Page "Alida Valli" Paragraph 2

At fifteen, she went to Rome, where she attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, a school for film actors and directors.

At that time, she lived with her uncle Ettore Tolomei.

Valli started her movie career in 1934, in Il cappello a tre punte ( The Three Cornered Hat ) during the so called Telefoni Bianchi cinema era.

Her first big success came with the movie Mille lire al mese.

After many roles in a large number of comedies, she earned her success as dramatic actress in Piccolo mondo antico ( 1941 ), directed by Mario Soldati, for which she won a special Best Actress award at Venice Film Festival.

During the Second World War, she starred in many movies including Stasera niente di nuovo ( 1942 ) ( whose song " Ma l ' amore no " became the leitmotif of the Italian forties ) and the diptych Noi Vivi / Addio Kira!

( 1943 ) ( based on Ayn Rand's novel We the Living ).

These latter two movies were nearly censored by the Italian government under Benito Mussolini, but they were finally permitted because the novel upon which were based was anti-Soviet.

The films were successful, and the public easily realized that they were as much against Fascism as Communism.

After several weeks, however, the films were pulled from theaters as the German and Italian governments, which abhorred communism, found out the story also carried an anti-fascist message.