Chains (film)

Catene (internationally released as Chains) is a 1949 Italian melodrama film directed by Raffaello Matarazzo. It had an impressive commercial success, being seen by 6 million people, one in eight Italians of the time, and was followed by a series of six other successful films directed by Matarazzo and featuring the couple Amedeo Nazzari and Yvonne Sanson. The film was remade in 1974.

The film's sets were designed by the art director Ottavio Scotti. The film features in Cinema Paradiso. In 2008, the film was included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."

Plot and outline
A husband kills his wife's ex-boyfriend, who was blackmailing her. He flees to America, but is sent back to Italy to stand trial. The only way he can be set free is if his wife confesses to adultery – so the murder can be considered a crime of passion – but this estranges her from her family. Starring Amedeo Nazzari and actress of Greek origin Yvonne Sanson. Maligned by critics because it did not conform to precepts of neorealism, this did not prevent its unexpected box office success.

Cast

 * Amedeo Nazzari: Guglielmo
 * Yvonne Sanson: Rosa
 * Aldo Nicodemi: Emilio
 * Teresa Franchini: Anna Aniello, mother of Guglielmo
 * Aldo Silvani: prosecutor
 * Roberto Murolo: emigrant
 * Gianfranco Magalotti as Tonino Aniello
 * Rosalia Randazzo as Angela Aniello
 * Nino Marchesini as L'avvocato difensore
 * Lilly Marchi
 * Amalia Pellegrini
 * Giulio Tomasini