Cavalleria Rusticana on AllMovie

Pietro Mascagni's one-act opera Cavalleria Rusticana was shorn of most of its music and stretched to feature length for this Italian film version. Anthony Quinn plays the hot-blooded Sicilian carter who murders his wife's lover on Easter Sunday. According to film historian Alvin Marrill, Quinn sang several songs before plunging in the dagger, but these tunes were removed from the American released print. Also, the film was originally lensed in color and 3D, but the U.S. print is black-and-white and "flat." Even with Anthony Quinn as a drawing card, Cavalleria Rusticana did not reach American shores until 1963, when it was released as Fatal Desire.