Here is a movie with a scene that happens today – July 25. I hope you enjoy the film and watch it tonight.
MUSSOLINI AND I
Count Galeazzo Ciano marries Edda, Mussolini’s daughter and rises to become Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ciano correctly predicts that Germany’s invasion of Poland would start the Second World War. Mussolini fights with his mistress, Claretta Petacci, while his wife gets a report that Ciano is betraying Mussolini. In spite of allied bombers flying overheard Ciano tries to pretend all is well. However there is tension between him and his wife over her gambling debts and her suspected infidelities. After the Allies land in North Africa, Ciano tries to tell Mussolini the war is lost. He is removed as foreign minister. The army starts planning a coup d’etat. The Allies land in Sicily. The Allies bomb Rome and Mussolini is blamed. A meeting of the fascist Grand Council is summoned and its members attack Mussolini’s handling of the war. The next day on July 25, 1943 [Part 2 - 7:26 to 24:09] the King of Italy Victor Emmanuel bamboozles Mussolini into resigning. When Mussolini leaves the meeting he is arrested. Although his mistress and her parents try to flee they are arrested also. Edda tells the Germans where her father is being held. The Germans rescue Mussolini. The Germans, instead of keeping their word to her, fly Edda and Ciano to Germany instead of Spain. Mussolini sets up a Fascist Republic in northern Italy. The Germans rescue Claretta Petacci and pressure her to pressure Mussolini to arrange for Ciano to be tried, convicted and executed in Italy. Mussolini refuses to forgive Ciano. Edda and Mussolini return to Italy, leaving Ciano all alone in Germany. He is returned to Italy and arrested. He stupidly begins an affair with a German agent, Felicitas Beetz, while Edda works to try and help him. Rachele Mussolini confronts Claretta Petacci. Ciano is offered a deal of his diaries for his life. Edda begs her father to save Ciano, but he refuses. A plan to save Ciano fails. Ciano is put on trial, convicted and sentenced to be shot by a firing squad. Edda escapes with the diaries to Switzerland. Ciano is shot. As the end of the war approaches, Mussolini tries to flee with Claretta. They are caught by partisans and shot.
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy 1943-1944 by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2007) at page 140 gives the date of his dismissal
Producer - Mario Gallo and Enzo Guilioli
Director - Alberto Negrin
Screenplay - Alberto Negrin and Nicola Badalucco
Runtime – 4 hours
Released - September 1985
Starring –
Bob Hoskins as Benito Mussolini, dictator of Fascist Italy
Susan Sarandon as Edda Ciano, daughter of Mussolini
Anthony Hopkins as Count Galeazzo Ciano, son in-law of Mussolini
Annie Girardot as Rachele Mussolini, Mussolini's wife
Barbara De Rossi as Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress
Massimo Dapporto as Vittorio Mussolini, son of Mussolini
Vittorio Mezzogiorno as Alessandro Pavolini, friend of Galeazzo's
Kurt Raab as Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany
Marne Maitland as King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Hans-Dieter Asner as Joachim von Ribbentrop, Foreign Minister of Germany
Carlheinz Heitmann as Karl Wolff, Military Governor of Northern Italy
Harald Dietl as Otto Skorzeny, led rescue of Mussolini from Campo Imperatore
Dietlinde Turban as Frau Beetz, a German agent who visited Galeazzo in prison
Ted Rusoff as Francesco Saverio Nitti, Italian Premier
David-George Brown as Giuseppe Castellano, Italian General
Gianni Pulone as Enzo Galbiati, fascist supporter of Mussolini
Stefano De Sando as Dino Grandi, fascist politician
Luciano Baglioni as Carlo Scorza, Fascist Party Secretary
Franco Meroni as Giuseppe Bottai, fascist politician
Leslie Thomas as Emilio De Bono, Italian general
Piero Palermini as Roberto Farinacci, fascist politician
Robert Sommer as Giacomo Suardo, fascist politician
Franco Mazzieri as Giovanni Marinelli, fascist politician
Ulrich Engst as Major Otto-Harald Mors, planned rescue raid
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