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From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
FAUSTINA (1969), Luigi Magni’s first film as a director, is to be sure given a modern setting but ancient Rome plays an important part. The main characters, in fact, are “tombaroli”, that is those people who steal from Roman and Etruscan tombs, who are specialized in archeological plunder and then sell the
Continue reading 11. Comedy Dresses Up 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
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
As a director, Sordi then decided to bring his run-of-the-mill Italian “personage” into contact with great historical events in POLVERE DI STELLE (STAR DUST), written with Bernardino Zapponi and Ruggero Maccari on a story by the latter. The agonizing period, 1943/44, between the fall of Fascism, the armistice and the division of
Continue reading 7. Alberto Sordi Personification of the Average Italian part ten From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
In 1966, Alberto Sordi, while not ceasing to be an actor, took up directing, a point of arrival that was imaginable from the very beginning of his career. FUMO DI LONDRA (double meaning: SMOKE OF LONDON or GRAY FLANNELS), his first film written with Sergio Amidei, is the delightful caricature of an
Continue reading 7. Alberto Sordi Personification of the Average Italian part nine 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 From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
This remarkable actor’s most important contribution to the development of Italian-style film comedy is to be found, not in films where he places his comic talents at the service of farcical characterizations, nor in those where he contributes, after his inimitable fashion, to an effective satire of social conventions. Sordi is truly
Continue reading 7. Alberto Sordi Personification of the Average Italian part five From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
Though the actor wonderfully succeeds in impersonating popular types, the precise definition of his real “type” is to be found in his middle-class portrayals. Already in 1955 in Comencini’s BELLA DI ROMA (ROME BEAUTY), he was a tricky husband, a profligate to all appearances irreprehensible who parades his religious piety, an ambiguous
Continue reading 7. Alberto Sordi Personification of the Average Italian part four From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
It is, however, a short episode in the film UN GIORNO IN PRETURA (A DAY IN COURT: 1954), by Steno, which brought Sordi the wild-spread popularity he still enjoys. When he appears in an undershirt at the back of the courtroom where he is on trial for having swum naked in the
Continue reading 7. Alberto Sordi Personification of the Average Italian part three From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
MAMMA MIA, CHE IMPRESSIONE! (DEAR ME, WHAT A FRIGHT!: 1951) by Roberto Savarese (with the supervision of Vittorio De Sica) was produced by a company especially set up by De Sica and Sordi. The story was by Sordi himself, who also wrote the script with De Sica and Zavattini, showing right from
Continue reading 7. Alberto Sordi Personification of the Average Italian part two From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
Alberto Sordi was born in 1920, started working in films in small parts as early as 1937, yet it wasn’t until 1951 that someone gave him the lead in a film (MAMMA MIA, CHE IMPRESSIONE! – DEAR ME, WHAT A FRIGHT!), though it didn’t open many doors for him until a
Continue reading 7. Alberto Sordi Personification of the Average Italian part one From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura
The trilogy concluded with ANNI RUGGENTI (ROARING TIMES: 1962) from a story by Amidei, Vincenzo Talarcio and the director himself and a script by Zampa, Ettore Scola and Ruggero Maccari. Set in the Fascist period, the film is vaguely based on the “gimmick” used by Gogol in THE INSPECTOR GENERAL. Omero, the
Continue reading 6. Political And Civil Satire: The Comedy Takes A Look At History part three From: COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE by Ernesto G. Laura – Compiled by A.N.I.C.A. (National Association of Motion Picturese and Affiliated Industries) Rome, Italy, edited by CIES So. Coop. r. 1. (Institute for the Promotion of Italian Motion Pictures Abroad) Rome, Italy, under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment
As a curiosity, mention may be made in this period
Continue reading 5. The Episode Films part fifteen |
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