Leonida Barboni

Biography

Leonida Barboni (Fiuminata, Macerata, 1909 – Rome, 1970) was an Italian cinematographer whose career spanned postwar drama and the Italian comedy boom of the 1950s and 1960s. Several of the films he shot are among the most recognised of that period in Italian cinema.

He began as a camera operator on newsreels for Fox Movietone and Paramount, then moved into documentary work before making his feature debut as a cinematographer in 1942 with La fanciulla dell'altra riva. After the war he built a well-regarded partnership with director Pietro Germi and set designer Carlo Egidi. His visual approach relied on many small light sources, meticulous attention to detail and deep-focus compositions. Notable titles include In the Name of the Law (1949), Sunday in August (1950), The Railroad Man (1956), The Great War (1959) and Divorce Italian Style (1961).

He was the elder brother of the cinematographer and director Enzo Barboni. His work remains a useful reference for the look of Italian cinema of the period, and his death in 1970 came shortly before 1870 was released.

Key films

• In the Name of the Law (1949): Pietro Germi's drama about justice in a Sicilian community, photographed by Barboni.
• Sunday in August (1950): Germi's drama set in Genoa over a summer weekend.
• The Railroad Man (1956): Germi's socially minded film following a railway worker.
• The Great War (1959): Mario Monicelli's war drama, in which Barboni's images follow two soldiers during the First World War.
• Divorce Italian Style (1961): Germi's black comedy, which became an international reference for Italian comedy.