Has anyone mentioned the so-called "white telephone" (telefoni bianchi) films of Mussolini-era Italy? I don't know if this is relevant to the query, but was the first thing that came to mind when you suggested it. Although I've never actually seen any, as I understand it the description is not so much to indicate a genre, insofar as it comes after the fact as a kind of criticism: these films were escapist comedies, often set in lavish locales where the presence of "white telephones" became a kind of symbol of wealth, since no ordinary person would have had one. Histories of cinema often paint postwar neo-realism as reacting against the escapism of these so-called "white telephone" films. One is actually called, I think, "La Telefonista."
Another great telephone scene is in "The Rapture" -- the main character is a telephone operator, and the opening scene shows her in a massive room with lots of cubicles, where the drowning of voices and her mechanized responses becomes a symbol of her emptiness and alienation. (She connects others but is herself disconnected). Considered in relation to what comes later, the scene highlights a contrast with a personal and immediate revelation from God. (Of course, as becomes clear: you can't get God on the line just by calling; He has to call you, and expects you to be waiting by the phone when He does.)
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Nathan Andersen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Director, International Cinema at Eckerd College
Collegium of Letters
Eckerd College
4200 54th Ave. S. Phone: (727) 864-7551
St. Petersburg, FL 33712 Fax: (727) 864-8354
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