Il ferroviere AKA Man of Iron (1956) FotW #339

[Cocoa]

Film of the Week #339: Il ferroviere AKA Man of Iron AKA The Railroad Man (1956)



Summary:
The railroad engineer Andrea Marcocci has been working with his partner and friend Gigi Liverani for thirty years and feels happy and proud with his work, drinking wine after hours with his friends in a bar owned by the former railroad man Ugo. Andrea is married with Sara and his young son Sandro is very close to him; however Andrea has issues with his unemployed son Marcello and with his pregnant daughter Giulia, whose boy-friend Renato Borghi was forced to marry her. When a suicidal crosses the tracks of his train in a curve,

Potential Spoilers

Andrea feels deeply affected by the accident and almost collides with another train. The railroad company investigates the accident and steps Andrea down from his position. The domestic life of Andrea is also affected by his aggressive behavior and Marcello and Giulia leave home. Later Andrea also leaves home and starts to drink until the day Sandro visits his father in a bar.

#860 on 1000<400, with 118 checks.
Nominated by 72aicm, joachimt, and Minkin.
On IMDb
On iCM

From the 500<400 results

#860(⇧26, #886) Il ferroviere (1956)
[Man of Iron]

Directed by: Pietro Germi
(178.65 Pts, 8 Votes) , Top 1–10–50: 0–0–1
History: 860←886←1377←1600←905←NA←NA

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ICheckMovies: 107 Checks , 14 Favourites , 3 Official lists

List of Voters:

burneyfan (40)
Nopros (68)
bal3x (93)
Lilarcor (100)
jlfitz (144)
72allinncallme (147)
mathiasa (390)
Muellwind (454)

Here is a schedule of all the FotW.

[filmbantha]

This was the first film I have seen by Pietro Germi and I'm now curious to watch more of his work. It's a riveting slice of Italian neo-realism with some sublime performances though I felt that it fell just short of greatness. It will probably make the lower part of my 500<400 list.

[burneyfan]

This was the first film I have seen by Pietro Germi and I'm now curious to watch more of his work. It's a riveting slice of Italian neo-realism with some sublime performances though I felt that it fell just short of greatness. It will probably make the lower part of my 500<400 list.

Il ferroviere is a favorite of mine; another Germi I particularly like is Il cammino della speranza. If you like murder/detective mysteries (as I do), another good one is Un maledetto imbroglio.

[joachimt]

I'm surprised this isn't on 500<400. 8/10

[Armoreska]

I'm surprised this isn't on 500<400. 8/10

same

[Cocoa]

The music was overbearing/too dramatic at times, but overall good film.

[filmbantha]

This was the first film I have seen by Pietro Germi and I'm now curious to watch more of his work. It's a riveting slice of Italian neo-realism with some sublime performances though I felt that it fell just short of greatness. It will probably make the lower part of my 500<400 list.

Il ferroviere is a favorite of mine; another Germi I particularly like is Il cammino della speranza. If you like murder/detective mysteries (as I do), another good one is Un maledetto imbroglio.

Both of these sound good and were actually already on my watchlist so I'll definitely prioritise them for a viewing in the near future

[mathiasa]

The first Pietro Germi I saw. I favorited it. Since then I have seen many more masterpieces by Germi and I hope to see even more.

[xianjiro]

definitely feels very much like that hybrid Italian melodrama filmed in a neo-realistic style. Worked well though pacing for me was a bit sluggish at times. Certainly better than average.