The Duce on the Screen: The image of Mussolini in the newsreels of the Istituto Luce

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The article begins with an introduction that highlights the uniqueness of the newsreels produced by the Istituto Luce, and underlines their peculiarity of being a fundamental tool of propaganda in advertising the image and aura of the Duce. It also shows that they anticipated some of the most crucial propaganda strategies that emerged from the study of Sigfried Kracauer on the aesthetics of the Nazi Newsreels produced after 1933. The article is an analysis of a selection of images of the Duce extracted from the Istituto Luce newsreels filmed during the period 1928–1932, and will be particularly focused on productions filmed during the reclamation of the marshes in Tuscany and the construction of Littoria in Lazio. The argument made in the article is that the Luce skilfully used the newsreels to build the myth of the Duce as the founder of the new Italy and the embodiment of the new Fascist man, placing the body of Mussolini, his words and his perpetual presence at the centre of the newsreels narrative in order to dominate the Italian cinema screens.</jats:p>