Harlem (film)

Harlem is a 1943 Italian sports crime film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Massimo Girotti, Amedeo Nazzari and Vivi Gioi.^[1] It was shot at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome. The film's sets were designed by the art director Guido Fiorini. The former world heavyweight champion Primo Carnera appears in a small role. It is also known by the alternative title of Knock Out.

It is noted for its anti-Americanism at a time when the two countries were at war. In postwar re-releases, Amedeo's final line was redubbed with a more positive view on life in the United States.^[2]

Tommaso Rossi, a young Italian goes to America to visit his elder brother Amedeo who has a business in the construction industry. He is discovered as a talented boxer after getting into a fight with a champion in a restaurant and flooring him. However his elder brother's business is wrecked and he is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Forced to fight in order to raise enough money to bail his brother, Tommaso is then told by a dying Amedeo to return to Italy as the American dream holds nothing for Italian American immigrants.

• Massimo Girotti as Tommaso Rossi
• Amedeo Nazzari as Amedeo Rossi
• Vivi Gioi as Muriel
• Elisa Cegani as La donna del gangster
• Osvaldo Valenti as Chris Sherman
• Erminio Spalla as Franckie Battaglia, l'allenatore
• Enrico Glori as Ben Farrell
• Lodovico Longo: as Charlie Lamb, a black boxer
• Gianni Musy as Il piccolo Tony Rossi
• Enrico Viarisio as Pat
• Luigi Almirante as Barney Palmer
• Greta Gonda as Milena Zvetcovic
• Giuseppe Porelli as Il duca di Solimena
• Mino Doro as Bill Black
• Giovanni Grasso as Guardascione
• Luigi Pavese as Joe Smith
• Guglielmo Sinaz as Sinclair Roswell
• Primo Carnera as Se stesso

• Peter Bondanella & Federico Pacchioni. A History of Italian Cinema. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.

• Harlem at IMDb
• Harlem at AllMovie