Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Vittorio De Sica | ... | Maresciallo Carotenuto | |
Gina Lollobrigida | ... | La Bersagliera | |
Marisa Merlini | ... | La levatrice | |
Roberto Risso | ... | Carabiniere Stelluti | |
Maria Pia Casilio | ... | Paoletta | |
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Virgilio Riento | ... | Don Emidio |
Saro Urzì | ... | Il capocomico | |
Tina Pica | ... | Caramella | |
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Tecla Scarano | ... | Teresinella |
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Vittoria Crispo | ... | Madre della Bersagliera |
Memmo Carotenuto | ... | Carabiniere Baiocchi | |
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Fausto Guerzoni | ... | Uomo col cannocchiale |
Nino Vingelli | ... | Venditore ambulante | |
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Gigi Reder | ... | Ricuccio |
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Nico Pepe | ... | Maresciallo Spotti |
In a small Italian village, Maria De Ritis is engaged to army Lieutenant Pietro Stelluti. Stelluti's superior officer, Marshal Antonio Carotenuto, is contemplating marriage to Annarella Mirziano, but he will be forced to resign if he marries Annarella, since she has an illegitimate child and that is against regulations for army officers. When Stelluti leaves town for a few weeks, the town-gossips create an affair out of the innocent relationship between Maria and Antonio. Stelluti returns and accuses Maria of infidelity, and, she, in reprisal, runs off and joins a traveling theatrical troupe as a dancer. Antonio, after convincing Annarella that he has not betrayed her love, encounters more trouble when the father of Annarella's child shows up and asks that she and the child go away with him. Antonio tells Annarella that it is her decision to make, and she chooses the child's father and leaves with him. Maria arrives back in town, as does an earthquake that destroys her home, but she ... Written by Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
PANE, AMORE E FANTASIA and PANE, AMORE E GELOSIA, both directed with admirable lightness of touch by Luigi Comencini, are representative of the best comedies produced by the Italian cinema in the 1950's. In fact, after two decades of brilliant works directed by the likes of Dino Risi, Mario Monicelli, Pietro Germi and a few others, the golden period of Italian comedy ends abruptly in the late 1970's with the work of Lina Wertmuller. In the two Comencini films we see a marvelous case of typical "Commedia dell'arte" plot, character development and acting styles brought to life in rural post-war Italy. Sagliena could well be Subiaco, Gina Lollobrigida's birthplace, or any other small town in Abruzzo or Lazio. This is comedy of character at its best and Comencini was inspired in casting both films. Vittorio DeSica seldom attained the variety of tone and the beautifully controlled exuberance he displays here, except for his legendary turn as the lawyer in Alessandro Blasetti's ALTRI TEMPI. Gina Lollobrigida's sylvan beauty is pure magic, and her acting is a lesson in "commedia" playing. She could be a perfect Colombina in any Goldoni play. The other actors - Tina Pica, Marisa Merlini, Memmo Carotenuto, Roberto Risso, Virgilio Riento, Maria Pia Casilio - form an ideal ensemble that lends support to the principal players. Two classics movies to be revisited always.