Comedy Italian Style: The Golden Age of Italian Film Comedies

ISBN-13: 9780826418227 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 288 str.

Remi Fournier Lanzoni

Opis

This book explores the work of Dino Risi with The Easy Life (1962), The Monsters (1963), The New Monsters (1977), and Scent of a Woman (1974), Mario Monicelli with Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958), The Great War (1959), and Amici miei (1975), also Pietro Germi with Divorce Italian Style (1961), as well as filmmakers as disparate as Federico Fellini with Amarcord (1973), Ettore Scola with Down and Dirty (1976), Lina Wertmuller with Swept Away (1974), Luigi Comencini with The Scientific Cardplayer (1972) and many others. In addition the volume explains how the genre was able to reveal during two decades (1960s and 1970s) many acting talents and confirmed the future legacy of picturesque icons such as Alberto Sordi, Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman, Stefania Sandrelli, Claudia Cardinale, Monica Vitti, Giancarlo Giannini and Ugo Tognazzi, all of whom depicted the Italian resilience in the utmost idiosyncratic manner.

Recenzje

The so-called Comedy Italian Style has been, in a certain way, engendered by Neorealism, and is often considered a realistic comedy; but it was also a fusion of "bitter and sweet", a genre of entertaining films that at the same time told something on a particular moment about an Italian society in rapid transformation. This comedy Italian Style was able to reveal on the big screen the common denominator among Italians: their gift for improvisation, a gift to look at reality with a knowing smile, even as a comedic satire. Lanzoni's Comedy Italian Style offers a faithful and interesting portrait about a unique period in Italian cinema. --Dino Risi, Director of The Monsters, Scent of a Woman and A Difficult Life

Spis treści

- PART ONE: BEFORE THE ADVENT OF THE COMMEDIA ALL'ITALIANA CHAPTER I: THE FORERUNNERS - The Origins of Italian Comedy- The Silent Era and the Prestige of Hollywood Comedies- The Prewar Era, Cinecittà and Telefoni Bianchi- The Marc'Aurelio and the New Screenwriters CHAPTER II: THE AGE OF NEOREALISMO ROSA - Neorealism and Neorealismo Rosa in Question- A Special Case in Italian Comedy: Totò- Differences between Commedia Italiana and Commedia all'italiana- The Forerunners of the Comedy Italian StylePART TWO: THE YEARS OF EUPHORIA AND THE COMMEDIA ALL'ITALIANA CHAPTER I: ITALIAN COMEDY IN THE 1960s - Italy During the Years of Economic Miracle- Italian Film Industry in the 1960s and State Censorship- The Art of Getting by and the Commedia all'italiana CHAPTER II: THE PROTAGONISTS OF THE NEW COMEDY STYLE - Dino Risi and the Art of Caustic Satire - Mario Monicelli and Historical Comedies- Regional Comedies Pietro Germi's Style- Alberto Lattuada: Between Versatile and Eclectic Comedy- The Newcomers to the Commedia: Antonio Pietrangeli and Elio PetriPART THREE: THE FINAL ACT OF THE COMMEDIA ALL'ITALIANA CHAPTER I: ITALIAN COMEDY IN THE 1970s - Italy During the Lead Years- Italian Film Industry in the 1970s - Ettore Scola and the Discourse of Cynicism - Marco Ferreri's Grotesque Style CHAPTER II: THE LAST PROTAGONISTS - Dino Risi: A Legacy in Evolution- Lina Wertmüller: When Humor challenges the Rules - Federico Fellini's Successful Return to Comedy- A Comedy of Frustrations: Franco Brusati- Luigi Zampa's Satirical Cinema- The Human Comedy of Alberto Sordi- Mario Monicelli and the Difficult Years - Luigi Comencini: the End of an EraABBREVIATIONS APPENDIX - Academy Awards- Cannes Film Festival - Venice Film Festival- David di Donatello- Nastri d'Argento- Italian Comedies at the Box OfficeNOTESSELECT BIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX

O autorze

Rémi Lanzoni earned his M.A. in French from the University of South Carolina at Columbia, USA, and his PhD in French from Florida State University, USA. He also earned a second PhD in Italian from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. He has written two books, French Cinema: From its Beginnings to Present (2003, Continuum) and Comedy Italian Style: The Golden Age of Italian Film Comedies (Continuum, 2009) as well as several articles on Italian cinema.