Cesare Zavattini Movies
Italian screenwriter and film theorist Cesare Zavattini started as a writer of traditionalist, commonplace short stories and novels. His first screenplay, Daro un Milione (1935), fell so comfortably into formula that it was easily adapted into the Hollywood film I'll Give a Million (1938). His sensibilities toughened by the war, Zavattini began formulating the theories which helped launch the Italian neorealist movement of the postwar era. Zavattini's script for The Children Are Watching Us (1943) was the first of 23 collaborations with director Vittorio De Sica, the most internationally famous of which included Shoeshine (1943), The Bicycle Thief (1948), and Umberto D (1952). When De Sica decided that neorealism was becoming a cliché, and thus went on to such sentimental, box-office-safe comedies as The Gold of Naples (1954) and Marriage Italian Style (1964), Zavattini obligingly altered his writing style. Any accusations that Zavattini had abandoned neorealism were quelled by his searing screenplay for De Sica's Two Women (1962). As European movie tastes veered more toward the French New Wave, Zavattini attempted to touch base with this school; but his work on such films as A Young World (1966) and Woman Times Seven (1967) was disappointingly derivative, obliging critics to label the once-progressive writer as an "Old Timer." Zavattini regained pride of place with his final collaboration with De Sica, Sunflower (1969), which succeeded despite the noncreative interference of producer Carlo Ponti (whose wife, Sophia Loren, was the star). Cesare Zavattini's final contribution to cinema was an acting assignment in 1989's Strand -- Under the Dark Cloth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Vittorio De Sica's A Brief Vacation (Una Breva Vacanza) stars Florinda Bolkan as a downtrodden working woman. Forced to support herself, her children, her physically incapacitated husband and her obtrusive brother and mother, Bolkan contracts tuberculosis. She is granted a brief vacation at a health spa, where a whole new world--and potential new life--is opened up to her. A Brief Vacation was scripted by the prolific Cesar Zavattini, who like De Sica had once been a guiding force in the Italian neorealist movement. Though not De Sica's final film, A Brief Vacation was the last of the director's work to be released in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
With Peter Sellers as star, Neil Simon as screenwriter, and Vittorio DeSica as director, how could After the Fox miss? Miss it did, however--though the film, patchy and inconsistent though it might be, definitely has its moments. Sellers plays an Italian master thief who can't seem to stay out of jail. His latest scheme involves moving $3 million worth of stolen gold bullion from Cairo to Rome. To cover his tracks, Sellers pretends to be a "nouvelle vague" movie director, filming a crime picture. Britt Ekland, Mrs. Sellers at the time, plays his movie-struck sister. The film is effortlessly stolen by Victor Mature, who is unbearably funny as a vainglorious hasbeen Hollywood star. Director DeSica shows up in the film as "himself"-at least until all his camera equipment is stolen by Sellers and his partner-in-crime Akim Tamiroff. Never as hilarious as it should have been, After the Fox nonetheless manages a few isolated belly laughs. Outside of Mature's performance, our favorite bit in the film is the final gag: "Ze wrong man has escaped!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Britt Ekland, (more)
- 1954
Fernandel is the somewhat over-aged Ali Baba in this astonishingly expensive Arabian Nights escapade. In this filmization of the old "Arabian Knights" tale, Ali Baba is a slave who is sent to fetch his master's latest wife (Samia Gamal). The horse-faced family retainer falls in love with the girl himself, and spends the rest of the film trying to be worthy of her. The last shot shows Ali Baba and a "few intimate friends" converging on the cave of the 40 thieves. In an incredible long shot, we discover that Ali's friends number in the tens of thousands! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Dieter Borsche, (more)
- 1968
Vittorio De Sica directed this sudsy romantic drama, which received punishing reviews on its initial release. Recently-divorced fashion designer Julia (Faye Dunaway) arrives in Venice from the U.S. and meets handsome race car driver Valerio (Marcello Mastroianni) at the airport. While she initially brushes off his advances, she soon has a change of heart and invites him to spend a few days with her at the villa where she'll be staying. After several days divided between lovemaking and sightseeing, a party at Julia's home turns into an orgy, and Valerio decides that he's bitten off more than he can chew and leaves her. However, Valerio soon learns that there's a reason for Julia's reckless abandon -- she is suffering from a terminal illness and has a very short time to live. Faye Dunaway and Marcello Mastroianni were romantically involved at the time Amanti was in production, though little of their personal chemistry appears onscreen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Dunaway, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
- 1957
Amore e Chiacchere (Love and Chatter) was cooked up by ubiquitious Italian scenarist Cesare Zavattini. Vittorio De Sica stars as the pompous windbag of a town mayor, whose efforts to keep his constinuents happy are designed primarily to keep him in office. De Sica finds himself in a pickle when his son (Geronimo Meynier) falls in love with Carla Gravina, daughter of the town streetcleaner. Though the mayor strongly disapproves of the marriage, he dare not make his objections public, lest he lose the votes of the "common people." At the same time, De Sica is obliged to curry favor with a wealthy industrialist who wants to build on the property currently occupied by an old-folk's home. A neat little satire of political chicanery, Amore e Chiacchere remains suprisingly timely even after four decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio De Sica
- 1948
French filmmaker Rene Clement's international reputation was secured with Au Dela des Grilles. A French-Italian production, the film sagaciously teamed the most popular stars of each nation: France's Jean Gabin and Italy's Isa Miranda. Gabin is cast as a murderer who escapes prosecution by stowing away on a ship. Suffering from a toothache, he disembarks in Italy in search of a dentist, only to have his few possessions stolen. This setback leads to an extended emotional interlude involving Gabin, a waitress (Miranda) and the waitress' daughter (Andrea Checchi). While keeping in line with the realistic nature of Clement's postwar films, Au Dela des Grilles harks back to the more lyrical style of his prewar efforts. Released in English-speaking countries as Behind the Barriers and The Walls of Malapaga, Au Dela des Grilles won the 1948 "Best Foreign Film" Academy Award, and also earned Clement the "Best Director" prize at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Isa Miranda, (more)
- 1951
This early Luchno Visconti drama stars Anna Magnani as an overbearing stage mother. Magnani's daughter (Tina Apicella) has zero talent, but Magnani raises such a ruckus at the studio after the girl's abortive screen test that the producers eventually find work for the girl. By this point, Magnani has renounced show business and, with daughter in tow, returns to her patient husband, who has been waiting for his wife to get her dreams of vicarious stardom out of her system. Based on a story by famed Italian scenarist (and frequent Fellini collaborator) Cesar Zavattini, Bellissima seems too trivial a story to be given the tender loving care provided by Visconti. Originally released at 130 minutes, the film was honed down to 90 minutes for American consumption. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Magnani, Walter Chiari, (more)
Released in the US by 20th Century-Fox, Boccaccio '70 is a compendium of short subjects directed by three of Italy's top filmmakers. Each story is written in the style of the famed Italian essayist Boccaccio, albeit told in contemporary terms. First up is "The Raffle", written by Cesare Zavattini and directed by Vittorio De Sica: Sophia Loren (wife of Boccaccio '70 producer Carlo Ponti) plays the sexy operator of a shooting gallery, who offers herself as first prize to the best shot. In "The Job", written by Suso Cecchi D'Amico and directed by Luchino Visconti, Romy Schneider carries a torch for her philandering boss Tomas Milian. The final segment is "The Temptation of Dr. Antonio", directed by Federico Fellini and scripted by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli; in this one, Anita Ekberg is an image on a poster who comes to life for the benefit of a drooling middle-aged professor (Peppino De Filippo). A fourth episode, "Renzo and Luciana", directed by Mario Monicelli, was cut from U.S. release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Luigi Giuliani, (more)
- 1952
It hardly takes a linguist to figure out that the title of this whimsical Italian comedy translates to Bonjour, Elephant! Vittorio de Sica plays Garetti, a Roman schoolteacher with nary a sous in his pocket. Nothing, however, dampens Garetti's joie de vivre. Eventually, the teacher's sunny disposition touches the heart of a visiting Indian Prince, played by the inimitable Sabu. Through the Prince's intervention, Garetti's fortunes take a huge shot upward. To say more would be to spoil this delightful film. One can't call Buongiorno, Elefante! an out-and-out fantasy, but it's hardly a slice of life, either. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio De Sica, Sabu, (more)
- 1952
A stellar cast distinguishes the so-so seriocomedy Cinque Poveri in Automobile (Five Paupers in an Automobile). The story is set in motion by a winning raffle ticket, jointly held by four people. The first prize is an automobile, which the foursome intend to drive for a day of pleasure before selling the vehicle for cash. Complicating matters is a fifth party, a tramp who inveigles a piece of the action. Aldo Fabrizi heads the cast as a man who is inherently unfond of automobiles; Eduardo de Felippo plays a bricklayer who wants to show off the car to settle an old score; de Felippo's sister Titina portrays an elderly has-been actress who hopes to use the car to keep up a false front; and Walter Chiari is a busboy whose girlfriend won't have anything to do with him unless he wins the car. The screenplay was co-written by star Eduardo de Felippo and neorealism pioneer Cesare Zavattini, among others. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aldo Fabrizi, Titina de Filippo, (more)
- 1937
Daro un Milione (I'll Give A Million) was another felicitous collaboration between director Mario Camerini and his favorite star Vittorio de Sica. The story gets under way when a cynical millionaire announces that he intends to disguise himself as a hobo and given a million lire to anyone who treats him nicely. As a result, every bum in Rome is given the royal treatment on the off-chance that they're the millionaire. While the tramps revel in this sudden wave of good fortune, the real millionaire finds true love with a pretty circus performer who knows nothing about the "I'll Give a Million" campaign. Co-written by Cesare Zavattini and Giaci Mondani Daro un Milione was remade in Hollywood in 1938, with Warner Baxter as the millionaire, Marjorie Weaver as the heroine, and Peter Lorre and John Carradine as two of the happy hoboes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio De Sica, Assia Noris, (more)
- 1949
Domenica D'Agosto was the first feature-length effort from Italian documentary filmmaker Luciano Emmeri. The film keeps within the accepted guidelines of Italian neorealism, albeit with a surfeit of warmth and humor. Emmeri details a typical midsummer Sunday in a seaside resort. A cast of professional actors mingles with carefully chosen nonprofessionals to illustrate a series of perceptive vignettes about big-city vacationers. Such is the consummate skill of the director and his screenwriters (including the ubiquitous Cesare Zavattini) that it's difficult for the audience to determine where the scripted scenes end and the "real" scenes begin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emilio Cigoli
- 1953
In this Italian melodrama, three Roman prostitutes suddenly find themselves on the streets when the city informs them that their brothel is to be destroyed. The story chronicles what happens to each of them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Perhaps a bit early in the revolution to be filled with heavy-duty propaganda, this routine drama by Cuban director Julio G. Espinosa was written by an Italian, Cesare Zavatini. The focus of attention is a very young man who runs away to join up with Castro's guerrilla forces in the mountains. The young fellow has a heightened imagination over the daring adventures that lie ahead -- and so he is let down when all he gets is drill practice, exercises, basic rations, and a lot of discipline. But the truth of army life might still stand him in good stead when his first skirmish looms on the horizon. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reinaldo Miravalles, Angel Espasnande, (more)
A very early Vittorio De Sica effort, The Children Are Watching Us was originally released in Italy as I Bambini Ci Guardano. Director De Sica collaborated with another neorealist pioneer, Cesare Zavattini, on the screenplay. The film, a real tearjerker, concerns a young mother (Isa Pola) who can't stand the pressures exerted on her by family responsibilities. She deserts her husband (Emilio Cigoli) and her brood, permanently ruining the life of her four-year-old son, Prico (Luciano de Ambrosis). Avoiding the rococo gestures and dramatic overstatement that might have attended this film had it been made in Hollywood, De Sica fashions a subtle tale about real people caught up in a real situation. De Sica's sensitivity toward the younger cast members of The Children Are Watching Us would manifest itself in many of his formative films, notably Sciuscià and The Bicycle Thief. Made in 1942, the film was not released in Italy until 1944. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emilio Cigoli, Isa Pola, (more)
- 1970
The first Italian feature film shot in Moscow was directed by the renowned Vittorio De Sica and produced by Carlo Ponti. Sophia Loren stars as Giovanna, an Italian woman who marries Antonio (Marcello Mastroianni) 12 days before the outbreak of WWII. Antonio has no desire to fight in the conflict, and he fakes insanity to try to avoid the draft, but officials see through the charade. Antonio is sent to the Russian front, where the soldiers are plagued by freezing temperatures and short supplies of rations. He is found half-dead in the cold by a Russian peasant girl, Mascia (Lyudmila Savelyeva). She takes him in, and eventually, they marry. Giovanna waits in vain for word on the fate of her husband, who is officially declared missing in action. She goes to Russia to try to find him, searching records and cemeteries. Finally, she discovers first his new wife, then him, and reluctantly decides not to fight the situation. Returning home to Italy, she marries an older factory worker, Ettore (Germano Longo), and they have a son (who is played by the real-life son of Ponti and Loren). But Antonio still longs for Giovanna, and he returns to Italy to discuss a reconciliation with her. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
- 1963
Vittorio De Sica's version of a play by Jean-Paul Sartre stars Frederic March as Albrecht von Gerlach, the owner of one of Germany's biggest industrial firms. Albrecht calls for his son Werner (Robert Wagner), a lawyer who is married to an actress, Johanna (Sophia Loren). The aging Albrecht wants Werner to take over the family business, but Werner is not interested, as he knows that the company helped to build the Nazi war machine that caused the deaths of millions of people. Werner, however, was not first in the line of succession; his older brother Franz (Maximilian Schell) was running the company for his father during the war, and as a result he was cited for war crimes and executed. Or so everyone believes. In fact, Franz was able to escape the gallows, and he lives in the basement of the family's Altona estate, watched over by his sister Leni (Francoise Prevost). Franz has gone mad, and he believes Leni when she tells him that Germany never recovered from its defeat in the war and that poverty has layed waste to the nation. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Maximilian Schell, (more)
- 1961
An episodic, funny, though uneven spoof of human manners and foibles, this comedy by Vittorio de Sica begins in Naples when a disembodied voice announces to the city's residents "The Last Judgment will begin at 6:00 p.m." Naturally, not all are immediately willing to accept this statement -- but not for long. As comic vignettes unfold, the good citizens soon become even better as they try to undo past and present sins, just in case. There is a long list of top actors that show up briefly in the story, everyone from Alberto Sordi to Jimmy Durante, Melina Mercouri, Anouk Aimée, Vittorio Gassmann, and many, many others. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Renato Rascel, (more)
- 1963
This serio-comic drama finds a man (Alberto Sordi) in debt with no easy way to alleviate the situation. He conspires to sell one of his eyes to cover his loses and remain a success in the eyes of his wife. The talent of Sordi prevents this film from being labels as glory to gore as he weighs his options and sets his eye on the prize. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1952
The classic Nicolas Gogal fable The Overcoat is given a European flavor by Italian filmmaker Alberto Lattuada; some consider the film to be Lattuada's best "psychological study." Comedian Renato Rascel plays a nebbishy nobody who spends his life-savings on a fancy overcoat. Suddenly, the nobody becomes a somebody, proving beyond doubt that clothes make the man. And then one day, the overcoat is stolen...Fleshing out the short-but-bittersweet Gogol original are several colorful new characters, including a publicity-hungry small-town mayor, played by Giulio Stival. The background music was composed by director Lattuada's wife Felice. American prints of Il Cappato are missing a so-called "naughty" telephone exchange between the mayor and his silken mistress. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renato Rascel, Yvonne Sanson, (more)
- 1949
The Italian The Sky is Red (Il Cielo e Rosso) details the romantic adventures of two postwar couples. Despite being confined to a quarantined zone (quarantined for political, rather than health reasons), love finds a way. The neorealistic elements are passable, but what really "sold" this film abroad was its graphic-for-its-times sexual content. The cast is headed by Jacques Sernas and Marina Berti, another step in the right direction box office-wise. One of the young romeos is played by Mischa Auer Jr., son of the famed Russian comic actor. Among the many screenwriters of The Sky is Red is frequent De Sica and Fellini collaborator Cesare Zavattini. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marina Berti, Jacques Sernas, (more)
- 1953
Il Segno di Venera (The Sign of Venus) offers an earthier Sophia Loren than American audiences would later become accustomed to. Agnese (Loren) has no trouble attracting men, which is more than can be said for her plain-Jane friend Cesira (Franca Valeri). The two girls embark on a search for an appropriate mate for Cesira, despite the fact that all eligible males instantly gravitate to Agnese. Some of the choices -- petty thief Alberto Sordi, impecunious poet Vittorio De Sica -- are frankly not good enough for either girl. Alternating between humor and pathos, Il Segno di Venera is light, forgettable entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franca Valeri, Vittorio De Sica, (more)
- 1956
Directly after his successful The Gold of Naples (1954), Italian filmmaker Vittorio DeSica served up something of a throwback to his neorealist days. In The Roof (originally Il Tetto) a pair of young lovers wed in defiance of their families' wishes. With the confidence of youth, they decide to set up housekeeping for themselves. Alas, they soon learn that living on love is a virtually impossibility-especially in a postwar economy. The box-office failure of The Roof was a major setback for DeSica's directorial career: he would not be able to finance another film until 1960's Two Women. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gabriella Pallotta, Giorgio Listuzzi, (more)
