Tag Archives: history

Title card for Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985), a historical miniseries starring Virginia Madsen, George C. Scott, and Gabriel Byrne. The title appears over an image of ancient Roman ruins, symbolizing the historical context of the drama.

Mussolini: The Untold Story

Well. Another one I couldn’t actually rewatch completely. Mussolini: The Untold Story. Not even for a dose of Virginia Madsen goodness.

It’s not because it’s bad, it’s because it’s LONG, and not my thing. I’ve really no interest in this kind of TV show / Movie. It clocks in at nearly seven hours in total, and I’ve other things to be doing. I remember the first time I watched it, years ago, I put it back in it’s case knowing it’d never see the light of day again. Well, until recently when I popped it out to grab the captures.Virginia Madsen in Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985), portraying Claretta Petacci. She wears a wide-brimmed straw hat and a light floral dress, her golden curls framing her face. With a warm expression and soft lighting, the scene reflects the elegance and romance of her character’s historical setting.Mussolini: The Untold Story is what it sounds like it’s going to be. A look at the Italian Dictators life that some may not have known about beforehand.  George C. Scott plays Benito Mussolini and the series follows his rise and fall from 1922 through to his execution in 1945.

Virginia Madsen once again inhabits the personality of a historical figure, this time the one of Clara Petacci, Petacci was the long term Mistress of Mussolini, despite being 28 years younger than him (with hindsight, this might be typecasting at this point). They first met when Mussolinis car overtook the one that the Petacci family where driving, on seeing who the passenger in the other car was Clara would shout for them to stop so she could met him. She’d been writing to him for years and took her chance to meet her idol.Virginia Madsen in Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985), portraying Claretta Petacci. She wears an elegant black fascinator hat with a delicate net veil and a vintage checkered dress. Her expression is solemn yet determined, capturing the emotional weight of her character’s role in Mussolini’s life.The story of Mussolini isn’t hard to find out for yourselves these days, and as I didn’t rewatch it I won’t try and go through all of the details here and compare them to historical fact.

On the bits I did stop and watch while I was capturing Virginia seemed to be doing her part well. There is something about her early performances that has her incredible talent just bubbling away, just something raw and pure about it all. Not that she not talented, now, but she does seem to get thrown in to a lot of similar roles and yet back here there seemed to be so much more on promise.
Virginia Madsen in Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985), portraying Claretta Petacci. She is seen playing the violin with a focused and intense expression, her blonde curls softly framing her face. The warm lighting and period-accurate costume enhance the historical ambiance of the scene.Mussolini: The Untold Story is also notable for a strong showing from some serious talent, both established and those who would become bigger names further down the line. As well as the immense talent of George C Scott you’ve got David Suchet, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Raul Julia, Robert Downey Jr and Gabriel Bryne showcasing their talents.

It’s hard for me to recommend this one too hard. I know it’s a well done production and as you can see, some proper talent behind it. But the story is both, horrible and long. Definitely worth a watch if this kind of thing is your bag but probably one to avoid as a casual Virginia fan.

Availability:
All good here, relatively easy to find on DVD. One of those that never seems to go out of print for some reason.

Gallery:



Trailer:

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