Bengasi is a 1942 Italian war film directed by Augusto Genina and starring Fosco Giachetti, Maria von Tasnady and Amedeo Nazzari. The film was shot at Cinecittà in Rome. The film was a propaganda work, designed to support the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. It portrays Allied atrocities in "Bengasi Italiana", such as the murder of a peasant by a group of drunken Australian soldiers.
It was presented at the Venice Film Festival and won the Mussolini Cup as the best Italian film while Fosco Giachetti won the best actor award. It proved popular with audiences, and was re-released in 1955 with some new scenes added.
Plot
The film is set in 1941 during the Second World War, when the city of Benghazi in Italian-ruled Libya was occupied by British forces. Italian inhabitants of Benghazi work to resist the British and discover their military plans. One man, Filippo Colleoni, appears to be collaborating with the British but is in fact working undercover for Italian intelligence. The film ends with the city being recaptured by Italian troops and their Nazi German allies.
Main cast
Fosco Giachetti as Captain Enrico Berti
Maria De Tasnady as Carla Berti
Amedeo Nazzari as Filippo Colleoni
Vivi Gioi as Giuliana
Guido Notari as Italian podestà in Benghazi
Carlo Tamberlani as Giovanni Galassi
as doctor Malpini
as Maria ('Fanny') Fedele Gentile as Antonio Amelia Bissi as Giovanni's mother Giorgio Costantini as General Robertson Guglielmo Sinaz as Tropeoli Carlo Duse as Captain Marchi Pier Giorgio Heliczer as Sandrino Berti