Roberto Rossellini: 2-Disc Collector's Edition

This two-disc set offers a double feature of lesser-known works from Italian master director Roberto Rossellini. In the 1960 thriller Era Notte a Roma (Escape by Night), a trio of Allied POWs—an American, an Englishman, and a Russian—escape from their Nazi captors and are aided by a young Italian couple. Fairly predictable and painfully overlong (134 minutes), the only real points of interest here are the subtle performances by British actor Leo Genn and Russian actor/director Sergei Bondarchuk as two of the escapees (American B-movie actor Peter Baldwin, as the third prisoner, is not in their league). Somewhat more interesting is Dovè la libertá? (Where is Freedom?), a 1954 film starring the legendary Italian comedy star Totò as a one-time barber who emerges from a 20-year prison sentence for murder. Unable to readjust to life in the free world, the barber schemes to find a way back to the only environment in which he genuinely felt comfortable: jail. Although basically a one-joke film, Rossellini still manages to work in a few snaps at the cynicism and desperation of postwar Italian society, while Totò manages to rise above the relatively weak script. Neither film qualifies as a forgotten treasure; however, given Rossellini's (Open City, Paisan) international stature as the father of Italian neorealism, this set should be considered a strong optional purchase. (P. Hall)