Harlem

Story

Synopsis

This propaganda film was partly inspired by the story of the first Italian heavyweight champion Primo Carnera who, after winning the title with Al Capone’s help in 1933, was beaten the following year by the Jewish Max Bear and then again by the ‘Brown Bomber’ Detroit Joe Lewis in June 1935, on the eve of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. This match provoked numerous racial skirmishes on the streets of Harlem between the Black community and pro-Fascist Italian-Americans. The film overturns historical facts and here, obviously, it is the white boxer who wins in order to demonstrate the superiority of the “Aryan Italians” over the “sinister Jewish entrepreneurs” and the “savage Afro-American fans in Yankee Stadium”. In the film, these were played by South African prisoners-of-war interred in a work camp, which the German and Italian propaganda ministries had set up near Cinecittà “for cinematic purposes”.

Director

Carmine Gallone

Writers

Sergio Amidei, Guido Angeli, Giuseppe Achille

Language

Italian

Country

Italy

Release date

21 April 1943

Ensemble

Cast

• 

  Massimo Girotti

  Tommaso Rossi

• 

  Amedeo Nazzari

  Amedeo Rossi

• 

  Vivi Gioi

  Muriel

• 

  Elisa Cegani

  Gangster woman

• 

  Osvaldo Valenti

  Chris Sherman

• Erminio Spalla

  Franckie Battaglia, the coach