere at La Scala to launch leaflets against the Napoleonic occupation