Giuseppe Ralph Janni, was born in Milan. His paternal
grandfather was from Trieste (originally under Austrian rule but later
reverted back to Italy) and was Chairman of Lloyd Triestino,
specialising in shipping to India, and his grandmother was English.
Janni's father, Rudi, was born in Rangoon in Burma and Janni's mother,
Natalia, was Italian from a Milanese Jewish family.
Janni grew up during the years of Mussolini's rise to power. After
leaving school,Janni attended the Milan Politecnico to study industrial
engineering, but later switched to civil engineering. It was while
Janni was a student in Milan that he first became seriously interested
in films. He joined a university cine-club and worked on a co-operative
amateur film venture. Each year Italian universities organised an
annual Littoriali dello cultura competition sponsored by the Ministry
of Education. One of the categories was film-making. With no money or
sponsorship he set about finding a subject, script and actors for their
project E Arrivato quel Signore (A Gentleman has Arrived). Some of his
contemporaries, who went on to become successful in the Italian film
industry, such as 'Renato Castellani' (who was a close friend), 'Luigi
Comencini' and 'Nino Rota' attended the same university. Janni's film
was completed and entered for the competition at the end of 1938. The
judging took place in Venice and the film won first prize receiving the
Scudetto D'Oro (golden shield). The euphoria as a result of this was to
be short-lived. The film was disqualified because he was Jewish, due to
the the Manifesto of racial laws introduced in November 1938. Finishing
his degree in 1939, Janni discovered that he was also unable to receive
his degree because he was 'of the Jewish race'.
As the situation deteriorated in Italy, Janni, together with his
mother, (Janni's father, who had suffered ill health for many years,
died in 1938) and uncle left Italy making their way to England, where
they settled in Manchester. A few days after he had arrived, on 3
September 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany. Janni did
some work for the Ministry of Information writing satirical poems and
humorous sketches against Fascism. Through an old friend of his
Grandfather, Janni received an introduction to the film producer, 'John
Sutro'. However, his brief introduction to the British film world was
soon cut short as war between Italy and the Allies was declared and he
became an enemy alien. Janni was taken to the Metropole camp on the
Isle of Man. Following his release from internment in December 1940, he
returned to London where he reacquainted himself with the contacts made
in the film industry shortly after he had arrived in England.
Janni got his real introduction to the British film industry in 1941 by
becoming an assistant to John Sutro who had his own production company,
Ortus Films. Sutro was the production manager for the Powell and
Pressburger film
49th Parallel (1941) and although
it is not clear what role Janni had on this film, it is recorded that
this was the first film that he was involved with. He later became
assistant producer to 'John Corfield' and was associated with the
production of
He Found a Star (1941) a musical,
and _Headlines (1943)_ a crime thriller. He set up his own production
company, Vic Films in 1948 and his first film _A Glass Mountain
(1949)_, was bases on an original idea of his with the music written by
Nino Rota. It was a box-office success and one of the few films to be
re-issued twice.
During his early film career he worked with the directors, 'Pat
Jackson',
White Corridors (1951)
and
Something Money Can't Buy (1952);
'Mario Camerini',
_Honeymoon Deferred (1951)_; Renato Castellani,
Romeo and Juliet (1954)
and 'Jack Lee',
_A Town Like Alice (1956)_,
Robbery Under Arms (1957)
and _The Captain's Table
(1959)_. Although Janni's most important contribution to the British film industry was not made until 1962, when he teamed up with 'John Schlesinger' to make
A Kind of Loving (1962)
and the British 'New Wave' was well underway, it is his early years
that helped shape his future role in the industry. As an 'Italian in
the English School' his cultural background, early film training in
Italy and the traumas of war all contributed to his passion for making
'realist' films.
