CHAPTER 3
The First Italian Animated Feature Film and Its Producer*
HISTORIANS OF ITALIAN CINEMA have always ignored La rosa di Bagdad (1949), despite its many important claims. This original production is the first animated feature made in Italy. It can also be noted to be the first Italian colour feature-length film, appearing three years before the live-action feature Totò a colori (directed by Steno, using the Ferraniacolor process), which is generally cited by scholars in this regard.1 Additionally, the film represents a significant transition between a very rudimentary protohistory of Italy’s animated cinema and its true artistic and industrial birth.
