A Girl in Australia (1971)

Amedeo is a poor Italian immigrant living in Australia for twenty years. Seeking to marry an Italian wife, he corresponds with Carmela, a pretty girl from Rome. They do not reveal their ... See full summary »

Director:

Luigi Zampa

Writers:

Rodolfo Sonego (story), Rodolfo Sonego

Stars:

Alberto Sordi, Claudia Cardinale, Riccardo Garrone

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alberto Sordi	...	Amedeo Battipaglia
Claudia Cardinale	...	Carmela
Riccardo Garrone	...	Giuseppe Bartoni
Corrado Olmi	...	Don Anselmo
Angelo Infanti	...	Lo sfruttatore di Carmela
Tano Cimarosa	...	Emigrante italiano
Marisa Carisi
John Cobley
Elli Maclure
John Guarino
Silvana Di Lapico	...	(as Silvana D'Iapico)
Joe Sofia
Tony Thurbon
Betty Lucas
Nick Buttaro

Storyline

Amedeo is a poor Italian immigrant living in Australia for twenty years. Seeking to marry an Italian wife, he corresponds with Carmela, a pretty girl from Rome. They do not reveal their true identities and do not mention their hardships in their letters. Carmela is actually a prostitute seeking an opportunity to change her life style. Amedeo, embarrassed about his looks, sends a photograph to Carmela of his handsome friend Giuseppe.

---

Plot Keywords:

prostitute | italian immigrant | australia | commedia all'italiana | sham marriage | 

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Details

Country:

Italy Australia

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

22 December 1971 (Italy)

Also Known As:

A Girl in Australia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Documento Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

Hard life of an old fashioned Italian immigrant !!

The film is about an old fashioned Italian with moral values of the 1930/40's ,who has to find a wife in the modern, woman's liberated society of Australia of the 1960/70's !!!Little does he know... that also Italian sexual mores & morals have changed since his departure from Italy 30 years earlier to resemble the ones of Australia !! His wife hunting task is made even more arduous by his stringent moral requirements in his lonely hearts column newspaper announcement placed in his native Italy !! Number one, requirement... that she is a virgin ("illibata" from film title)....after a long letter correspondence with the prospective bride, he finds at the airport's arrival hall a stunningly beautiful woman(Claudia Cardinale)to meet him.....for whom he falls in love with immediately !!(Needless to say the meet for the first time at the airport !!). As his friend points out "there is something strange about such beautiful woman needing to leave Italy, and marry a poor Italian immigrant on the other side of the globe !!.....she's evidently running away from something !!" His intuition was spot on.She was an ex-prostitute escaping from her pimp !! The rest of film is a farce comedy, of he not knowing of her past !! She being told by Alberto Sordi that he will take her, to her prospective husband ..........so shy is he !! The film is a delightful light comedy of illusions,mistaken identities, and cultural clash......in the age when there still existed mass Italian emigration abroad or to Northern Italy !!

From the 40's to the 70's many films have been made in Italy about these expatriate Italians ("Pane e Chocolato","I Magliari","Rocco e suoi fratelli", just to name a few !!) describing their daily grind,with its joys(few) and sorrows(more) !! Many of these films were very good !! But nowadays Italy has become a "normal" rich, West European society and film makers nowadays have difficulty finding inspiring stories to tell, which explains also the poor quality of todays Italian films .....unless the the director & film script finds some inspiring story from Italy's often tragic and difficult past !!