Serandrei, Mario

(1907-1966)

   Editor. Although working at various times as a journalist, assistant director, supervisor of dubbing, and screenwriter, Serandrei is remembered mostly for his film editing. After a period of writing for Cinematografo, the film journal edited by Alessandro Blasetti, Serandrei came to edit many of Blasetti's films of the early 1940s: La corona di ferro (The Iron Crown, 1941), La cena delle beffe (The Jester's Supper, 1941), and Quattro passi fra le nuvole (A Stroll through the Clouds, 1942). He edited Luchino Visconti's Ossessione in 1943 and continued to work with Visconti after the war, on Bellissima (1951), Senso (1954), Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers, 1960), Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963), and Vaghe stelle dell'orsa. In 1945, together with Visconti and Giuseppe De Santis, he codirected and edited Giorni di gloria (Days of Glory), a documentary on the wartime Resistance movement. After collaborating on the screenplay of Mario Bava's groundbreaking horror film, La maschera del demonio (Black Sunday, 1960), Serandrei worked with Francesco Rosi on Le mani sulla citta (Hands over the City, 1963). He subsequently edited Giuseppe De Santis's epic Italiani, brava gente (Attack and Retreat, 1964) and Giulio Pontecorvo's La Battaglia di Algeri (The Battle of Algiers, 1965). His last film was Pasquale Festa Campanile's Il soldato di ventura (The Soldier of Fortune, 1975).