Vittorio Metz Movies
- 1967
This Italian-Spanish space-age comedy is a tad less subtle than Jerry Lewis, a soupcon less sophisticated than the Three Stooges. Two Soviet cosmonauts become lost in space, apparently permanently. The rascally Russians try to pass off two other space travellers as the missing cosmonauts so as to avoid worldwide embarrassment. The second pair locates the first pair, and then the fun begins. Dos Cosmonautas was directed by Lucio Fulci, exhibiting a commendable willingness to tackle any sort of movie material--even if he isn't quite up to making the most of that material. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Cult Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci's second "Franco & Ciccio" comedy of 1965, this science fiction-themed farce casts popular comedians Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia as a pair of bumbling Russian cosmonauts aboard the spaceship Popov. Their ship loses contact with base, and Soviet space program officials are loathe to face the international humiliation of losing two astronauts, so they send up a second spaceship, a twin of the first. Locating a pair of Italian thieves (also played by Franchi and Ingrassia) who are dead ringers for the lost cosmonauts, the Russians kidnap them and send them up in the duplicate rocketship. Upon their return, the thieves are welcomed as the real thing by their wives and families, but that's when the confusion begins, as the original spaceship returns with the real cosmonauts, setting up a number of farcical situations. Monica Randal and Linda Sini co-star with Enzo Andronico, Maria Silva, and Lino Banfi (credited here as "Pasquale Zagaria," perhaps to fulfill contractual obligations in the Italian-Spanish co-production). The boys returned under Fulci's direction a month later in I Due Parà. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1962
In this Italian comedy, three unemployed actors are rehearsing for a crime scene in their boarding house unaware that they are being watched by a nosy neighbor who is convinced that they are professional assassins. He offers them money to kill his philandering wife, and the hungry thespians agree to do the deed. Of course, they don't plan on killing anyone. Meanwhile, the wife and her boy friend are cooking up their own plot. Real trouble ensues when all the different conspiracies get mixed up. As result, the husband has a fatal coronary, and to protect themselves, the woman and her lover lure into a sausage factory where they plan to throw the three into a meat grinder. Fortunately, the police arrive at the last minute and arrest the woman and her lover for the murder (even though they didn't really kill him) of her husband. The actors then attempt to resume their careers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this romantic comedy, a ship load of the rich and horny embark on a cruise aboard a millionaire's yacht. Included in the guest roster are a French businessman, his singing wife, his mistress, his wife's lover, a count whom the businessman hired to sleep with his wife so he can get a divorce, the boat owner's lover and his son, a lovely model hired by the owner to seduce his son who seems alarmingly disinterested in women, and a photographer to record it all. Lusty confusion ensues until everyone finds their proper mate. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this drama, a woman marries a lawyer who is endeavoring to do all he can to stay on the good side of his wealthy aunts so he will inherit their fortunes. When the bride begins acting strangely and going places at odd times, the aunts hire a private detective to shadow her. He learns that she has been secretly meeting with a doctor, and he suspects the worst. In the end, all is cleared up when the bride reveals that she is pregnant. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Several top Italian stars, including Toto as a shopkeeper and Also Fabrizi as a tax collector, are featured in this entertaining comedy. The shopkeeper like a lot of others, does not want to pay the taxes he is normally assessed. By his reckoning, they are far too high. So when the tax collector comes around to go over his books, he tries whatever might work to get the man to skim them lightly, preferably looking the other way in the process. Whether or not these proddings are going to have any effect remains to be seen, but in the meantime, the taxman's daughter has fallen madly in love with the shopkeeper's son. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Totò, Louis de Funès, (more)
- 1951
The English-language title of this wacky comedy is It Was Him...Yes! Yes! "Him" Walter Milani, is played by Walter Chiari, a singular comic actor who was touted by American critics as a "new" star, even though he'd been successfully plugging away in European films since 1947. Chiari plays a meek-and-mild clerk in a department store who discovers that his boss (Carlo Campanini) is mortally afraid of him. It seems that the boss is plagued by nightmares, in which Malani appears as a "villain" who doles out ridicule and humiliation. With the help of a psychiatrist, the boss comes to grips with his inner fears, while the hapless Milani reacts in confusion as all sorts of favors and kindnesses are heaped upon him. The dream sequences are cleverly rendered send-ups of every Freudian symbol in the book. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Chiari, Carlo Campanini, (more)
- 1948
The Italian Arrivederci, Papa managed to land good bookings in the U.S. thanks to the patronage of Paramount Pictures. This lighthearted musical is based upon a novel premise. From the vantage point of heaven, children yet unborn are permitted to choose their parents. The next step is to make certain that the potential father and mother fall in love and marry. Once this notion is established, the film tends to drag a bit, except during the musical highlights. A variation on the storyline of Arrivederci, Papa can be found in the 1950 Clifton Webb vehicle For Heaven's Sake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gino Bechi, Silvana Pampanini, (more)
