Good Morning, Babylon (1987)

After the bankruptcy of their father's stonemasonry firm, brothers Nicola and Andrea emigrate to America to restore their fortunes. After many adventures and near-disasters, they end up in ... See full summary »

Directors:

Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani

Writers:

Lloyd Fonvielle (idea), Tonino Guerra,

Stars:

Vincent Spano, Joaquim de Almeida, Greta Scacchi

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent Spano	...	Nicola Bonnano
Joaquim de Almeida	...	Andrea Bonnano
Greta Scacchi	...	Edna Bonnano
Désirée Nosbusch	...	Mabel Bonnano (as Desiree Becker)
Omero Antonutti	...	Bonanno aka Babbo
Bérangère Bonvoisin	...	Mrs. Griffith
David Brandon	...	Grass, Griffith's Production Manager
Brian Freilino	...	Thompson, Griffith's Assistant
Margarita Lozano	...	The Venetian
Massimo Venturiello	...	Duccio Bonnano
Andrea Prodan	...	Irish Cameraman
Charles Dance	...	D.W. Griffith
Dorotea Ausenda
Ugo Bencini
Daniel Bosch

Storyline

After the bankruptcy of their father's stonemasonry firm, brothers Nicola and Andrea emigrate to America to restore their fortunes. After many adventures and near-disasters, they end up in Hollywood designing sets for D.W.Griffith and marry beautiful actresses, but tragedy strikes with the arrival of World War I, which finds the brothers fighting on opposite sides...

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Plot Keywords:

hollywood | 1910s | carpenter | backstage | movie director | 

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Taglines:

Once upon a time there were Andrea, Nicola and D.W. Griffith...

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

Italy France USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

13 May 1987 (France)

Also Known As:

Good morning Babilonia

Filming Locations:

Livorno, Tuscany, Italy

Box Office

Gross:

$183,700 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmtre, Rai Uno Radiotelevisione, Films A2

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The director D.W. Griffith is sat into his car and looking outside the right window, attracted by the Italian Pavillion of the Universal Expo in San Francisco. He asks the driver to stop, gets down, walks around the car and, on the left side, looks again towards the Pavillion (that should have been on the right side)

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Quotes

D.W. Griffith: Never mind. Artists communicate through their work.

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Connections

References Cabiria (1914)

User Reviews

talented filmmaking team bites off more than they can chew

The idea, at least, was intriguing: to recreate the magic and decadence of early Hollywood as seen through the eyes of two innocent, impoverished Italian stone cutters working on the set of D.W. Griffith's monumental 1916 epic 'Intolerance'. It's the perfect setting for a meditation on the end of Hollywood's precocious adolescence (Griffith's film was the first and most ambitious megabuck box-office flop), but rarely has a film launched with such promise landed with such a thud. In their first English language feature the Taviani brothers evoke none of the heady freedom that followed movie-making out West. Their Hollywood is a pitiful facsimile, patched together from a few myths and daydreams into an artificial costume drama, with cardboard characters mouthing dialogue that (one hopes) suffered in translation. The brief glimpse of footage from 'Intolerance' itself only underlines how little the Tavianis aspired to and how limited their resources were.