Il Bidone

aka: The Swindlers
Italy 1955, 91 minutes
Dir. Federico Fellini
In Italian with English subtitles
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Drama

Feat. Broderick Crawford, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Franco Fabrizi

Aroview: An early work from dir. Fellini in which a trio of conmen roam the Italian countryside swindling peasants in order to fund the future they believe they deserve.

Foreshadowing his later cinematic visions, Fellini begins with a comic tone which gradually darkens into a tragic view of misguided enterprise and despair. Part of the 'Trilogy of Loneliness' with LA STRADA and NIGHTS OF CABIRIA, and although not of the stature of these, it has a power all its own. A Fellini film that for fans is well worth 'discovering'.