Winner of the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Fest, White Nights (Italian: Le notti bianche), Visconti’s romantic melodrama is based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1848 short story of the same name.
It was written for the screen by Visconti and Suso Cecchi d’Amico, and stars Maria Schell, Marcello Mastroianni, and Jean Marais.
In his adaptation, Visconti got rid of the first-person narration and made the girl less of an innocent and more of an hysteric.
He also made the ending sadder. In the story, the narrator thanks the girl for the moment of happiness she has brought him. But in the film, the hero is left alone, with no sense that the love he briefly felt has transformed him in any way.
Visconti cast Maria Schell after meeting her at film festival. Although he originally planned to dub her voice with Italian actress, as was the standard practice, he was impressed when she learned her dialogue in Italian, and let her loop her own lines.
However, French actor Jean Marais was dubbed by Giorgio Albertazzi.
Cast
Maria Schell as Natalia
Marcello Mastroianni as Mario
Jean Marais as the tenant
Clara Calamai as the prostitute
Marcella Rovena as the head maid at Mario’s rooming house
Maria Zanoli as the woman who kicks Natalia out of the chicken coop
