The voice was a critical point, a partially unresolved issue in [Pietro] Germi’s acting skills. Although he did not hesitate to use it in the controversial finale of Il cammino della speranza, during the course of his career it was dubbed over many times. As was the case in Fuga in Francia and, in particular, in Il ferroviere: at his choosing, Andrea Marcocci had the voice of Cary Grant and James Stewart, that is, the voice of Gualtiero De Angelis.  After Il ferroviere, Germi finally decided to use his voice in other films: “I will speak with my voice, which perhaps is not very beautiful, and I will act with my accent, which perhaps is not entirely academic. But both seem real to me.”… The screen test [of Il ferroviere], in its pure immediacy and unedited long duration, is a very interesting “testimony” of the actor as well as of the quality and stability of his voice. Although harsh, with a dialectal cadence, sometimes unsure, he clearly possesses a technique, which can be heard in the pacing of the pauses, in the choice of tone, in the various colourings. A voice free from the mannerisms of diction, far from the affectation of many voices of the time (but also from the most widespread and codified dialect inflections), which, for this reason, is perfectly harmonious with the stratified and unconventional qualities of his presence as an actor. And therefore, what initially seemed to him an unresolved issue or weak point is revealed in these screen tests to be a fundamental aspect of his acting.

Mariapaola Pierini, Il regista che (ri) diventa attore, in Il cinema di Pietro Germi, edited by Luca Malavasi and Emiliano Morreale, Edizioni di Bianco e Nero/Edizioni Sabinæ, Rome 2016