Wild Is the Wind (1957)

This movie demonstrates the wide range in the genius of George Cukor. It is a country, rustic story where all the action is inside the characters and the outside is illustrating what goes on inside their minds and hearts. Ana Magnani is Gioia, superb as the second wife to Anthony Quinn's Gino, a farmer that was widowed form her sister Rosana and is seeking consolation for her death in her physical resemblance to her sister. This obviously starts the marriage on the wrong foot and it is only a matter of time before Gino's foreman, Anthony Franciosa's Bene gravitates to the volcanic personality, of Gioia that is as much a force of nature as the beautiful wild black horse that Gino captures for her as a present, but that when is tamed she sadly remarks "he was a horse, but is now a sheep" understanding that what made him most beautiful was his freedom. Nature itself is one of the important characters in the film, introducing the action, as in the appearance of the wild horses, or illustrating feelings in the characters as for example when Gioia witnesses the birth of a lamb.Anthony Quinn and Ana Magnani give perhaps the best performance of both their careers in very nuanced, expressive characterizations down to the smallest detail or facial expression.The supporting characters are all superb, Joseph Calleia as Gino's patient, understanding brother Alberto, Dolores Hart is outstanding as Gino's daughter Angela "Angie" who wants to welcome Gioia and makes her be part of the family form the first encounter though they can hardly communicate in English and Lili Valenty is appropriately resigned, home-obsessed and judgmental as Teresa, Alberto's wife.

Wild is the Wind is a torpid melodrama directed by George Cukor attempting to keep Anna Maganni and Anthony Quinn off the furniture. Quinn looks the role of an aging Italian sheepherder that made good in North America but his character is all my way or the highway stubbornness that Quinn over emotes every other sentence. Maganni plays Goia his wife and sister of his widow with an exhausted look but is also prone to temper tantrums. Cukor is more a less a referee allowing both free range in his interpretation of the Mediterranean personality. It's strictly tourismo neorealismo.Goia is treated callously and feeling like a stand in for her dead sister takes up with Bene (Tony Franciosa) whose been like a son to Gino. With implications of necrophilia and incest one would think Cukor along with his hot blooded cast would be able to get the story up to a passionate boiling point. Instead we are given shrill rage and tepid desire culminating in a cop out ending. Wild is the Wind calls for high heat but is mostly lukewarm and fails to pull the wool over any one's eyes in its attempt to be more than it is.

This "women's director" was also no slouch with men, and he helps Anthony Quinn to perhaps his best performance. Quinn often overacted, and here, as a hearty, swaggering, brutish sheep rancher who brings his dead wife's sister (Anna Magnani) over from Italy to marry, he easily could have resorted to his usual bluster. But it's a very shaded portrayal, with seemingly conflicting elements of roughness and tenderness that make sense in the end. Magnani is predictably great, even singing well, and Tony Franciosa, as Quinn's adopted son who forms an O'Neill-like triangle (it does feel like "Desire Under the Elms," as another commenter noted), is excellent. The outdoorsiness and earthiness (you even see a lamb born, before your boggled eyes) are un-Cukorlike, but he handles them confidently; and while the symbolism gets a little heavy and Dmitri Tiomkin's music is a bit intrusive, it's an effective family melodrama with a beautifully underplayed fadeout.

Setting is a sheep ranch in the United States. After losing his wife, an Italian-born rancher sends for his dead wife's sister in Italy who reminds him of his wife. He relates to the sister, played by Anna Magnani, as though she was his wife. The sister senses this and is alienated by his treatment. Out of her loneliness and in desperation she has a brief love affair with his son who does relate to her in a personal manner. Magnani's character is multifaceted and exciting. All of the characters are well cast and believable. The movie is an excellent exposition of the complicated emotions involved in adult relationships, and the writer presents an intelligent resolution. Wonderfully acted! I would very much like to have a copy of this movie if available anywhere.