Italian Film examines the extraordinary cinematic tradition of Italy, from the silent era to the present. Analyzing film within the framework of Italy's historical, social, political, and cultural evolution during the twentieth century, Marcia Landy traces the construction of a coherent national cinema and its changes over time. Her study traces how social institutions--school, family, the Church--as well as Italian notions of masculinity and femininity are dealt with in cinema and how they are central to the conceptions (and misconceptions) of national identity.