Also known as The Great Appeal and The Last Roll-Call, Il Grande Apello was the second of three films directed in 1936 by "man of the people" director Mario Camerini. This is the story of Giovanni Bertani, who has long since left his native Italy behind to go galavanting around the world. Landing in East Africa, Giovanni assumes control of an inn which serves as a magnet for the outcasts of Europe (and this was six years before Casablanca!) From one of his guests, Giovanni discovers that his illegitimate son is now a member of the Italian Army -- fortuitously stationed in East Africa. Hoping to stage a reconciliation with his son, our hero discovers that his long-dormant Italian patriotism has suddenly and miraculously been reborn. This leads Giovanni to turn his back on a gang of mercenary gun-runners with whom he has been associated, a last-act reformation that results in his spectacular and somehow ennobling demise. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi