What is the difference between Italian classic cinema and Hollywood classic cinema?

In looking at European cinema from the 1930s, viewers can see various differences that exist from Classical Hollywood Cinema. Classical Hollywood Cinema is most noted for having an ideological style. Its use of continuity editing, the three-point-lighting system, and a traditional narrative only confirm this. Continuity editing is meant to be seamless. It allows audiences to get immersed in the story without being implemented into it themselves. The three-point-lighting system gives shots a very clear look. Although this lighting system makes shots look well defined, there is an unrealistic nature to them because they do not utilize natural lighting. Perhaps the most important element in Classical Hollywood Cinema is its traditional narrative. In the traditional narrative, the focus is usually on an individual overcoming an obstacle. Society is rarely the main subject of the narrative. Although the narrative may comment on society; it mainly serves as a background issue for the story. Along with this traditional story-telling style, there is usually one romantic interest. The resolution almost always ends happily with the protagonist overcoming his problem getting the girl.

In the three European films: Threepenny Opera, The Rules of the Game, and A Nous la Liberte, viewers can see some major differences in European cinema compared to Classical Hollywood Cinema. European films of the 1930s were quite progressive in their depiction of a realistic society where sex exists, crime pays, and resolutions don’t always come in a happy ending. In comparing European cinema to Classical Hollywood Cinema, one can see how European films depict a sense of realism that isn’t present in ideological Hollywood films.

One element that is seen in European cinematography from the 1930s is movement within the frame. In Classical Hollywood Cinema, medium shots are predominately used to keep the focus on characters and their activity. By moving the camera frame in certain tracking shots, films like Threepenny Opera and The Rules of the Game are able to call audiences’ attention to background activity. In this way, society is presented as an important theme in European films. Even in A Nous la Liberte, the use of wide shots- similar to those in Metropolis- are meant to convey this idea of society. The deep focus seen in The Rules of the Game also demonstrates this idea of background events being just as important as those in the foreground. This is not seen in Classical Hollywood Cinema where, again, the audience’s focus is placed on certain characters through racking or shifting the camera focus.