Cesare Zavattini — Playwright (46)

Movie

The Awakening (1956)
Suor Letizia WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: Suor Letizia / 天煞 …
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.

Movie

Daddy's Little Devil (1943)
Il birichino di papà WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: Il birichino di papà / La Terreur du pensionnat
Nicoletta is a young rebel, cherished by his forgiving father, until an old relative joins the family after the wedding of her sister, and insists that the impetuous girl is sent to college. Nicoletta becomes a true tornado for educators trying in vain to bring her under control.

Movie

Love and Chatter (1958)
Amore e chiacchiere WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: Liebe und Geschwätz / Hablemos de amor (Salvemos el paisaje) …
Maria and Paul love them, but they are very young and, moreover, Maria is the daughter of the municipal sweeper while Paul is the lawyer Bonelli, vice mayor and head of the opposition. To complicate the story there is the reconstruction of a hermitage destroyed during the war. Reconstruction would take the view of the Paseroni villa, big industrial and political traffic. Bonelli's lawyer, a great speaker, becomes a mayor for the death of his predecessor and is bought by Paseroni, while rejecting the love of Paul and Mary for social differences and why Paul should stay behind Doddy Paseroni. At this point, Paul and Mary flee to kill, just as Bonelli has to hold a talk on the radio for the inauguration of Paseroni's villa ...

Movie

Arturo's Island (1962)
L'isola di Arturo WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: Insel der verbotenen Liebe / L'Île des amours interdites …
A lonely teenage boy, living isolated on an island, idolizes his distant father. Complications arise when his father brings home a young new wife, whom the boy falls for, and a recently released criminal, entangled in a web of complex relationships.

Movie

A Day in the Life (1946)
Un giorno nella vita WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: 生活中的一天 / Un giorno nella vita …
Some Italian partisans want to take refuge in a convent to escape German raids. The nuns are a little perplexed at first but then agree since one of the men is seriously wounded. When the partisans eventually leave, the Germans take a terrible revenge.

Movie

Our Dreams (1943)
I nostri sogni WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 我们的梦 / I nostri sogni …
Leo is a young man trying to make a living without any success. Through fortuitous circumstances, he is assigned by the director of a big firm to accompany for one night the daughter of the firm's accountant, Titi. Leo pretends then to be the son of a tycoon and takes her to a luxurious restaurant.

Movie

Rat (1960)
Rat WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Veljko Bulajic actor: 安敦·弗尔多贾克 / Zlatko Madunic …
other title: 核战新娘 / War …
《核战新娘》是一部关于世界未来的幻想片,尽管剧情荒诞,却寓意深远。影片由意大利著名电影编剧柴伐蒂尼(《擦鞋童》《偷自行车的人》)创作,也是他唯一写过的一本超现实剧作,影片原名〈战争〉,在北美改名为《核战新娘》。 Director Veljko Bulajic is one of Yugoslavia's best known names (The Battle of Neretva), but Rat is a mostly tiresome mixture of well-meaning, simpleminded messages, and some really pitiful humor. The fault is almost entirely with screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, who made a name with Shoeshine and The Bicycle Thief and a couple dozen more Italian classics. The jokes are terrible and the cartoonish characterization almost non-existent. John and Maria make a nice couple and that's about it - they're both sweet, perfect and attractive. Most of the satirical efforts are remindful of Chaplin's The Great Dictator, with pompous officials and soldiers making very harsh and ruthless decisions. The Captain accepts a dinner invitation one minute, and then the next, is following orders to have John shot. John's best friend is unemployed; the army gives him a job but he ends up on John's firing squad. The idea of keeping the country anonymous is okay, but the canned messages are thin, bleak, and predictable. War is Bad. Kids and marriage are Nice. War is Cruel. The comedy, which amounts mostly to army marching gags that wouldn't rate in an Abbott & Costello movie, is just terrible. Good images include a man wailing over his cow shot from above by jet aircraft, and the blasted couple stumbling through the rubble-strewn finale, like Adam and Eve in Hiroshima. This is no cheapie; there was obviously full army cooperation from Tito's red brigades, and the scenes of jets strafing, etc, are fairly advanced. The ruins of the city look pretty much identical to today's news from Palestine. The special effects are primitive. One weird scene occurs when the President switches the television view to a camera attached to the nose of one of his attacking missiles. Crowds watch as the missile descends on hundreds of people in a town square - helpless victims just like 'us.'