Fiamme sulla laguna

A diver from the Venice Arsenal accidentally dies during a dive ordered by the admiral. Anna, the diver's only daughter, accepts the hospitality of an old friend of the family, Antonio, whose worker son immediately falls in love with her. During her funeral, however, Anna meets Luciano, a young officer and son of the admiral; a sympathy arises between the two, but one evening Anna sees the officer at the port exchanging affections with a stranger before leaving for a mission at sea. Believing herself betrayed, she decides out of spite to give in to the advances of the worker, but Luciano, returned from the mission, persuades her to come back with him, proving that he has not betrayed her. Meanwhile, Antonio, seeing his son first deluded and then humiliated by Anna's turnaround, asks the admiral for an audience and protests with him revealing what had happened. The admiral summons the girl and, after having severely reprimanded her, informs her of the decision to prevent her wedding with Luciano. Anna, running home distraught, spots a burning ship. In agreement with Luciano, she goes aboard the ship and she and him die in the fire.[1]

The film is part of the sentimental melodramas, commonly called tearjerking, at the time very popular among the Italian public, later renamed by critics with the term neorealism of appendix. The production of this melodrama was characterized by a long and drawn-out process (three years, two scriptwriters, five screenwriters); conceived as a tourist attraction to the beauties of the lagoon ("A dramatic love story in the incomparable setting of a secret and romantic Venice" was the launch phrase), Venice is photographed here in numerous unusual views, outside the tourist itineraries. Do not miss the ritual visit to St. Mark's Square, but with shots taken in the course of high water.[2]

• Leonardo Cortese
• Lea Padovani
• Sandro Ruffini
• Ermanno Randi
• Tina Pica
• Lauro Gazzolo
• Elaine Shepard

• Fiamme sulla laguna at IMDb