Hollywood on the Tiber is a phrase used to describe the period in the 1950s and 1960s when the Italian capital ofRome emerged as a major location for internationalfilmmaking attracting many foreign productions to theCinecittà studios. It was used in a June 26, 1950Time magazine article.[2] By contrast to the nativeItalian film industry, these movies were made inEnglish for global release. Although the market for many of these films was primarily American, they enjoyed widespread popularity in other countries, including Italy.
The commercial success ofQuo Vadis (1951) led to a stream ofblockbusters produced in Italy byHollywood studios, which reached its height with20th Century Fox'sCleopatra in 1963. The phrase "Hollywood on Tiber", a reference to theriver that runs through Rome, was coined in 1950 byTime magazine during the making ofQuo Vadis.[3]
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FollowingWorld War II, Hollywood studios increasingly shifted production abroad both to take advantage of lower costs and to use frozen funds (profits from American films which foreign governments barred from export). These films, known asrunaway productions, could also benefit from localsubsidies. By the early 1950s, some of the largest-budget American films were being shot in European countries, particularly in Britain and Italy.[4] In both countries newly arrived American companies worked alongside continuing large-scale domestic film industries.
In Italy, the film-makers used the vast Cinecittà complex which had been built in the 1930s byBenito Mussolini'sFascist regime which was aiming to rebuild Italian cinema. Following Mussolini's overthrow in 1943, production at Cinecittà was suspended and no new films were made until 1948.[5]
Although American companies had shot in Italy before (such asFox's 1922 silentNero andMGM's 1925Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ), the scale of the post-war investment was unprecedented. Many of the films weresword and sandal epics, often set inAncient Rome which required largefilm sets andlocation filming. Other films included contemporary-set romancesRoman Holiday (1953) andThree Coins in the Fountain (1954).[6] The companies hired actors from Britain and the United States, and elsewhere, who appeared alongside Italians who generally played smaller, supporting roles orextras.Sophia Loren was one Italian star with sufficient international appeal to be cast in aleading role.
In 1962, the lengthy and troubled production ofCleopatra brought further media attention to the city. The delays led to a spiraling budget, making it the most expensive film ever made at the time.[7]
Far from leading to a decline in Italian cinema, the native industry boomed during the era. In 1960, Italian films outperformed American imports to Italy for the first time since 1946.[8] However, there was a growing influence of Hollywood-style productions, as popular Italian genres such as theSword-and-sandal andSpaghetti Western attempted to imitate successful Hollywood productions. Italian actors and directors often adoptedEnglish-sounding names.[9]
Cinecittà was at the peak of its international fame between the production ofBen Hur andCleopatra (1958–1960).[10] As the 1960s drew on, the fashion for classical epics began to decline following the commercial failure ofThe Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), although films in other genres such asDavid Lean'sDoctor Zhivago (1965) continued to be profitable.
In 2009 a documentary filmHollywood on the Tiber was released. It portrays Cinecittà and the various stars who worked there between 1950 and 1970.
