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From: HITCHCOCK by Francois Truffaut
with the Collaboration of Helen G. Scott
[After MARINE, director Alfred Hitchcock considered three projects which were never made before he actually produced TORN CURTAIN. The projects were THE THREE HOSTAGES, MARY ROSE and R.R.R.R.]
F.T. Your third project is an original screenplay, which you assigned to the writing team of Age and Scarpelli, the
Continue reading Age and Scarpelli and Hitchcock From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
In 1966, Germi won the Gold Palm (ex-aequo) at the Cannes festival with SIGNORE E SIGNORI (LADIES AND GENTLEMEN), in which he moves his criticism of manners to the Veneto bourgeoisie, using the town of Treviso as his geographical and social setting. Veneto writer Luciano Vincenzoni collaborated closely with the director on
Continue reading 12. Pietro Germi Vs. Moralism part three From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
DIVORZIO ALL’ITALIANA (DIVORCE, ITALIAN STYLE: 1961), awarded an Oscar in 1963 for the best original story and script (written by Ennio De Concini, Alfredo Giannetti and the director himself), takes Germi back to Sicily, not however the Sicily of the mafia but rather of the high land-owning aristocracy. Since at that time
Continue reading 12. Pietro Germi Vs. Moralism part two From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
In the specific sphere of comedy, without contaminations from other genres, the highest level reached in the search for a type of comedy linked to remote periods is to be found in the diptych directed by Mario Monicelli: L’ARMATA BRANCALEONE (BRANCALEONE’S ARMY: 1966) and BRANCALEONE ALLE CROCIATE (BRANCALEONE IN THE CRUSADES: 1969). …
Continue reading Continue reading 11. Comedy Dresses Up part two From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
The third director important to Gassman’s career as a film actor was Ettore Scola, formerly a script-writer, as has been seen, for films by Risi and others. After several routine but respectable films – SE PERMETTETE PARLIAMO DI DONNE (IF YOU DON’T MIND, LET’S TALK ABOUT WOMEN) and LA CONGIUNTURA (THE JUNCTURE)
Continue reading 10. Vittorio Gassman From Great Tragedian To Subtle Comedian part six From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
IL GAUCHO (THE GAUCHO: 1964), written by Scola, Maccari and Tullio Pinelli and shot in Argentina, puts Gassman in the role of a press-agent full of debts who tries to make money in Buenos Aires and utterly fails, returning to Italy empty-handed. IL TIGRE (THE TIGER: 1967), with a script by Age
Continue reading 10. Vittorio Gassman From Great Tragedian To Subtle Comedian part five From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
The Gassman-Tognazzi team worked much better than the Gassman-Sordi team: both were actors, for example, with a fondness for disguises, impersonations, for “re-inventing” themselves from top to toe, and the arrogance, presumptiousness and impetuosity of Gassman’s character type contrasted nicely with the falsely submissive slyboots played by Tognazzi. In I MOSTRI (THE
Continue reading 10. Vittorio Gassman From Great Tragedian To Subtle Comedian part four From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
With I SOLITI IGNOTI (UNKNOWN, AS USUAL), a new Italian film star was born and the star was a comedian: Vittorio Gassman. The following year confirmed it with LA GRANDE GUERRA (THE GREAT WAR), again by Monicelli, which has already been discussed with regard to Sordi, who was teamed up with Gassman.
Continue reading 10. Vittorio Gassman From Great Tragedian To Subtle Comedian part three From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
The turn in Vittorio Gassman’s career has a name, the director Mario Monicelli, and a title, the film I SOLITI IGNOTI (UNKNOWN, AS USUAL) made in 1958. Monicelli had to fight with producers to give Gassman the leading role. How was it possible to present the protagnoist of HAMLET as a comic
Continue reading 10. Vittorio Gassman From Great Tragedian To Subtle Comedian part two From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
Gian Luigi Polidoro is, among the directors of comedy, one of the ones who has sought to innovate within the tradition. An example of this is PERMETTETE, SIGNORA, CHE AMI VOSTRA FIGLIA? (YOU MIND, MADAM, MY LOVING YOUR DAUGHTER?: 1974), based on a script written by Rafael Azcona, Leo Benvenuti and Pietro
Continue reading 9. Ugo Tognazzi: From the Farce To the Comedy of Manners part seven From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
That Manfredi refused to limit herself to a set character does not mean, however, that he denied those Ciociaria peasant roots which go to make up an important part of his personality. His Marino Balestrini, a village barber, in STRAZIAMI, MA DI BACI SAZIAMI (TORTURE ME, BUT FILL ME WITH KISSES: 1968)
Continue reading 8. Nino Manfredi Outside the Set Character part five From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
It is no accident that the film which enabled Manfredi to attain an enduring popularity, after a decade or so of a respectiable career, was L’IMPIEGATO (THE OFFICE CLERK: 1959) by Gianni Puccini, written by him and Puccini together with future director Elio Petri and the critic Tommaso Chiaretti. It’s a film
Continue reading 8. Nino Manfredi Outside the Set Character part two From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
Many directors turned to film comedy to criticize the transformation of ideals, the renouncement of one’s self for the sake of a quiet life or for getting ahead. In 1955, Sordi had been the symbol of this negative figure, interested cynically and exclusively in living comfortably under all skies and regimes, in
Continue reading 7. Alberto Sordi Personification of the Average Italian part eight From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
The ideal sequel to TUTTI A CASA (EVERYBODY HOME), but more facile and conventional in its development, is the succeeding I DUE NEMICI (THE TWO ENEMIES, aka THE BEST OF ENEMIES), written again by Age and Scarpelli in collaboration with Suso Cecchi d’Amico and the English scenarist Jack Pulman, on a story
Continue reading 7. Alberto Sordi Personification of the Average Italian part seven From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE Age and Scarpelli – who contributed to the success of LA GRANDE GUERRA (THE GREAT WAR) also as the authors of the dialogue, in which dialects of various regions were wittily interwoven – wrote the story (and the script, along with Marcello Fondato and the director) of another splendid film in which … Continue reading 7. Alberto Sordi Personification of the Average Italian part six |
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