Mario Soldati (17 November 1906 – 19 June 1999) was an Italian writer and film director.
Soldati studied Humanities in his native city, Turin, and History of Art in Rome. He started publishing novels in 1929 although his fame came with America primo amore, published in 1935, a diary about the time he spent teaching at Columbia University. He won literary awards for the work.
He began directing in 1938 and his most famous films are Piccolo mondo antico (1941) and Malombra with Isa Miranda, both based on novels by Antonio Fogazzaro; these two films belong to the early 1940s movement in Italian cinema known as calligrafismo
Other popular films were Eugenie Grandet, based on Balzac's novel, with Alida Valli; Fuga in Francia (1948); The River Girl (starring Sophia Loren) and La provinciale (starring Gina Lollobrigida).
Soldati also wrote for Italian newspapers including Il Mondo, Il Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, Avanti, L'Unita and Il Giorno.
He died at Lerici in 1999.
His 1950 film I'm in the Revue was shown as part of a retrospective on Italian comedy at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.
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