Volcano

After many years in Naples, Magdalena (Anna Magnani) returns to the volcanic island of Vulcano off the coast of Sicily. Her “immoral lifestyle”—which had even led the vice squad to expel her from the city—fuels the islanders’ mistrust. Magdalena is ostracized—yet she still tries to care for her younger siblings, Maria and Nino. When Magdalena realizes that the shady diver Donato (Rossano Brazzi) is trying to seduce her inexperienced sister Maria, she does everything in her power to save Maria from a similar fate. The conflict escalates until Donato is killed and his criminal schemes are exposed. Magdalena is morally vindicated—just as the volcano erupts, threatening all life on the island... William Dieterle’s 1950 film can be classified in film history as lying at the intersection of Italian neorealism and melodramatic star cinema. Shot on the Aeolian Islands, the film combines real-life locations and a depiction of the social milieu with a highly emotional plot centered on guilt, ostracism, and self-sacrifice. “Vulcano” gained particular significance due to the circumstances of its production: the film was shot almost simultaneously with Roberto Rossellini’s “Stromboli” (1950). While Rossellini worked with Ingrid Bergman following his split from Anna Magnani, Magnani took on the lead role in Dieterle’s film. The highly publicized rivalry between the two productions went down in film history as the “War of the Volcanoes” and made “Vulcano” more than just a melodrama—it became a document of the transitional phase of postwar Italian cinema. Today, *Vulcano* is regarded above all as an impressive vehicle for Anna Magnani, whose intense portrayal of a socially ostracized woman defines the film. Even though it often takes a back seat to Rossellini’s *Stromboli* in the canon of neorealism, *Vulcano* remains an important contribution to Italian cinema of the early 1950s.