20 Italian classics .....

Its my delayed Lists week - we start with some Italian favourites, then French, British, Costume films, American dramas and 20 Trash favourites ..... let's do one a day. (I am limiting myself to 2 maximum from each director).

• BICYCLE THIEVES / GARDEN OF THE FINZI CONTINI (1970) – De Sica
• TOO BAD SHE’S BAD – Blasetti, 1954 (the first pairing of Sophia and Marcello, with Vittorio having fun too)
• I VITELLONI (1953) / AMARCORD 1974) – Fellini - two Fellini classics (it may be heresy but I never liked LA DOLCE VITA or EIGHT AND A HALF that much ...)
• JOURNEY TO ITALY – Rossellini. A key Italian movie from 1953 that paved the way for the likes of Antonioni and the others .... Bergman and Sanders were hardly ever better.
  
• PANE, AMORE, E …. (SCANDAL IN SORRENTO) – Risi, 1955 Delicious Italian frolic with Sophia and Vittorio having fun in Sorrento. 
• LA NOTTE BRAVA (1959) / FROM A ROMAN BALCONY  (1960) –Bolognini - Doomed glamorous youth (Terzieff, Brialy, Sorel, Milian) in Bolognini's key works .... (perhaps MUBI will put them on for Martin .... just sayin'.)

LA NOTTE BRAVA

• L’AVVENTURA / L’ECLISSE – Antonioni & Vitti  (its all at the labels...)
• IL MARE (THE SEA) – Patrone Griffi (never seen this since 1964, when I was 18, and it was at the old Academy in Oxford Street, London). Rare indeed ....
• THE LEOPARD / SANDRA – Visconti (Luchino's opulence and that great black and white melodrama from 1965, with Cardinale and Sorel at their sumptuous beautiful peaks). 
  
• THE CONFORMIST (1970) – Bertolucci (it still amazes now). 
• OEDIPE RE / TEOREMA – Pasolini. His late 60s classics with Silvana Mangano mesmerising as ever. 
• THE LONG NIGHT OF ’43 – Vancini (this 1960 rare classic has Ferzetti and Belinda Lee in a terrific dramatic role - she is the equal of Loren or Mangano here). 
• SEVEN BEAUTIES – Wertmuller - this 1975 stunner still packs a powerful punch, particularly those scenes with Giancarlo Giannini and Shirley Stoler in the concentration camp ...)
• PADRE PADRONE - Taviani  Brothers. 1970s arthouse favourite - I liked it so much I returned with friends so they could share it too. More on these at labels.

Scorsese's documentary MY VOYAGE TO ITALY, as per my post in 2011, is essential and covers these key films and directors in detail with lots of clips, the movies he grew up watching.

If its Tuesday this must be Belgium - 1969

A friend who works in travel wanted to re-see this, so I got a copy for him - its passably amusing, dealing with a coach tour of Europe in the Sixties, taking in nine countries in eighteen days. The usual predictable comedy situations take place, ticking off each nation's stereotypes. The American tourists are mainly schlubs married to nagging wives, or rampant lechers .... at least Mildred Natwick, Murray Hamilton, Norman Fell try to create characters, while the leads are tour guide Ian McShane who of course has a girl in every country, and Suzanne Pleshette, looking and sounding marvellous here, as the romantic interest on the trip. The movie is Suzanne's all the way. 

Directed by Mel Stewart, the only point of interest here is the endless walk-ons by assorted European stars who turn up for a minute or less each. There's Anita Ekberg, Elsa Martinelli, Virna Lisi, Senta Berger, Catherine Spaak, Joan Collins (whom I did not even spot so tiny is her appearance), at least Vittorio De Sica gets a few minutes as a wily shoemaker. and Donovan sings the drippy theme song, and Patricia Routledge is the bossy London guide. 

There is one shot at the start of Ben Gazzara and John Cassavetes playing cards - why? it is like they are in a different film, Its hippies and mini skirts all the way, made palatable for the great family audience, 

It catches that late Sixties look and would actually be a good double bill with BUONA SERA, MRS CAMPBELL, that other late 60s look at American tourists in Europe ..... but its hardly essential cinema.

Some more interesting careers ?

Another selection of thumbnail career portraits, in the style of one of our Sixties favourite magazines "Who's Who in Hollywood". 

Don Murray. In his late 80s now (born 1929), Murray started out in 1950, and got his big break co-starring with Marilyn Monroe in Logan’s BUS STOP in 1956 – he may have been fine, but it’s the character of the cowboy who is so annoying. He met his first wife Hope Lange here. He followed this with two I have not seen: BACHELOR PARTY and A HATFUL OF RAIN, and then two westerns which I liked as a kid: the engaging FROM HELL TO TEXAS in ’58, and the more sprawling THESE THOUSAND HILLS in 1959, with young Lee Remick, and that other 20^th Century Fox boy, Stuart Whitman. 
Gritty realism followed with THE HOODLUM PRIEST and the very Irish saga SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL in 1959. Maybe his last interesting role was as senator Brig Anderson in Otto’s ADVISE AND CONSENT in 1962, who commits suicide when his wartime gay affair is about to be exposed – and we get that first look at a gay bar in American film, as Brig reels back in horror, leaving his wartime buddy lying in the gutter. (review at Murray label).

He was back with Lee Remick in BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL in 1965, but now Steve McQueen was the lead, and it was the era of the new boys like Beatty and Redford. He did a rubbish British film in 1967: THE VIKING QUEEN – we avoided it at the time, but I have now ordered a copy as it seems delirious fun, a certified Trash Classic. Murray continued in a long career, in lesser films and lots of television (like KNOTS LANDING), but like many others had a good late Fifties era.

Richard Beymer, now in his late Seventies (born 1938) was a child actor – he was Jennifer Jones’ son in De Sica’s INDISCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE in 1954, and then after a lot of television, came his run of 20^th Century Fox movies in the late Fifties and early Sixties: George Stevens’ THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK in 1959, WEST SIDE STORY, Fox comedies HIGH TIME and BACHELOR FLAT (which we liked at the time), THE STRIPPER with Joanne Woodward and Carol Lynley in 1963 (review at Woodward label) and the lead in HEMINGWAY’S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN in 1962, as per recent review, below), plus FIVE FINGER EXERCISE and THE LONGEST DAY in 1962. Perhaps Beymer wasn’t distinctive enough, and Fox already had the likes of Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter under contract …. He continued keeping busy, returning to the limelight in David Lynch’s TWIN PEAKS in 1990, and it was interesting seeing him ageing well in items like MURDER SHE WROTE.

Dean Stockwell. Another child actor, born 1936, has clocked up over 200 credits according to IMDB. He was in ANCHORS AWEIGH with Gene Kelly in 1945, Losey’s THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR in 1948, KIM with Errol Flynn, then came those “sensitive” roles in COMPULSION in 1959, SONS AND LOVERS in 1960, LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT in 1962, RAPTURE in 1965, as well as TV roles in the likes of WAGON TRAIN, DR KILDARE. Later films include that terrific thriller AIR FORCE ONE, PARIS TEXAS, DUNE, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., BLUE VELVET, THE PLAYER and more.

Brandon De Wilde (1942-1972). Another child actor, but less fortunate, in that he was killed in a traffic accident when aged 30, after being a child actor on Broadway when aged 9 in THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING, which role he repeated in the 1953 film.. We have already covered his career in detail, at label, and those films we like, such as ALL FALL DOWN and HUD, and those westerns like SHANE and NIGHT PASSAGE where he has some nice scenes with James Stewart.

Pamela Tiffin. Pamela, born 1942, was the delightfully daffy and attractive alternative to those blondes like Sandra Dee or Carol Lynley, and had some good years in the early Sixties. She started as a model and came to attention in SUMMER AND SMOKE in 1961, when we loved her in Billy Wilder’s ONE TWO THREE. Some zany comedy roles followed in COME FLY WITH ME, THE PLEASURE SEEKERS, STATE FAIR, THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL and HARPER in 1966. She the decamped to European comedies in Italy, co-starring with the likes of Marcello Mastroianni, before giving up acting to concentrate on family life.

Carol Lynley. Another young model, also born 1942, had a longer career, starting with Walt Disney in THE LIGHT IN THE FOREST in 1958, and then at Fox in that favourite, HOUND DOG MAN with Fabian and Stuart Whitman, THE STRIPPER, HOLIDAY FOR LOVERS, BLUE DENIM with Brandon De Wilde, RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE, THE LAST SUNSET. I did not want to see UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE where she co-stars with Jack Lemmon, and she was also in Otto’s THE CARDINAL in 1963, and the lead in his BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING in 1965, with Olivier (right) and Keir Dullea (also featured here, see label). She was later in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE in 1972 in hotpants, and was a long time companion of David Frost’s. She kept busy in lesser films (THE SHUTTERED ROOM wasn’t too bad), but then there was that 1965 cheapo version of HARLOW … reviews of some of these at Lynley label.

Vera Miles. Now in her late 80s and retired for years, Vera Miles is probably the biggest name featured here – it was a long if fairly ordinary career but her two each for John Ford and Hitchcock will ensure she is long remembered, as THE SEARCHERS, THE WRONG MAN, PSYCHO and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALLANCE will always be screened somewhere. She began in 1950 and early roles included some routine westerns, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS television shows (he had her under personal contract – like he had Tippi Hedren – and was building VERTIGO for Miles, but she had got pregnant by husband Gordon Scott – she had done one of his TARZAN pictures. She wears that unflattering wig in PSYCHO as she had done a downbeat war movie FIVE BRANDED WOMEN for Martin Ritt in Italy and had her head shaved for it. She is glamorous though in A TOUCH OF LARCENCY in 1960, and suitably nasty in AUTUMN LEAVES with Crawford in 1956, and BACK STREET in ‘61. Other leads included 23 PACES TO BAKER STREET, HELLFIGHTERS with Wayne in 1968, and lots more television.  

Next lot to include Tuesday Weld, Carolyn Jones, Paula Prentiss, Barry Coe, Farley Granger, Earl Holliman,  and some Europeans and British ....

Dolce Vita Confidential

Christmas has come early for me with this terrific read, a new book on that Roman La Dolce Vita era, which really began in 1958 and into the early Sixties, that terrific time when Rome was the centre of the movie universe. Lets quote the blurb:

"Shawn Levy has composed an exuberant portrait of postwar Rome and the film-makers, movie stars, fashion designers, journalists and paparazzi whose supreme hunger, energy and creativity transformed it into the most stylish city in the world. He brings an infectious and free-wheeling enthusiasm to every page as he reintroduces us to the extravagant romanticism of fast cars, reckless hedonism and beautiful people behind the resurrection of the Eternal City.".

From the ashes of World War II, Rome was reborn as the epicenter of film, fashion, creative energy, tabloid media, and bold-faced libertinism that made Italian a global synonym for taste, style, and flair. A confluence of cultural contributions created a bright, burning moment in history: it was the heyday of fashion icons such as Pucci, whose use of color, line, and superb craftsmanship set the standard for womens clothing for decades, and Brioni, whose confident and classy creations for men inspired the contemporary American suit. Rome's huge movie studio, Cinecitta, also known as Hollywood-on-the Tiber, attracted a dizzying array of stars from Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, and Frank Sinatra to that stunning and combustible couple, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who began their extramarital affair during the making of Cleopatra. And behind these stars trailed street photographers Tazio Secchiarioli, Pierluigi Praturlon, and Marcello Gepetti who searched, waited, and pounced on their subjects in pursuit of the most unflattering and dramatic portraits of fame.

Fashionistas, exiles, moguls, and martyrs flocked to Rome hoping for a chance to experience and indulge in the glow of old money, new stars, fast cars, wanton libidos, and brazen news photographers. The scene was captured nowhere better than in Federico Fellini s masterpiece, La Dolce Vita, starring Marcello Mastroianni and the Swedish bombshell Anita Ekberg. It was condemned for its licentiousness, when in fact Fellini was condemning the very excess, narcissism, and debauchery of Rome s bohemian scene.

Gossipy, colorful, and richly informed, Dolce Vita Confidential re-creates Rome's stunning ascent with vivid and compelling tales of its glitterati and artists, down to every last outrageous detail of the city's magnificent transformation.

Shawn Levy is new to me, but I like his vivid prose and great use of language. He captures it all here, the era of Ponti and De Laurentiis, Loren and Lollo, Fellini and Antonioni ("the anti-Fellini" as Shawn says, but he highly rates the Antonioni films), plus visiting stars like Belinda Lee, the Burtons and all that scandal. Rome is at the centre of it all, with of course all that Italian fashion - those stylish mens' suits, the new scooters and the rise of Italian food.

Eternal Rome: all roads lead to it, it wasn't built in a day, and when in Rome you do as the Romans do. 

As Levy says the Italian movie renaissance began with a destitute man and his son looking for his bicycle, and follows with a newspaperman on a Vespa scooting an errant princess through the picturesque ruins, and ends with another newspaperman, among a throng of hungover aristocrats, staring at the bloated corpse of a sea monster on a wind-swept beach. 

Along the way the producers, directors, hucksters, hanger-ons, playboys and playgirls, pararazzi and others had a whole lot of fun, and a lot of it is captured here. 

So, for lovers of Italian movies, and Italy in general, and the international high life, there is a lot to enjoy here. I am now looking forward to getting Levy's take on London in the Swinging Sixties: READY STEADY GO!  

THE Italian double bill ?

A friend and I were discussing fantasy double bills, here is my Italian choice ... two of our timeless favourites, discussed many times here, as per labels. Rossellini's 1953 classic VOYAGE TO ITALY (below) with Antonioni's L'AVVENTURA. The Rossellini really paved the way for those Antonioni classics. 

Alternatively, for great Fifties Italian cinema: Fellini's 1953 small town drama I VITELLONI twinned with Bolognini's 1959 saga of petty hoodlums and prostitutes, as scripted by Pasolini, but glamorised and how by Bolognini ... LA NOTTE BRAVA. (We are doing a post on Bolognini next ...).

Below: Jean-Claude Brialy and Tomas Milian in a rather steamy scene (for 1959) from LA NOTTE BRAVA. 

For Italian glamour and decadence, one could not beat Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST with a Visconti: THE LEOPARD or his final masterpiece L'INNOCENTE from 1976.

I would also have to make a dramatic double bill of Wertmuller's 1975 opus SEVEN BEAUTIES, with maybe Vancini's THE LONG NIGHT OF '43 ...  and what about Visconti's SANDRA from 1975, with maybe Antonioni's LE AMICHE ....  endless possibilities. More on all these at Italian labels. French double-bills soon, perhaps. 

Take 3 girls - Italian style

Here's an oddity: despite my affection for British and Italian cinema I had never heard of SOUVENIR D'ITALIE (or IT HAPPENED IN ROME) a 1957 confection about 3 girls travelling in Italy - its sort of a romantic comedy with lots of scenery, a fascinating view now. But why it is so unknown, ok its just a bit of fluff, but maybe it never even played here - I checked my 1957 "Films and Filming" magazines and there is no review or ads for it (ditto another '57 one filmed in Italy: Diana Dors and Vittorio Gassman in THE GIRL AT THE PALIO set at the famous Palio race in Sienna). 

This one - SOUVENIR D'ITALIE - features prim English girl June Laverick (she wears spectacles!) driving her snazzy sportscar and giving a lift to hitchers Isabelle Corey (the headstrong one) and German Ingeborg Schoner (the sensible one). The car zooms zooms over the cliff into the sea at Portofino, so the gals have to hitch. We see them in Florence,Venice and Pisa before they head to Rome, so yes lots of Italy as it was 50+ years ago. 

An amusing sequence sees British grand dame Isabel Jeans (in a dry run for her role in GIGI) posing by that statue of David, with Alberto Sordi as her companion. He soon joins the girls through. Other men are Gabrielle Ferzetti and Massimo Girotti and Vittorio De Sica - for it is he - as a Count who offers the girls some hospitality in Venice. The men of course are dubbed but it does not matter in a slight trifle like this. I liked it a lot, directed by Antonio Pietrangeli. The girls of course all end up with their particular guy. 

June Laverick was a British starlet of the era, who did a few trifles (THE DUKE WORE JEANS with Tommy Steele, a Norman Wisdom film, and a good role in Losey's THE GYPSY AND THE GENTLEMAN in 1958, last credit in 1970). 

This was Italy before the LA DOLCE VITA era took off, Corey went on to Bolognini's GIOVANI MARITI while Ferzetti was on that island with Antonioni and Vitti for L'AVVENTURA filmed in late 1959.  Vittorio clocked up 10 acting credits in '57 - he probably just spent a few days on this one. 

Those Italian ladies

Regulars here will know how we appreciate those Italian ladies - Sophia, Monica, Gina, Claudia, Silvana, then there's Alida Valli, Elsa Martinelli, Laura Antonelli and of course Magnani .... here are a clutch of new stills. Thanks to Colin for the Sophia pictures I had not seen before; and to that great site Silents & Talkies for that stunning Vitti portrait. (http://silentsandtalkies.blogspot.co.uk/)
I like this one of Claudia and Monica together too - they co-starred a few times in Italian comedies in the '70s, BLONDE IN BLACK LEATHER is a lot of fun, as per my review at their labels. We love Silvana too in those items like MAMBO, THE SEA WALL, TEMPEST and those later Visconti and Pasolini films she appeared in. They all have amazing faces and certainly ramp up the glamour. Its been great too discovering Sophia's Italian movies from 1954 and '55 before she went into American films: I particularly like TOO BAD SHE'S BAD, SCANDAL IN SORRENTO, WOMAN OF THE RIVER etc., as per reviews (Italian labels). 

Lots more on them at the labels.

Claudia in THE LEOPARD or SANDRA, Monica in L'AVVENTURA or L'ECLISSE or MODESTY BLAISE, Sophia in anything. Valli in SENSO, Magnani in WILD IS THE WIND or BELLISSIMA, Antonelli in L'INNOCENTE, and how could we forget Gina Lollobrigida in so many movie moments ....

1962: Boccaccio 70

Back to 1962 again for BOCCACCIO 70 that fascinating compendium, then of 3 episodes, marketed as Fellini directs Anita Ekberg, Visconti directs Romy Schneider and De Sica with Sophia Loren once again. There was though a fourth episode, by Monicelli, with no major names (Marisa Solinas and Germano Gilioli, above) which was cut from the release print, to the annoyance of critics at the time who boycotted a party held by producer Carlo Ponti. As I mentioned here before, the dvd now has the full four episodes and the Monicelli proves a perfect summertime treat, as we join our young couple looking for some time to themselves in a crowded city with crowded workplaces, family homes and very crowded swimming pools. Its a perfect early 1960s Italian delight ...

Of course Romy (with Tomas Milian), Anita as the giant billboard that comes to life, and Sophia as the fairground girl who is raffled off every week, also amuse .... 

If you do not know this one, it is worth seeking out. 

London's BFI is holding a Vittoria De Sica retrospective (or really Vittorio's Greatest Hits) in August - including his classics like BICYCLE THIEVES in an extended run, plus UMBERTO D, and early ones like SHOESHINE, GATE OF HEAVEN, MIRACLE IN MILAN, the oddball THE LAST JUDGEMENT as well as GOLD OF NAPLES and his Loren-Mastroianni hits, plus TWO WOMEN and ending with GARDEN OF THE FINZI CONTINIS - but not BOCCACCIO 70 or CONDEMNED OF ALTONA or his last two as director A BRIEF VACATION or THE VOYAGE. They also incude several of his acting roles: BREAD LOVE & DREAMS with Gina, but not SCANDAL IN SORRENTO where he is very amusing with Sophia - nor several of his others with Loren (TOO BAD SHE'S BAD, THE MILLIONAIRESS, IT STARTED IN NAPLES), or his MONTE CARLO STORY with Dietrich, NERO'S LOST WEEKEND with Gloria Swanson and the young B.B,, but they do include Ophuls' MADAME DE... , and  IL GENERALE DELLA ROVERE for Rossellini, in 1959.  plus his 1954 Selznick opus INDISCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE and his acting role in A FAREWELL TO ARMS.  They could have included his final acting role in Warhol's BLOOD FOR DRACULA! 

Vittorio as I said before, was a larger than life character, like John Huston or Orson Welles, who not only made his own films but also acted in others', no doubt to finance his gambling and other family expenses .... Sophia features him a lot in her latest autobio.
Soon: more Italian glamour with those DOLLS and QUEENS !

Fathers

Some of our favourite fathers, seeing as its Father's Day ....   (for Dad) 

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, 1962 - Has there been a more fundamentally decent father than Atticus Finch?, the widower and small-town lawyer expertly played by Gregory Peck, in Robert Mulligan's classic from the perennially loved book by Harper Lee. I loved the book, and then I loved the film ... as we spend time with Scout and Jem and Boo Radley, while Atticus has his day in court, in this Deep South Gothic drama with the spellbinding images. It all works perfectly, particularly that ending as Atticus watches over the children ....

BICYCLE THIEVES, 1948 - In broken post-war Rome, a father struggles to provide for his family. He gets a job sticking posters on walls but his bicycle gets stolen. Father and son scour the city looking for it, and then the unthinkable happens - the father is reduced to stealing a bicycle and gets caught and we see it all through his son's eyes ..... Since its release in 1948 Vittorio Se Sica's masterpiece has come to define the Italian New-Realistic movement, but it is a timeless classic, acted by non-professionals and De Sica finds the humanity in all of them, as we share the father's desperation to provide for the family when the world is conspiring against him. There is that stunning moment when the family sheets are pawned, and the pawnbroker places them on top of a pile of other families' sheets, all waiting to be reclaimed .... (see De Sica label for review).

FINDING NEMO, 2003 - One of Pixar's most enduringly popular animated features which one can enjoy time and time again, as we follow Nemo's worried father (a clown fish voiced by Albert Brooks) who seems to go half way round the planet to find his lost son, the only survivor when his family are destroyed .... Andrew Stanton's film captures the father's helplessness as he wants the best for his offspring and then allowing him to discover whats best for himself, as I suppose all our fathers had to ....

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, 1944 - Before the 1904 World Fair in St Louis, the Smith family learn lessons about life and love as they prepare for a reluctant move to New York, as the paterfamilias Mr Smith (Leon Ames) think it is best for them. He had not reckoned though on Tootie and her snowmen, the boy next door, and daughters Esther (Judy Garland) and Rose (Lucille Bremer) and their romantic complications. Add in Marjorie Main's cook and Henry Davenport's grandpa, as well as Mary Astor's perfect mother who will stand by her husband, no matter what, and poor Mr Smith (who vetoes having dinner an hour early so Rose can get her call from her beau in New York without all the family listening) does not stand a chance of moving ..... A Golden Age (and Minnelli) Classic and the ultimate dream factory movie made at that crucial point in the Second World War, when dreadful things were happening in Europe ....

Sophia's Sign of Venus, 1955

Its been fun catching up with those early Sophia Loren films, from before she went into American films in the mid-50s. I loved SCANDAL IN SORRENTO (PANE, AMORE E ...) recently, a delicious comedy with her friend and mentor Vittorio De Sica, and there's that marvellous dance number they do .... (see below), LUCKY TO BE A WOMAN was fun too, with Charles Boyer, and now we have THE SIGN OF VENUS (IL SEGNO DI VENERE), another 1955 comedy from director Dino Risi, with De Sica again and Raf Vallone, plus Alberto Sordi and a super supporting cast. Five years later De Sica directed her to the Best Actress Oscar (first in a foreign language, TWO WOMEN). 

As I have said before about Sophia (80 now but still out making appearances) she really has one of the greatest international careers, from starting off as an extra on QUO VADIS in 1950 to headlining her own spectaculars a decade later - she has equal billing with Heston in EL CID, filmed in 1960, and led the cast in FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE in 1964. She and Marilyn Monroe began about the same time: bit parts in 1950 and breaking through in 1953. She worked non-stop throughout the '50s and '60s. Those early ones are fascinating now though: that bit part in Silvana Mangano's ANNA, and WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 1954 was particularly busy for her: WOMAN OF THE RIVER where the young me first noticed her, ATTILA, and that delicious comedy TOO BAD SHE'S BAD, that first pairing with Marcello and Vittorio, who also directed her in his GOLD OF NAPLES in '54. 

By 1957 she was in America, in her early twenties, (after BOY ON A DOLPHIN and LEGEND OF THE LOST) with those early films we liked: HOUSEBOAT with Grant, THE BLACK ORCHID with Quinn, and back in Naples for IT STARTED IN NAPLES with Gable, among the many she did then. Then it was THE KEY and THE MILLIONAIRESS both filmed in England,  before back to Europe for more hits .... 

THE SIGN OF VENUS is a pleasing comedy about a woman, Cesira (Franca Valleri) who tries to get a husband any way she can.
 We watch her struggle, while her more glamorous and vivacious cousin (Sophia) gets all the attention from various men without any trouble at all. Vittorio de Sica as an old, poor poet also has some funny scenes. It is not really a happy ending though, but life is like that.
 What is fascinating is seeing the talented young Loren just waiting to go further and be even more sensational, she is only about 21 here. 
We like her latest autobiograhy too, as per review, where she shares her mementos and memories of Grant, Burton, O'Toole, Marcello and the others as she looks back at it all, particularly those early days in the Italian cinema of the Fifties. 
Sky Arts television screens a new documentary on her tonight: DISCOVERING SOPHIA LOREN, to go with their recent ones on Katharine and Audrey Hepburn. 
Left: My 1979 Sophia autograph - yes I met her too, when she packed out Selfridges for her (then) book signing.