Italian Cinema Today

August 23 marks the anniversary of two tragic events in Italian-American history... the untimely death of silent film star Rudolph Valentino in 1926 and one year later in 1927, the execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. On August 23, 1926, Valentino passed away in New York City at the age of 31. He had been admitted to the hospital on August 15 after collapsing at Manhattan’s Hotel Ambassador. He was diagnosed with appendicitis and gastric ulcers. Three days later, after having surgery, he was on the mend but then developed peritonitis and in the days following, suffered inflammation in his lungs, causing his condition to take a turn for the worse. It is reported that he was conscious in the early hours of August 23 and even talked with his doctors before falling into a coma and then succumbing to his illness. Tens of thousands of hysterical fans took to the streets of New York upon hearing the news of his death. Sacco and Vanzetti came to America for the same reason ...

The year was 1920. The climate for Italian immigrants in America was tumultuous. Prejudice was running rampant and the frustration of immigrants was mounting. For southern Italians, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, that prejudice, that deep-rooted hatred of a certain group of people, took them away from their families and eventually cost them their lives. Sacco and Vanzetti came to America for the same reason as most of our ancestors did; to find a better life, to walk on the streets paved with gold. As it's been stated, not only weren't the streets paved, the immigrants were the ones who did the paving. The men felt the working class in America was treated unfairly and so they became involved with Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, an advocate for violence in the name of politics. During that time, Italian anarchists were on the government's watch list and considered dangerous enemies. Sacco and Vanzetti were no different. The two had associations with those accuse...