ABSTRACT
The documentary material became propaganda material in a form notably more effective and detailed than had been the case in most of the Luce newsreels produced in the previous 15-year period. Although the ‘Ufficio Addestramento-Cinemateca’ of the general staff of the Royal Army, under the directorship of Lieutenant Colonel Guido Bagnani, does seem to have provided direct help in the making of war films, the situation is notably different for the film departments of the navy and the airforce. Besides producing a large-scale documentary film on behalf of the Istituto Luce in 1940, the Navy’s film department made three feature films, in co-operation with Scalera Film. The film departments of the Italian Airforce and Navy also collaborated, to varying degrees, in making feature films, some of which achieved public and critical acclaim, which were released through the normal commercial film channels.
