Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Mussolini and I
open-in-new
<h2 id="plot">Plot</h2> <p>The film starts just before <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a> and shows the political and personal side of <a href="/facts/Benito_Mussolini/q8UPaBlm">Benito Mussolini</a>'s fall from power and his death and the end of the war. It delves into his relationship with his son in-law, daughter, wife, mistress, and Hitler. </p> <h2 id="production">Production</h2> <p>Locations used included Mussolini's former residences <a href="/facts/Villa_Torlonia_(Rome)/5JpRpuu2">Villa Torlonia</a> and Villa Feltrinelli.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> The film reunited Hoskins and Hopkins after they had played Othello and Iago for the <a href="/facts/BBC_Television_Shakespeare/5nY8zCto">BBC Television Shakespeare</a> series a few years earlier. Its Italian shoot overlapped with the filming (in Yugoslavia) of <i><a href="/facts/Mussolini%3a_The_Untold_Story/qvf4B2eb">Mussolini: The Untold Story</a></i> starring <a href="/facts/George_C._Scott/dUlgI4WK">George C. Scott</a>: when asked about the rival series by a journalist, Scott called Hopkins "the best English-speaking actor today". Hopkins's fee was reported in the press as $450,000.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="reception">Reception</h2> <p><a href="/facts/John_J._O%2527Connor_(journalist)/450octpV">John J. O'Connor</a>, reviewing for <i><a href="/facts/The_New_York_Times/T9marWVX">The New York Times</a></i>, wrote that the script "keeps reducing historical issues to the dimensions of a kitchen drama. These particular kitchens just happen to be in magnificent Italian palazzos". He described Hoskins as "all done up in elaborate makeup with no place to go except to look terribly unhappy but determined to stick it out to the end", but praised the other leading performances and the production values.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="cast">Cast</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Bob_Hoskins/CoJqVnSp">Bob Hoskins</a> as <a href="/facts/Benito_Mussolini/q8UPaBlm">Benito Mussolini</a>, dictator of Fascist Italy</li> <li><a href="/facts/Susan_Sarandon/a42R2PL3">Susan Sarandon</a> as <a href="/facts/Edda_Ciano/kP6M53wT">Edda Ciano</a>, Mussolini's daughter</li> <li><a href="/facts/Anthony_Hopkins/so2JA69C">Anthony Hopkins</a> as <a href="/facts/Galeazzo_Ciano/aQftajPe">Galeazzo Ciano</a>, 2nd <a href="/facts/Count/kSkKcsK1">Count</a> of Cortellazzo and Buccari, Mussolini's son-in-law</li> <li><a href="/facts/Annie_Girardot/pcLzh87M">Annie Girardot</a> as <a href="/facts/Rachele_Mussolini/rW5PLjrX">Rachele Mussolini</a>, Mussolini's wife</li> <li><a href="/facts/Barbara_De_Rossi/dkuorh6G">Barbara De Rossi</a> as <a href="/facts/Claretta_Petacci/4EcSkMmg">Claretta Petacci</a>, Mussolini's mistress</li> <li><a href="/facts/Massimo_Dapporto/sv9hgoEA">Massimo Dapporto</a> as <a href="/facts/Vittorio_Mussolini/VtgGxVJa">Vittorio Mussolini</a>, Mussolini's son</li> <li><a href="/facts/Vittorio_Mezzogiorno/toVMuTDK">Vittorio Mezzogiorno</a> as <a href="/facts/Alessandro_Pavolini/5coYMSvj">Alessandro Pavolini</a>, friend of Galeazzo's and leader of the <a href="/facts/Republican_Fascist_Party/plnWBfP3">Republican Fascist Party</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Kurt_Raab/b6wJj3RN">Kurt Raab</a> as <a href="/facts/Adolf_Hitler/3zyXG1L8">Adolf Hitler</a>, dictator of <a href="/facts/Nazi_Germany/8kRbqRpo">Nazi Germany</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Marne_Maitland/S1T5xFpo">Marne Maitland</a> as <a href="/facts/King_Victor_Emmanuel_III/swYWoPeV">King Victor Emmanuel III</a></li> <li>Hans-Dieter Asner as <a href="/facts/Joachim_von_Ribbentrop/95n4Db6A">Joachim von Ribbentrop</a>, Foreign Minister of the <a href="/facts/Third_Reich/8kRbqRpo">Third Reich</a></li> <li>Carlheinz Heitmann as <a href="/facts/Karl_Wolff/orAJBky5">Karl Wolff</a>, Military Governor and <a href="/facts/SS_and_Police_Leader/BMP73LbK">Supreme SS and Police Leader</a> of <a href="/facts/Northern_Italy/paEuCnnf">Northern Italy</a></li> <li>Harald Dietl as <a href="/facts/Otto_Skorzeny/n6aT6gPR">Otto Skorzeny</a>, led <a href="/facts/Operation_Oak/1xyJETMA">Operation Oak</a> to rescue Mussolini from <a href="/facts/Campo_Imperatore/jtDcjbWU">Campo Imperatore</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Dietlinde_Turban/PC57v8eG">Dietlinde Turban</a> as <a href="/facts/Hilde_Purwin/pAQDcqpz">Frau Beetz, born as Hildegard Burkhardt</a>: she was a <a href="/facts/Sicherheitsdienst/3fRyhRLu">German intelligence</a> agent who visited Galeazzo in prison and tried to help him</li> <li><a href="/facts/Ted_Rusoff/ndHSF9Dz">Ted Rusoff</a> as <a href="/facts/Francesco_Saverio_Nitti/jNvgKNT8">Francesco Saverio Nitti</a></li> <li>David-George Brown as <a href="/facts/Giuseppe_Castellano/pplGSPy0">Giuseppe Castellano</a></li> <li>Gianni Pulone as <a href="/facts/Enzo_Galbiati/B7hoArNy">Enzo Galbiati</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Stefano_De_Sando/BBtIPe7h">Stefano De Sando</a> as <a href="/facts/Dino_Grandi/IbyS08zW">Dino Grandi</a></li> <li>Luciano Baglioni as <a href="/facts/Carlo_Scorza/X5qc9A5k">Carlo Scorza</a></li> <li>Franco Meroni as <a href="/facts/Giuseppe_Bottai/C5DwtFDj">Giuseppe Bottai</a></li> <li>Leslie Thomas as <a href="/facts/Emilio_De_Bono/jmPYtYpA">Emilio De Bono</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Piero_Palermini/a8BwwPP3">Piero Palermini</a> as <a href="/facts/Roberto_Farinacci/zIzxNSKI">Roberto Farinacci</a></li> <li>Robert Sommer as <a href="/facts/Giacomo_Suardo/8hNyL1Eg">Giacomo Suardo</a></li> <li>Franco Mazzieri as <a href="/facts/Giovanni_Marinelli/2Eu6CI1R">Giovanni Marinelli</a></li> <li>Ulrich Engst as <a href="/facts/Harald_Mors/KUGnf5GS">Major Otto-Harald Mors</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Franco_Fabrizi/U0TEMkxY">Franco Fabrizi</a> as Quinto Navarra</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089645/"><i>Mussolini and I</i></a> at <a href="/facts/IMDb_(identifier)/uWrqVYVy">IMDb</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>O'Connor, John J. (6 September 1985). "Decline and Fall of Mussolini Depicted on HBO". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2024. <a href="/wiki/John_J._O%27Connor_(journalist)" target="_blank">/wiki/John_J._O%27Connor_(journalist)</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>O'Connor, John J. (6 September 1985). "Decline and Fall of Mussolini Depicted on HBO". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2024. <a href="/wiki/John_J._O%27Connor_(journalist)" target="_blank">/wiki/John_J._O%27Connor_(journalist)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Falk, Quentin (1994). Anthony Hopkins: The Authorized Biography. New York: Interlink. p. 146. ISBN 1-56656-125-6. <a href="1-56656-125-6" target="_blank">1-56656-125-6</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>O'Connor, John J. (6 September 1985). "Decline and Fall of Mussolini Depicted on HBO". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2024. <a href="/wiki/John_J._O%27Connor_(journalist)" target="_blank">/wiki/John_J._O%27Connor_(journalist)</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>