This article appeared in the July 11, 2025 edition of The Film Comment Letter, our free weekly newsletter featuring original film criticism and writing. Bebo’s Girl (Luigi Comencini, 1963)Basic American that I am, I quickly abandoned the meticulously crafted schedule I had created for this year’s Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival in favor of screenings held in air-conditioned venues. In truth, improvising at Bologna’s premier festival of classic cinema and restorations is no biggie. Likewise, Dimitri Kirsanoff’s rapturous 1934 Alpine drama The Kidnapping—one of the first sound films produced in Switzerland—offers a gratifying twist on the gendered archetypes of early cinema. Beatrice Loayza is a writer and historian who contributes regularly to The New York Times, the Criterion Collection, The Nation, 4Columns, and other publications.