Il Grido (1957)

A mechanic (Steve Cochran) at a sugar refinery has lived with a married woman (Alida Valli), whose husband has been working in Australia, for seven years and they have a daughter (Mirna Girardi). When the news reaches her that her husband has died, she tells the mechanic she is in love with a younger man. Eventually, he leaves her and takes their daughter with him as he aimlessly drifts through the Po Valley countryside. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, this film serves as a transition film between his depictions of bourgeois romantic entanglements like STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR (1950) and LE AMICHE (1955) and the alienation and emotional dearth of the upper class bourgeoisie in L'AVVENTURA (1960) and LA NOTTE (1962). Here, his focus is on the poverty stricken working class and Cochran's mechanic who finds himself adrift in a foreboding landscape (Gianni De Venanzo's B&W cinematography is stunning) as bleak as his psyche. Dubbed into Italian, Cochran is excellent here. Hollywood never gave him a role as good as this. A somber film that you won't soon shake off. Giovanni Fusco did the gentle score. With Betsy Blair (also dubbed into Italian), Dorian Gray and Lynn Shaw.