Italy
138m 4s, 12426 feet
35mm film, black and white, 1.85:1
mono, Italian, French, German
An Italian drama film with fantasy elements directed by Federico Fellini. It was originally released in Italy on 14 February 1963.
Plot Summary
Italian film director Guido Anselmi is surrounded by sycophants as he struggles to complete an ambitious science fiction film. Along the way he suffers hallucinations and meets a mind reader with seemingly real powers.
Credits
Crew
Conceived and Directed by: Federico Fellini
Angelo Rizzoli presents. A Cineriz production
Produced by: Angelo Rizzoli
Production Manager: Nello Meniconi
Production Supervisor: Clemente Fracassi
Unit Manager: Mario Basili
Screenplay: Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, Brunello Rondi
Story: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano
Artistic Collaborator: Brunello Rondi
2nd Unit Director: Alessandro von Normann
Assistant Director: Guidarino Guidi
2nd Assistant Directors: Giulio Paradisi, Francesco Aluigi
Continuity: Mirella Gamacchio
Director of Photography: Gianni Di Venanzo
Camera Operator: Pasqualino De Santis
Still Photographer: Tazio Secchiaroli [uncredited]
Editor: Leo Catozzo
Assistant Editor: Adriana Olasio
Prints and Processing: Istituto Nazionale LUCE
Technician: Enzo Verzini
Negatives: Dupont
Music: Nino Rota
Music Publisher: CAM
Sound: Mario Faraoni, Alberto Bartolomei
Costumes: Piero Gherardi
Assistant Costumes: Orietta Nasalli Rocca
Wardrobe Mistress: Clara Poggi
Key Make-up: Otello Fava
Hairstyles: Renata Magnanti
Hairdresser: Eugenia Filippo [uncredited]
Art Director: Piero Gherardi
Assistant Art Director: Luciano Ricceri
Set Dresser: Vito Anzalone
Script Translator: Eugene Walter [uncredited]
Production Secretaries: Albino Morandin, Angelo Iacono
Studio: Titanus
Cast
Marcello Mastroianni [Guido Anselmi, the director]
Claudia Cardinale [Claudia, the star-actress]
Anouk Aimée [Luisa Anselmi, Guido’s wife]
Sandra Milo [Carla, Guido’s mistress]
Rossella Falk [Rossella, Luisa’s friend]
Barbara Steele [Gloria Morin, Mario’s fiancée]
Madeleine Lebeau [Madeleine, French actress]
Caterina Boratto [unnamed woman in harem]
Edra Gale [Saraghina]
Guido Alberti [Commendatore Pace, the producer]
Mario Conocchia [Conocchia, production manager]
Bruno Agostini [Agostini, 2nd production secretary]
Cesarino Miceli Picardi [Cesarino, 1st production secretary]
Jean Rougeul [Fabrizio Carini, film critic]
Mario Pisu [Mario Mezzabotta, Gloria’s friend]
Yvonne Casadei [Jacqueline Bon Bon, ageing soubrette]
Ian Dallas [Maurice, the mind-reader]
Mino Doro [Claudia’s agent, ‘Super Tarzan’]
Nadine Sanders [Nadine, air hostess]
Georgia Simmons [Guido’s grandmother]
Hedy Vessel [Hedy, harem woman with costume changes]
Tito Masini [the cardinal]
Annie Gorassini [producer’s girlfriend]
Rossella Como [Tilde, Luisa & Rossella’s friend]
Mark Herron [Luisa’s timid admirer]
Marisa Colomber [Guido’s aunt]
Neil Robinson [French actress’s agent]
Elisabetta Catalano [Luisa’s sister]
Eugene Walter [American journalist]
Hazel Rogers [dancer in Guido’s harem]
Gilda Dahlberg [American journalist’s wife]
Mario Tarchetti [Poletti, Claudia’s press representative]
Mary Indovino [Maya, mind-reader’s partner]
Frazier Rippy [the cardinal’s lay secretary]
Francesco Rigamonti [Enrico, Luisa’s friend]
Giulio Paradisi [friend]
Marco Gemini [Guido as a boy at school]
Giuditta Rissone [Guido’s mother]
Annibale Ninchi [Guido’s father]
Alternative Titles
Le bella confusione – working title
Huit et demi – France
Otto e mezzo
References
Periodicals
- AGR Coleccionistas de cine no.36 (Winter 2007) pp.8-15 – illustrated article (Galeria: Ocho y medio en color)
- American Cinematographer vol.83 no.4 (April 2002) p.18 – DVD review (DVD playback by Stephen Pizzello)
- American Film vol.14 no.8 (June 1989) pp.16-17 – illustrated article
- Avant-Scène du Cinéma no.63 October 1966 whole issue – script
- Bianco e Nero vol.24 no.4 (April 1963) p.43 – review
- Cahiers du Cinéma vol.25 no.145 (July 1963) p.49 – review
- Cahiers du Cinéma no.164 March 1965) p.23 – review
- Cinéaste vol.27 no.3 (Summer 2002) pp.46-47 – illustrated DVD review (by James Monaco)
- Cinéaste vol.34 no.2 (Spring 2009) pp.38-42 – illustrated article (Editing for subtext: Altering the Meaning of the Narrative by Kenneth Dancyger)
- Cineforum no.23 March 1963) p.248 – interview with Federico Fellini
- Cinema vol.1 no.5 (August/September 1963) pp.19-22 – review
- Cinema Journal vol.41 no.4 (Summer 2002) pp.116-131 – illustrated article (Fellini’s portrait of the artist as creative problem solver by John C. Stubbs)
- Cinema Nuovo vol.16 no.162 (March/April 1963) p.123 – review
- Cinema Retro vol.2 no.4 (Winter 2006) pp.8-10 – article (Benson turns back the clock – 1963 by Raymond Benson)
- Cinema Scope no.10 (March 2002) pp.43-44 – illustrated review (Spotlight by Geoff Pevere)
- Cinématographie Française, La no.2021 (22 June 1963) p.15 – review
- Cinémonde no.1467 (18 September 1962) p.2 – review
- Cinémonde no.1500 (7 May 1963) p.20 – review
- City Limits no.434 (25 January 1990) pp.31-32 – review
- The Daily Cinema no.8803 (23 August 1963) p.4 – review
- Empire no.8 (February 1990) p.74 – illustrated review (Empire directory by Steve Goldman)
- Empire no.236 (February 2009) pp.144-145 – illustrated DVD review (At home/Masterpiece: 8½ by Simon Braund)
- Fellini Amarcord vol.5 no.3/4 (December 2005) pp.27-46 – illustrated article (Avanguardia di Federico Fellini e il Manifesto di 8½/Federico Fellini’s Avant-garde and the 8½ Manifesto by Alberto Spadafora)
- La Fiera del Cinema vol.4 no.9 (September 1962) p.62 – article
- La Fiera del Cinema vol.5 no.1 (January 1963) p.40 – synopsis
- La Fiera del Cinema vol.5 no.3 (March 1963) p.65 – press reports
- Film and Philosophy vol.1 1994) pp.42-54 – article (Phantasy Projections of the Multiple Psyche in 8½ and Last Year in Marienbad by Graham Parkes)
- Film Criticism vol.3 no.2 (Winter 1979) pp.Winter 67-79 – review
- Film Ideal no.116 (15 March 1963) p.174 – review
- The Film Daily vol.123 no.17 (25 July 1963) p.10 – review
- Film Quarterly vol.63 no.3 (Spring 2010) pp.28-34 – illustrated article (Restoring Broken Embraces by Marsha Kinder)
- Films and Filming vol.10 no.1 (October 1963) p.21 – review
- Le Film Francais no.995 (14 June 1963) p.20 – review
- Filmcritica no.131 (March 1963) p.170 – review
- Films in Review vol.14 no.7 (August/September 1963) p.433 – review
- The Hollywood Reporter vol.176 no.9 (11 July 1963) p.3 – review
- Ikon vol.22 no.80 (January-March 1972) pp.43-76 – article
- Ikon vol.22 no.82-83 (July-December 1972) pp.123-170 – article
- Journal of Popular Film & Television vol.24 n1 Spring 1996) pp.19-25 – illustrated article (Definitely-Falling-Down: 8½, Falling Down and the death of fantasy by J.P. Telotte)
- Kine Weekly no.2917 (29 August 1963) p.16 – review
- Literature/Film Quarterly vol.14 no.3 (1986) pp.164-170 – article
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.30 no.357 (October 1963) p.140 – credits, synopsis, review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.57 no.672 (January 1990) pp.26-27 – credits, synopsis, review
- Motion Picture Herald vol.230 no.3 (10 July 1963) p.849 – review
- The New Yorker vol.70 no.5 (21 March 1994) pp.154-165 – illustrated article (Mondo Fellini by Clive James)
- Screen vol.19 no.1 (Spring 1978) pp.7-40; 41-69 – article; article
- Segnocinema vol.20 no.105 (September/October 2000) p.60 – credits (Riedizioni)
- Segnocinema vol.23 n119 Jan/Feb 2003) pp.11-28 – illustrated article (Segnospeciale – Fellini’s 8 by Flavio De Bernardinis)
- The Seventh Art vol.1 no.4 (Autumn 1963) p.12 – review
- Sight & Sound vol.32 no.3 (Summer 1963) p.134 – review
- Sight & Sound vol.32 no.4 (Autumn 1963) p.192 – review
- Sight & Sound vol.33 no.1 (Winter 1963/1964) p.30 – article
- Sight & Sound vol.43 n3 Summer 1974) pp.summer 172-75 – review
- Sight & Sound vol.3 no.5 (May 1993) p.69 – video note
- Sight & Sound vol.12 no.9 (September 2002) p.48 – illustrated interview with Federico Fellini (Critics top ten: 8½ by Edward Lawrenson)
- Sight & Sound vol.14 no.8 (August 2004) pp.20-24 – illustrated article (Why Fellini? by Philip Kemp)
- Sight & Sound vol.18 no.2 (February 2008) p.11 – illustrated article (Rushes: Films about filmmaking)
- Time Out no.1014 (24 January 1990) p.25 – illustrated review
- Variety 3 April 1963 p.6 – credits, review
- Written By vol.2 n10 October 1998) pp.18-19 – article (Fellini’s 8 1/2: reflections on the troubled marriage between writer and director by Frank Pierson)
Books
- Caligari’s Children: The Film as Tale of Terror by Siegbert Solomon Prawer p.203
- Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby pp.118, 203
- Feature films, 1960-1969: A Filmography of English-language and Major Foreign-language United States Releases by Harris M. Lentz III p.121 – credits, synopsis
- Fellini by Sam Stourdzé p.155 – credits
- Fellini: The Sixties by Manoah Bowman pp.135-177 – illustrated essay
- Fellini’s Films: From Postwar to Postmodern by Frank Burke pp.156-163 – illustrated essay
- The Films of Federico Fellini by Peter Bondanella pp.93-115 – illustrated essay
- Movies of the 60s by Jürgen Müller pp.110-117 – illustrated review (by NM [Nils Meyer])
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.119 – credits
Other sources
- 53rd Berlin Film Festival Catalogue (2003) p.261 – illustrated credits
