Although it is nigh on impossible to match the production values, star performances and the undisputed 'wow factor' of de Sica's 'Matrimonio all'Italiana of 1964 I must profess to a great fondness for 'Filomena Marturano' which I believe to be the first cinematic version of de Filippo's play. I have regrettably to overlook the version directed by de Filippo himself the following year as I find it surprisingly dull, plodding and lacking in warmth. That version stars the author and his sister Titina who created the part on stage and scored a great triumph. Her performance does not alas transfer well to the screen.The marvellous character actor Akim Tamirof once observed;'the camera like you, the camera don't like you'. In the case of Titina and Eduardo, however accomplished they might be, the camera definitely does not like.The same cannot be said for Tita Merello, the Argentinian actress, singer and tango dancer, in the film under review. Her performance is absolutely astonishing .Rich, full, sensuous, warm and sympathetic. The deprivations of this artiste's childhood ('hunger and fear' in her own words) and her early struggles could not have failed to inform her very real portrayal. In this version Don Domenico, the excellent Guillermo Battaglia, first encounters Filomena singing in a night club. This is probably why the Wikipaedia entry mistakenly describes the film as a musical! The course of their relationship is charted beautifully and the scene where she 'springs the surprise' is subtly done without histrionics. Directed by Luis Mottera with a touching score by George Andreani of which Nino Rota would have been proud, this is a film to warm the heart.
