Il grido: The Masters of Cinema Series

Introduction

The Italian director Michaelangelo Antonioni is renowned as one of the masters of European cinema in the 1950s and '60s, with his career arguably highlighted by L'avventura, but also known to English speaking audiences for Blowup.  Beginning his career as one of the Italian neo-realists, his style is typified by wide expanses, showing how small humans are compared to their environment and particularly that things never turn out as you want or expect. 
 
In Il grido (The Cry or The Outcry), Aldo, a mechanic at a sugar refinery, is dubbed by his mistress Irma when she discovers that her husband has died in Australia.  Neither seems particularly happy with the arrangement and Irma's motives are never explained, but it seems that she wasn't happy and needed this shock to take her out of her rut.
 
Unable to win her back and out of favour with the others in the village after he beats her, Aldo takes to the road with his daughter Rosina in tow.  Together they go from place to place with Aldo looking for, and unable to find, the love he had with Irma.
 

 

Video

When you get a DVD from the Master of Cinema Series, you expect a top notch transfer, even if the film is over 50 years old.  As always, I wasn't disappointed as this has clearly been remastered, and is apparently a high definition transfer, but as this is only on DVD and therefore standard definition, the picture has probably been downgraded from the source and is as good as you'll get on this format. 
 
The filming style and cinematography clearly set the standard for Antonioni's other work, with the harsh landscapes and pretty unforgiving urban settings showing that man can never truly be master of his domain. 
 

Audio

The soundtrack has also been remastered and, whilst it would've been pretty clear beforehand due to the Italian tradition of not recording sound on set and putting it in afterwards, it is crystal clear here with excellent optional English subtitles.  Steve Cochran looks a little odd 'speaking' Italian and this is an odd bit of casting, but again it's par for the course with Italian films to import an American (or occasionally British) star and dub their words.
 

 

Extra Features

The disc only contains the theatrical trailer and some extended scenes that were cut down because censors considered them too risqué.  As is usually the case with MoC releases, it comes with a healthy booklet, full of essays, photos and interviews but I haven't seen this one but would guess it's of the highest quality and great reading. 
 

 

Conclusion

Antonioni made this immediately before L'avventura, the film against which all of his early works will be judged.  This is nowhere near as good as what many would consider to be his masterpiece as it can be a little rambling and unfocused as Aldo drifts around and there are so many loose ends that you never quite feel for him or his plight.  Despite putting in a decent performance, Steve Cochran looks out of place and, though it fits his character, I don't know where he was hoping to find a home.  The always reliable Alida Valli (even in cheap Italian horror movies) is excellent here, though her role is largely limited to the first act and final scene. 
 
If you're a fan of Antonio and his work or if the Italian neo-realist movement interests you, this is a film and DVD that you should watch but, for more casual viewers, stick with the more well known films like L'avventura and Bicycle Thieves.