Having watched this movie three times, at first release in a cinema, later on TV, and this week in another cinema in the same building where I saw it all those years ago, I am still trying to come to terms with my own reaction to it. I have some difficulty recalling the details from the 'fifties, and I wonder if this is because I am in denial. Is the movie so bad that I threw it from my mind? This retired cinematographer is appalled at the camera work. It is badly lit, and the continuity is a joke. Perhaps the movie is so different to the Hollywood product of the time that people like me welcomed the contrast. La Strada makes many of the same errors as the Hollywood westerns of the 'thirties. Shots from the motorcycle look like they were done with the mechanical horse Hollywood used pre-war.
Then, there are all the awards. Were the other movies of that year so bad that La Strada stood out? The episodes along the road certainly seemed to herald the 'road' movies that followed.
The age of the leading lady? Was that really the voice of a naive slow learner, or the voice of Fellini's wife, obviously an experienced stage performer? I was reminded of the mature Norma Shearer trying to be the sub-teen Juliet in Hollywood's Shakespearian opus. Let's not make too much of Fellini's post-synch sound. It was just plain dreadful.
Then, there are all the awards. Were the other movies of that year so bad that La Strada stood out? The episodes along the road certainly seemed to herald the 'road' movies that followed.
The age of the leading lady? Was that really the voice of a naive slow learner, or the voice of Fellini's wife, obviously an experienced stage performer? I was reminded of the mature Norma Shearer trying to be the sub-teen Juliet in Hollywood's Shakespearian opus. Let's not make too much of Fellini's post-synch sound. It was just plain dreadful.