Tosca is a 1941 Italian historical drama film directed by Carl Koch and starring Imperio Argentina, Michel Simon and Rossano Brazzi. It is an adaptation of Victorien Sardou's play La Tosca and its subsequent opera version, Tosca, composed by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It was released in the United States as The Story of Tosca.[1]

Tosca
Directed byCarl Koch
Screenplay byAlessandro De Stefani
Carmine Gallone
Carl Koch
Luchino Visconti (uncredited)
Jean Renoir (uncredited)
Story byVictorien Sardou (play)
Giuseppe Giacosa (libretto)
Luigi Illica (libretto)
Produced byGiuseppe Barattolo
StarringImperio Argentina
Michel Simon
Rossano Brazzi
CinematographyUbaldo Arata
Edited byGino Betrone
Music byUmberto Mancini
Production
company
Distributed byScalera Film
Release date
  • 27 January 1941 (1941-01-27)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

It was shot at the Scalera Studios in Rome with location shooting also taking place around the city. The film's sets were designed by the art director Gustav Abel.[1]

Jean Renoir was originally hired as the film's director, and was encouraged to make the film by the French government as part of an effort to encourage Italy to remain neutral in the Second World War. However, he left Rome following Italy's entry into the war and the film was completed by the German director Carl Koch.[2]

In 1943 it was released in Spain (where Imperio Argentina was a major star) by the film studio Cifesa.

Cast

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Durgnat, Raymond (1974). Jean Renoir, pp. 213–215. University of California Press. ISBN 0520022831
  2. ^ Faulkner, Christopher (2014). The Social Cinema of Jean Renoir, p. 122. Princeton University Press
edit