The young Alida Valli starred in the highschool drama Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941). She is in love with her young chemistry teacher, played by the handsome Andrea Checchi. Out of jealousy and revenge, she denounces him and her classmate, when she sees them embraced in the college kitchen. But she is mistaken.
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 1. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli as Anna in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 2. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli and Irasema Dilian in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 3. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli (middle) in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
The location for Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941) is the prestigious female college of Villafiorita. Alida Valli plays the enterprising and unruly Anna. Like all the other students, she is in love with Professor Marini (Andrea Checchi), the young chemistry teacher.
She is convinced that her classmate Maria (Irasema Dillian), who is instead educated and studious, is a spy for the director (Giuditta Rissone). When Anna is punished for her diary, she believes in Maria's delation and decides to take revenge.
The occasion comes one night when Anna and some other students wander around the college kitchen, where they see Maria embraced by a man. The girls think they have seen Professor Marini in that man. Anna, therefore, out of jealousy and revenge, denounces the two as lovers.
Maria escapes from boarding school, making her tracks lose on a stormy night. When Maria is found wounded, Anna, repentant, offers herself for a blood transfusion that will save her classmate's life.
Meanwhile, it emerged that the man glimpsed that night was actually Maria's father (Sandro Ruffini), who lives hidden because he was wrongly accused of a crime and who is thus collecting evidence of his innocence.
During the theatrical essay at the end of the course year, the girls, finally united, ask and obtain that Maria can stay in the college. Anna will be able to fulfill her dream of love with the beautiful Professor Marini.
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 4. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli and Andrea Checchi in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 5. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli (right) in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 6. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli (left) in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Ore 9: lezione di chimica was part of a series of high school dramas of the early 1940s, initiated by Vittorio De Sica's Maddalena... zero in condotta/Maddalena, Zero for Conduct (1940), starring Carlo Del Poggio.
The shooting of Ore 9: lezione di chimica was done in the Summer of 1941 at Cinecittà. For the exteriors, a horse manege, a park in Frascati, and a private villa were used.
The press thought that Alida Valli was miscast. She just had been very successful with the period drama Piccolo mondo antico/Old-Fashioned World (Mario Soldati, 1941), for which she won a special Best Actress award at Venice Film Festival.
It was a difficult period for Valli. She had just lost her fiancé, Carlo Cugnasca, a famous Italian aerobatic pilot. He served as a fighter pilot with the Regia Aeronautica and was killed during a mission over British-held Tobruk on 14 April 1941. His best friend had also succumbed during the war. Valli had a crisis and stayed away from the sets for six months.
The press instead lauded the other main actress, Irasema Dilian, who was then still called Eva Dilian. For some of the other girls like Bianca Della Corte, Giuliana Pitti, and Tatiana Farnese, the film meant their debut. Their careers, however, would mostly exist out of supporting parts.
Ore 9: lezione di chimica was shown among the Italian films at the Venice Film festival of 1941, where Mattoli and Valli were applauded. While Italian critics initially condemned this light entertainment film in wartime, over the years judgments have become milder.
The Mereghetti film dictionary defined it as "a pleasant and polite comedy, a little risque for the times, all revolving within a college between order, transgression and (moderately) sexual drives".
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 7. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. publicity still for Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 8. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 9. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli and Irasema Dilian in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 10. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli, Irasema Dilian and Sandro Ruffini in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian and English), and IMDb.
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 1. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli as Anna in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 2. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli and Irasema Dilian in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 3. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli (middle) in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Enterprising and unruly
The location for Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941) is the prestigious female college of Villafiorita. Alida Valli plays the enterprising and unruly Anna. Like all the other students, she is in love with Professor Marini (Andrea Checchi), the young chemistry teacher.
She is convinced that her classmate Maria (Irasema Dillian), who is instead educated and studious, is a spy for the director (Giuditta Rissone). When Anna is punished for her diary, she believes in Maria's delation and decides to take revenge.
The occasion comes one night when Anna and some other students wander around the college kitchen, where they see Maria embraced by a man. The girls think they have seen Professor Marini in that man. Anna, therefore, out of jealousy and revenge, denounces the two as lovers.
Maria escapes from boarding school, making her tracks lose on a stormy night. When Maria is found wounded, Anna, repentant, offers herself for a blood transfusion that will save her classmate's life.
Meanwhile, it emerged that the man glimpsed that night was actually Maria's father (Sandro Ruffini), who lives hidden because he was wrongly accused of a crime and who is thus collecting evidence of his innocence.
During the theatrical essay at the end of the course year, the girls, finally united, ask and obtain that Maria can stay in the college. Anna will be able to fulfill her dream of love with the beautiful Professor Marini.
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 4. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli and Andrea Checchi in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 5. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli (right) in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 6. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli (left) in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
A little risque for the times
Ore 9: lezione di chimica was part of a series of high school dramas of the early 1940s, initiated by Vittorio De Sica's Maddalena... zero in condotta/Maddalena, Zero for Conduct (1940), starring Carlo Del Poggio.
The shooting of Ore 9: lezione di chimica was done in the Summer of 1941 at Cinecittà. For the exteriors, a horse manege, a park in Frascati, and a private villa were used.
The press thought that Alida Valli was miscast. She just had been very successful with the period drama Piccolo mondo antico/Old-Fashioned World (Mario Soldati, 1941), for which she won a special Best Actress award at Venice Film Festival.
It was a difficult period for Valli. She had just lost her fiancé, Carlo Cugnasca, a famous Italian aerobatic pilot. He served as a fighter pilot with the Regia Aeronautica and was killed during a mission over British-held Tobruk on 14 April 1941. His best friend had also succumbed during the war. Valli had a crisis and stayed away from the sets for six months.
The press instead lauded the other main actress, Irasema Dilian, who was then still called Eva Dilian. For some of the other girls like Bianca Della Corte, Giuliana Pitti, and Tatiana Farnese, the film meant their debut. Their careers, however, would mostly exist out of supporting parts.
Ore 9: lezione di chimica was shown among the Italian films at the Venice Film festival of 1941, where Mattoli and Valli were applauded. While Italian critics initially condemned this light entertainment film in wartime, over the years judgments have become milder.
The Mereghetti film dictionary defined it as "a pleasant and polite comedy, a little risque for the times, all revolving within a college between order, transgression and (moderately) sexual drives".
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 7. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. publicity still for Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 8. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 9. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli and Irasema Dilian in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Italbore, Milano, no. 10. Photo: Vaselli / Manenti Film. Alida Valli, Irasema Dilian and Sandro Ruffini in Ore 9: lezione di chimica/Schoolgirl Diary (Mario Mattoli, 1941).
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian and English), and IMDb.
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