Rating: 
Summary: All roads lead to OPEN CITY ...
Review: A few thoughts after reading these reviews...OC is one of the top half-dozen films ever made. The attempt by Kino Video to make a version of this classic for the 'sweet-and-light' crowd by excluding (actually, they diminish) the blowtorch shot, is an abomination. I'm glad this film is only [$]. It is abridged in this edition. The Conoisseur Video print is, as others here have indicated, superior for that reason. Films like this go for about $30 in these 'art house' editions. The viewer is, however, being cheated of the overall impact of the film by this Kino 'dollar-saver' edition. You can regard a scene as brutal. However, trying to adapt a classic like OC for the 10-year-olds' market, or for effetely over-sensitive types is ridiculous.... ... I am unlikely to procure a Kino Video copy of this film. I would be cheating my guests who I introduce this film to. I lament that I have waited so long to procure a copy. The more complete Conoisseur Video print is, as of this date, unavailable....
Rating: 
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: A Great film ..filled with the emotion of the times. It was here that Rosselini hired an assistant named Frederico Fellini to help him with this film. This film frames this postwar period like none other..passionate.
Rating:
Summary: Photographing the 'real' to reveal the soul.
Review: After Melville's 'Army of Shadows', 'Rome Open City' is the best film about Resistance to the Nazis we have. From the dynamic opening sequence - in which a man, later to be identified as the leader of the (Marxist) Liberation Committee, runs across high-rise rooftops to escape a Gestapo round-up - the tension never lets up. Rossellini concentrates as much on the mundane details of clandestine activities, pumped up by context, as on action: the practicalities of finding somewhere to hide and sleep; the concealing of funds in books; the different codes and signals used to identify comrades. But it is the more familiar aspects of Resistance that carry the most impact - the ambush of prisoner trucks; the unflinching depiction of interrogation and torture (including whips and blowtorches); the ritual of execution. Melville's film was made with the hindsight of three decades, and he was able to emphasise the ambiguity of the Resistance, their own violence echoing that of the SS; their need to live in shadows dissolving, rather than affirming, their identity, forever removed from the society they defend. Filmed in the immediate aftermath of Liberation, there is no such ambiguity in 'Rome'. There are no posturing heroics, but these men are heroes, and every important incident - from arrest to torture to execution, is made into a spectacle, something to be witnessed, affirmed. This is natural enough, and the spiritual showdown between the priest and the Gestapo chief has a fierce power. Unfortunately, there is a somewhat distasteful division of moral spoils - the Resistance are linked, no matter how loosely, to the Christ-like clergy, family, community, poverty, the nation. Betrayal and collaboration, which is female, is defined by lesbianism, drug-taking, nightclubs and material greed. A woman's role is in the home, taking care of domestic problems, providing invaluable moral support. It is also true that some of the representations of the Nazis that would become cliches in the 60s and 70s - the louchely decadent, sexually perverse, morally defeatist, piano-playing parties in back-rooms - originate here. 'Rome' was the first neo-realist film to win international recognition, and there is an extraordinary immediacy to the external scenes, the sheer novelty of outdoor locations, the rubble of Rome, the lives of ordinary people (caught between the desire to assert normality and the hysterical frustration of doing so in a crisis that is anything but normal), all caught by Rossellini's amazingly supple camera, which seems to catch the very breathlessness of people running (ditto his abrupt editing). But, at this distance, it is easier to see how contrived Rossellini's realism is, how he is replacing one constructed Truth (Fascist propaganda) with his own. There is none of the sensuousness of sound or location you get in the proto-neo-realism of Renoir or his protege Visconti. Much of the film takes place indoor, with the camera conventionally static - this achieves a certain dramatic force, but one different from 'realism'. The blaring score is pure Hollywood. On the level of subject matter, the widespread collaboration of the population and clergy are displaced onto a couple of unrepresentative moral weaklings; many characters have a too-obvious symbolic value (especially the children). But the sheer unsentimental passion, the attention to detail, the cinematic adventurousness, the conviction of doing something absolutely NEW and the narrative drive of 'Rome' still give it an impact today that most neo-realism doesn't have.
Rating:
Summary: Photographing the 'real' to reveal the soul.
Review: After Melville's 'Army of Shadows', 'Rome Open City' is the best film about Resistance to the Nazis we have. From the dynamic opening sequence - in which a man, later to be identified as the leader of the (Marxist) Liberation Committee, runs across high-rise rooftops to escape a Gestapo round-up - the tension never lets up. Rossellini concentrates as much on the mundane details of clandestine activities, pumped up by context, as on action: the practicalities of finding somewhere to hide and sleep; the concealing of funds in books; the different codes and signals used to identify comrades. But it is the more familiar aspects of Resistance that carry the most impact - the ambush of prisoner trucks; the unflinching depiction of interrogation and torture (including whips and blowtorches); the ritual of execution. Melville's film was made with the hindsight of three decades, and he was able to emphasise the ambiguity of the Resistance, their own violence echoing that of the SS; their need to live in shadows dissolving, rather than affirming, their identity, forever removed from the society they defend. Filmed in the immediate aftermath of Liberation, there is no such ambiguity in 'Rome'. There are no posturing heroics, but these men are heroes, and every important incident - from arrest to torture to execution, is made into a spectacle, something to be witnessed, affirmed. This is natural enough, and the spiritual showdown between the priest and the Gestapo chief has a fierce power. Unfortunately, there is a somewhat distasteful division of moral spoils - the Resistance are linked, no matter how loosely, to the Christ-like clergy, family, community, poverty, the nation. Betrayal and collaboration, which is female, is defined by lesbianism, drug-taking, nightclubs and material greed. A woman's role is in the home, taking care of domestic problems, providing invaluable moral support. It is also true that some of the representations of the Nazis that would become cliches in the 60s and 70s - the louchely decadent, sexually perverse, morally defeatist, piano-playing parties in back-rooms - originate here. 'Rome' was the first neo-realist film to win international recognition, and there is an extraordinary immediacy to the external scenes, the sheer novelty of outdoor locations, the rubble of Rome, the lives of ordinary people (caught between the desire to assert normality and the hysterical frustration of doing so in a crisis that is anything but normal), all caught by Rossellini's amazingly supple camera, which seems to catch the very breathlessness of people running (ditto his abrupt editing). But, at this distance, it is easier to see how contrived Rossellini's realism is, how he is replacing one constructed Truth (Fascist propaganda) with his own. There is none of the sensuousness of sound or location you get in the proto-neo-realism of Renoir or his protege Visconti. Much of the film takes place indoor, with the camera conventionally static - this achieves a certain dramatic force, but one different from 'realism'. The blaring score is pure Hollywood. On the level of subject matter, the widespread collaboration of the population and clergy are displaced onto a couple of unrepresentative moral weaklings; many characters have a too-obvious symbolic value (especially the children). But the sheer unsentimental passion, the attention to detail, the cinematic adventurousness, the conviction of doing something absolutely NEW and the narrative drive of 'Rome' still give it an impact today that most neo-realism doesn't have.
Rating:
Summary: In regards to DVD
Review: First off let me state that i have not actually viewed the DVD version of this film, but i read a review which warned viewers that about 20% of the dialogue was untranslated and attributed this to the DVD version. I watched Open City on a film real recently, and on VHS, and both versions have the same amount of translation, which is admittingly minimal. This does not interfere with the movie in my opinion, but allows the reader to focus on important images. I just felt the need to clarify that the DVD DOES NOT have a different translation TO MY KNOWLEDGE.
Rating: 
Summary: a great film ruined by bad transfer
Review: I agree with many reviewers here that this is truly a great film. Someone mentioned that the story is melodramatic or even propagandistic, which is true, but it is really beside the point in this case. What is important here is how the simple story is told in even simpler way in this ground-breaking film, transporting the viewers to the breathtaking moments of last days of WWII in Rome. However, I think many reviews actually refer to VHS version because DVD (released by Image, I think, from Blackwell Films) is even worse than VHS (released by Connoisseur). I bought this title as soon as I heard it was on DVD, and I was much disappointed to say the least. The transfer is substandard in overall, subtitles miss whole bulk of dialogues, and most of all, there is even a missing shot from the film (It is the famous shot in which the resistant is being tortured with torchblow). My advice is: Buy VHS (Connoisseur one), or better yet ask Image for new restored release.
Rating:
Summary: great film ruined by bad transfer
Review: I agree with most of reviewer here that Roberto Rossellini's Open City is a great film - ground-breaking work that is yet entertaining in the most simple way. However, it appears that most of the reviewers refer to the VHS version. I bought this DVD the moment I heard that it was on DVD, and am much disappointed. Overall transfer is substandard, subtitles miss a bulk of dialogues, and most of all, there is at least one missing shot that I noticed in this transfer (It is the famous shot in which the resistant is being tortured by blowtorch). I had VHS released by Connoisseur, which is superior to this DVD on every level. So buy VHS or better yet tell Image to restore this gem.
Rating: 
Summary: Great film but poor subtile ( DVD version )
Review: I hope Amazon can change their rating system so that I can give this film a fair rating. This is a great film ( 5 stars ) but quality of DVD is not great ( 2-3 stars )although still watchable. My biggest complaint is that Image Ent has done such a bad job on subtile which is not only brief but about 20% of dialogue were not even translated. Maybe the VHS tape version is a better choice. Just want to alert other DVD collectors.
Rating:
Summary: Filmed in Anger
Review: I watched Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion and Rossellini's Open City one day apart. Renoir's film about WWI prisoners of war was filled with nuance, ambiguity, and a sense of now muddy the waters are in life. Rosselini's Open City rejected nuance and ambiguity; it was an angry film and understandibly so. Yet both Rosselini's film and Renoir's film attempt to reveal what is noble in humans. Many criticisms can be made of Rosselini's film--other reviewers have made them--but it is a film that has an impact on the viewer. But the viewer should be reminded of one of Renoir's points: to what exent does the belief in black and white and the belief that good will eventually triumph serve as a grand--but false--illusion. The viewer of Open City should keep in mind the real world political context of the film: the resistence movement in Italy was often led by communists. This was true in many other European countries during WWII. Rossellini's film certainly presented a communist leader as noble and heroic. This was a real problem for the US forces which displaced the Germans. Domestic communists often had the most legitimacy of all groups who resisted the Germans. US policies in the immediate post-WWII period often attempted to undercut the political standing of the communists. Some have argued that the post-war Marshall plan for the reconstruction of Europe was based on the attempt to foster pro-business groups in Europe in order to undercut the social standing of communists. I'm sure that the US post-war European authorities hated Open City because of OC's celebration of the role of communisits.
Rating:
Summary: So dark, and so brilliant.
Review: I wonder about some complaints over this DVD. The transfer is fine - it's an old, black-and-white film and for all that looks pretty darn good. Less than 5% of the dialogue is untranslated in subtitles, and as an Italian speaker I can tell you what's left out is insignificant chit chat. See it for the fine performances, the achievement of its making, and for the history it portrays.
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