Joseph Janni

Birth Name:

Giuseppe Ralph Janni

Birth Place:

Milan, Italy

Profession

Producer, Writer

Completed his studies in civil engineering at the Milan Politecnico, but due to new laws introduced by Mussolini, he was ineligible to receive a degree
After moving from Italy to Britain, he worked as an assistant to producer John Sutro and John Corfield after starting up his own production company
Joined a university cine-club and worked on a co-operative amateur film that was declared the winner of the Littoriali dello cultura film-making competition until he was disqualified due to racial laws put in place by Mussolini's regime
Wrote satirical poems and drew humorous sketches denouncing Fascism while working for the Ministry of Information during World War II
Encouraged the talents of British directors John Schlesinger and Ken Loach, producing their first films
Helped break British cinema's tradition of looking down on characters with regional or cockney accents or treating them as comic relief by producing films that offered realistic interpretations of working class people
The first film his production company completed, "A Glass Mountain," was one of the few films to be re-issued twice

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