| Aldebaran | |
| Director: | Alessandro Blasetti |
| Starring: | Gino Cervi Evi Maltagliati Gianfranco Giachetti Egisto Olivieri |
| Cinematography: | Ubaldo Arata Massimo Terzano |
| Editing: | Alessandro Blasetti |
| Studio: | Manenti Film |
| Distributor: | MGM |
| Runtime: | 98 minutes |
| Country: | Italy |
Aldebaran is a 1935 Italian drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Gino Cervi, Evi Maltagliati and Gianfranco Giachetti. The film was a naval melodrama, an attempt by Blasetti to make a more commercial film following the difficulties encountered with the propagandist The Old Guard (1934).[1]
After a couple of projects had either been postponed or fallen through for Blasetti, it was suggested that he should make a film about the navy in peacetime. The result is this strange film, which at the outset plays like a propaganda piece for the might of the Italian navy, only to veer off into high melodrama, as it zeroes in on Commander Corrado Valeri (Gino Cervi), and his conflict between duty and the jealousy of his wife. There are comedic asides, a visit to a North African club, affording Blasetti to contribute the first scenes of nudity in Italian film, and there are moments of heroism, including a mission to rescue the doomed crew of a wrecked submarine. As if all of that was not more than enough, the film features a star-studded cast including Evi Maltagliati, Gianfranco Giachetti, Doris Duranti, Elisa Cegani (in her debut), and even a brief cameo by Blasetti himself.[2]