Mario Camerini Movies

Award-winning Italian writer/director Mario Camerini, who successfully bucked the "neorealist" movement of the 1940s, continued operating in a strictly commercial vein with 1966's Delitto Quasi Perfetto. The plot is sheer gossamer, handled with artistry: a journalist, stumbling upon a plot to swindle an heiress, decides to turn the tables on the crooks. The leading lady is the delightful Graziella Granata, while the male contingent is well represented by Massimo Serato and Phillipe LeRoy. If you're not expecting The Bicycle Thief of La Dolce Vita, you're in for a good time. Evidently, Delitto Quasi Perfetto was never released to US theatres, though video versions are available. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A group of starving Roman artists provides the focus of this episodic drama that tells the often tragic story of each of them. One commits suicide after learning that his only patron is his homosexual lover. Another, a female singer, is a nymphomaniac. A third member gives up art in favor of marrying a German woman who is two decades older than he. As the original group begins to diminish, it is replenished by new, more idealistic young artists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The focal point of this standard drama by director Mario Camerini is life in the Via Margutta, an artists' sector in Rome, the Italian equivalent of Montmartre in Paris. Stefano (Gerard Blain) is a talented painter, devoted to his art but not necessarily that adroit or interested in promoting himself. In contrast to Stefano, there are other artists more adept at selling their persona as an artist than creating art. Along with this mixed group of painters is a gay gallery owner who helps out some of the artists as best he can. Other characters that wander through the district range from a good-hearted woman to a self-serving parasite. These people interact in various ways, as Stefano eventually achieves his just recognition. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Anna Magnani is a powerful actress who can rise above the sentimentality of this film and still give a heartwarming performance. When a child has been abandoned by his mother and her boyfriend and is placed in her care, a kindly nun finds that her love for the boy may be more powerful than her vows for the church, as she contemplates leaving the sisterhood to become his full-time Mother. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Directed by the incredibly prolific Mario Camerini, Suor Letizia was released in English-speaking regions as When Angels Don't Fly and The Awakening. In her first film appearance since The Rose Tattoo, Anna Magnani plays a feisty nun named Sister Letizia. Believing herself above such earthly trivialities as a maternal instinct, Sr. Letizia changes her way of thinking when an abandoned child is placed in her care. Unofficially adopting the boy, the good sister eventually comes to realize that even she cannot provide the care and guidance of a biological mother. Carefully constructed to accommodate all the surefire box-office elements inherent in Camerini's earlier films, Suor Letizia was almost guaranteed to be a hit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A rich man's attempts to steal away a poor man's wife set the stage for this comic farce, set in Naples in 1860. Luca is a simple but honest man married who runs a mill and his married to Carmela (Sophia Loren), a strikingly beautiful woman. Carmela's face and figure attracts the eye of the Governor (Vittorio De Sica), a Spanish nobleman who has been appointed ruler of Naples. Determined to have Carmela as his own, the Governor has Luca arrested on false charges, and sets out to seduce her while her husband is behind bars. When Carmella resists, the Governor plays his trump card -- he is willing to free Luca, but only under the condition that she sleeps with him first. Carmella is appalled, but dreams up a way to use the situation to her advantage; she slips the Governor a mickey, and after he's asleep, she makes haste to the prison, carrying the Governor's pardon of her husband. However, Carmella arrives to discover a surprise -- Luca has already escaped from the jail. When Luca makes his way home, he discovers the Governor, still fast asleep, and is convinced he's already seduced Carmella; enraged, he sets off to the Governor's mansion, determined to get revenge with the Spaniard's wife. Bella Mugnaia was based on a novel previously filmed as Il Cappello a tre punte in 1934. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a braggart and his new bride head for a honeymoon in Italy. There they go to the small village the groom claims to have freed all by himself. Unfortunately, the villagers are most unhappy to see him. Before he can safely continue his honeymoon, he must clear his name with them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Set during Italy's swashbuckling past, Spirit of the Flesh stars Gino Cervi as a young adventurer and Dina Sassoli as his lady fair. The fly in the ointment is the wicked Don Rodrigo, played with an eternal sneer by Enrico Glori. Have at you, sir! You filthy cur! Spirit and the Flesh was based on a much-beloved Italian novel by Alessandro Manzoni. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

Also known as The Great Appeal and The Last Roll-Call, Il Grande Apello was the second of three films directed in 1936 by "man of the people" director Mario Camerini. This is the story of Giovanni Bertani, who has long since left his native Italy behind to go galavanting around the world. Landing in East Africa, Giovanni assumes control of an inn which serves as a magnet for the outcasts of Europe (and this was six years before Casablanca!) From one of his guests, Giovanni discovers that his illegitimate son is now a member of the Italian Army -- fortuitously stationed in East Africa. Hoping to stage a reconciliation with his son, our hero discovers that his long-dormant Italian patriotism has suddenly and miraculously been reborn. This leads Giovanni to turn his back on a gang of mercenary gun-runners with whom he has been associated, a last-act reformation that results in his spectacular and somehow ennobling demise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide