Italians: Bolognini

So, Bolognini or Bertolucci? No, its not an Italian sauce. We have been liking quite a few Mauro Bolognini Italian flicks of late here at The Projector, as per Bolognini label.

The Italian greats of course are Rossellini and De Sica, followed by the Big Three of the late 50s and early '60s: Antonioni, Fellini and Visconti, followed by Pasolini and Bertolucci. But there were several others prolific in those years, that great LA DOLCE VITA era, such as Bolognini, Monicelli, Germi, Risi, Rosi, Lattuada, while now the new guys like Paolo Sorrentino (THE GREAT BEAUTY, THE YOUNG POPE) and Luca Guadagnino (I AM LOVE, A BIGGER SPLASH) grow in stature. 

Today, lets focus on Mauro Bolognini (1928-2001), rumoured to be gay - he certainly filled his films with attractive people, his best output coming from scripts by Pasolini (as in LA NOTTE BRAVA) or adaptions of novels by Alberto Moravia or Italo Svevo. His 46 credits include these I like:

GIOVANI MARITI (YOUNG HUSBANDS) in 1957, with Gerard Blain, Raf Mattioli, Isabelle Corey, Sylvia Koscina, and Franco Interlenghi. Its as the title implies a drama about young husbands and their marriage problems.

LA NOTTE BRAVA (THE BIG NIGHT, see below) in 1959, glamorises Pasolini's tale of Roman layabouts and petty hoodlums and prostitutes, including the wildly attractive Laurent Terzieff, Jean-Claude Brialy, Tomas Milian, Mylene Demongeot, Antonella Lualdi, Elsa Martinelli etc. It also has a rather gay scene - right. Pasolini took to directing his own scripts after that, such as ACCATONE.

LA GIORNATA BALORDA (FROM A ROMAN BALCONY), a delicious 1960 drama with Jean Sorel and Lea Massari. We reviewed these in full at Bolognini/Italian labels.

SENILITA in 1962, from the Svevo novel, set in 1920s Trieste, with a great performance by Claudia Cardinale as the heartless vamp, and Bestsy Blair as a frustated spinster in love with the wrong man.

LA CURRIZONE (CORRUPTION) in 1963, one of Jacques Perrin's great performances as the son of wealthy industrialist Alain Cuny to uses his mistress Rossano Schiaffino to lure the son into his business plans.

METELLO in 1970 is a great costume period drama with Massimo Ranieri and it looks ravishing in colour,

GRAN BOLLITO is a chiller from 1977, with Shelley Winters as that very over-protective mother who will do anything for her son, including turning the neighbours into bars of soap, as Rita Tushingham finds out. It also has Max Von Sydow in drag as one of the victims. Bizarre is the word.

I haven't seen the acclaimed IL BELL ANTONIO, one of Mastroianni's great performances from 1960. He later did several costume dramas for Italian television: Isabelle Huppert as the LADY OF THE CAMELIAS, and and THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA.

He also did several segments in those Italian '60s episodic films, usually made up of 4 short films by different diretors. He directed the deliciously funny episode in LE BAMBOLE (THE DOLLS) in 1965 where Gina Lollobrigida (above) tries in vain to seduce Jean Sorel (as one would,,,,,), and the Claudia Cardinale segment of THE QUEENS in 1966, the Silvana Mangano episode in THE WITCHES, also '66. Belmondo and Cardinale are both marvellous in LA VIACCIA in '61. A lot of these, like his I TRE VOLTI with Princess Soraya,  did not get wide distribution outside of Italy, so he may be rather unknown to many.
Movie reviews coming up: THE NEON DEMON, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS, PLAN B, some French double bills and features on Catherine Deneuve and Anouk Aimee ...

Claudia as Sandra, 1965

SANDRA: A return to Visconti's operatic melodrama from 1965, VAGHE STELLE D'ORSA (its from a poem) or OF A THOUSAND DELIGHTS or simply SANDRA - which I have written about here before [Visconti, Cardinale, Sorel, Craig labels]. 

It is a small film in the Visconti canon, overshadowed by those big operatic productions like THE LEOPARD, THE DAMNED, DEATH IN VENICE or LUDWIG. 
I first saw it when I was 19 in 1965 and then it became unobtainable for a long time. It was great to catch up with it again last year, and it was as powerful as I remembered. The stunning black and white photography by Armando Nannuzzi show Claudia Cardinale at her zenith, along with Jean Sorel as her brother and English actor Michael Craig as her husband.

Sandra and her husband return to the family home, one of those sprawling Italian mansions, in the Etruscan city of Volterra, where family secrets are slowly uncovered, as Sandra has to confront her brother who wants to resume their once-incestous relationship (Claudia and Sorel are both stunningly attractive and powerful here), her mentally ill monther and the crumbling estate and the secret about their father and the war ... Visconti builds it to a powerful climax,and the images still resonate.

Senso, 1954

Another look at Visconti's SENSO induces rapture as we wallow in this opulent romantic and tragic costume drama, up there with Luchino's best recreations of that lavish past: THE LEOPARD, DEATH IN VENICE, LUDWIG, L'INNOCENTE ... films one can lose oneself in. 

This 1954 film has been nicely restored and is a key movie in the Visconti canon now. Alida Valli has one of her best roles as "the wanton countess" - one of its titles then, and Farley Granger was imported to play her reckless, selfish Austrian lover. Massimo Girotti plays her husband. Francesco Rosi and Franco Zeffirelli were assistant directors, Pierre Tosi as usual did the costumes, script by Visconti and usual collaborator Suso Cecchi D'Amico -  but with Tennessee Williams and Paul Bowles as dialogue collaborators. Bruckner's 7th Symphony and Verdi's ""Il Trovatore" provide the stunning musical background to this tale of doomed love, deceit and betrayal.

Venice, spring of 1866, in the last days of the Austrian occupation. A performance of Il Trovatore ends up in confusion due to an anti-Austrian demonstration, organised by Count Ussoni. His cousin Countess Livia Serpieri falls in love with vile Austrian Lieutenant Franz Mahler, but the times are changing.

As usual, Visconti recreates the opera house scenes and Valli gives one of the all-time great movie star performances - overlooked in that great year 1954 - while Granger is adequate and attractive as the wastrel deserter she falls passionately in love with, as he casually betrays her and takes her money which was meant for the revolutionaries. She then betrays him and he is hauled off to be executed for desertion, while she runs mad through the streets ..... its a stunning operatic climax; Or as a review at IMDB puts it: "the wealthy older woman and a manipulative wastrel. After wheedling a small fortune out of her to bribe a doctor who declares him unfit to serve, he dumps her. But hell hath no fury....Luchino Visconti pulls out all the stops, ending with a finale reminiscent of Tosca (but with a twist). Senso is a shameless and unforgettable wallow in Italianate passion." It is one of the great Italian films. More on Valli and Visconti at labels. 

RIP, continued ...

Alan Rickman (1946-2016), aged 69. Fulsome tributes indeed for Alan Rickman, one of Britain's leading actors equally at home on stage, television and film. He first came to my attention as Obadiah Slope in that great BBC adaptaton of Trollope's BARCHESTER CHRONICLES in 1982 - one to see-see.  His first film was as the villain in the first DIE HARD and he was also the delirious panto villain in ROBIN HOOD, PRINCE OF THIEVES, as well as more serious fare in TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY and CLOSE MY EYES, MESMER, LOVE ACTUALLY and he directed THE WINTER GUEST. I like his steadfast Colonel Brandon in Ang Lee's SENSE & SENSIBILITY in 1995. He made his stage reputation of course with LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES, and he was in all the HARRY POTTER films as Severus Snape. I passed him once in Oxford Street, London. RIP indeed. 

Glenn Frey (1948-2016), aged 67. Another '70s rock legend gone - not another cancer death, but caused by complications after intestinal surgery and pneumonia. It was fascinating seeing the opinionated Frey in that recent Eagles documentary on the history of the band, he of course was a founding member and co-wrote a lot of their hits, with Don Henley. He was one of the main singers in the band, as well as producer and later did some acting, during the band's hiatus. He sang lead vocals on hits like "Take It Easy", "Tequila Sunrise", "Already Gone", "New Kid In Town" and had a successful solo career too. We liked The Eagles a lot back then, and still get a kick from them now.

Robert Banks Stewart (1931-2016), aged 84. British (Scottish actually) writer who created some ground-breaking crime series for the BBC in the late 70s and early 80s, set in attractive locations: mainly SHOWSTRING which I loved, with Trevor Eve as the crumpled private eye/radio presenter, set around Bristol, in 1979 and 80, but when Eve did not wish to do a third series, Stewart came up with BERGERAC set in Jersey, another huge hit from 1980-1990). Stewart certainly knew how to write for prime-time television, and also wrote early scripts for shows like CALLAN and THE AVENGERS, and also produced LOVEJOY and THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY and MY UNCLE SILAS. 

Silvana Pampanini (1925-2016), aged 90. She was one of the new post-war Italian beauty queens who was soon in the movies, paving the way for that other Silvana - Mangano, plus Lollobrigida and Loren, though oddly not following them into international cinema. She was certainly a star name in Italy - I have not seen much of her output, but like WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC in 1952, with a young Loren in support. It is a delirious tale of girls being sold into slavery after competing in a gruelling dance marthon - I reviewed it a while back, Italian-2 label. 

White Slave Trade (1952) -v- Nine (2009): Nine loses.

When I began this blog back in 2010, the big film coming up was NINE, which we were all impatient to see, with that great cast.  Well, we saw it and it promptly sank without trace - we were not surprised, not being impressed by Rob Marshall's other musical CHICAGO either, though we loved the stage show - which I saw in 1998 when it had Broadway legend Chita Rivera in the cast, here in London. I did not even bother with NINE when it turned up on television last weekend.

NINE was a rare misfire for Daniel Day-Lewis, though it had a few good moments. At least he got to drive Sophia Loren around Italian locations in that super sports car. Sophia looked better leaving that London restaurant during the shoot, than she did in the actual film. If I ever feel the need to endure NINE again, the dvd is filed away somewhere, but I can't imagine I will. 

 
What is marvellous though is catching up with those early Loren films. her early '50s ones, before the American studios came calling. We saw ANNA a year or so ago, where she has a small part in this terrific Silvana Mangano drama, as well as - as per reviews at Loren label - TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA, LUCKY TO BE A WOMAN, TOO BAD SHE'S BAD, WOMAN OF THE RIVER etc. 

Now, thanks to pal 'Mel', here is another one: 1952's WHITE SLAVE TRADE (LA TRATTE DELLA BIANCHE), another of those terrific De Laurentiis-Ponti productions (like MAMBO, Mangano label), with marvellous black and white photography. 
The torrid drama, directed by Luigi Comencini, concerns some gang lords, desperate women, a marathon dance contest which is a front for white slavery as girls are shipped off overseas .... Sophia, 18 here, is Sofia Lazzaro, a bit player as one of the girls dancing. The leads are Eleanora Rossi Drago (one of Antonioni's LE AMICHE) and Silvana Pampanini as a pair of contrasting girls, one good who is dancing in the marathon to earn money to get her guy (Ettore Manni) out of prison, and the other - La Pampanini (below with Sofia) - 
using her attractions to get ahead.. It is a delicious guilty pleasure, with Vittorio Gassman as a cheap hood ... The dance marathon is surprisingly authentic looking, as good as the one in THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY? Sofia Lazzaro continued her upward rise and would be Sophia Loren the next year ....