La donna è una cosa meravigliosa
(Woman Is a Wonderful Thing, 1964)
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This is NOT a movie by Tinto Brass, but he does have a momentary bit part in the second episode.
This is one of those wonderful, delightful light sophisticated comedies of the early and mid-1960s.
Except for a few little oddities like Dr. Strangelove
and The Pink Panther and How to Steal a Million, they all seem to be forgotten.
Check people’s opinions on the web, and you’ll find that the few who deign to comment don’t have anything good to say.
Something tells me that this isn’t the entire story.
If these films were to be shown again today, I think they would bring the house down.
The film’s opening act, La balena bianca (The White Whale), is a true masterwork.
The members of the Orfei Circus play themselves — sort of.
Midget MC Eros is having a fling with a midget acrobat named Luciana.
The trouble is that Eros is married to the fat-woman acrobat Ciccia.
Eros’s numerous attempts to murder his wife are all in vain, as she is indestructible.
Not only is the story brilliant and captivating, and not only are the circus acts top-notch,
but the design, lighting, and cinematography are unbeatable.
Visually this is one of the most hauntingly gorgeous movies I’ve ever seen.
The cinematographer was the great Gianni Di Venanzo,
and his camera operator, Pasquale (or Pasqualino) De Santis,
later rose in the ranks to become arguably the finest cinematographer of all.
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The second story, Una donna dolce dolce (A Sweet Sweet Woman),
can’t match up to the first, but it’s still a delight.
Childlike wife Rossella, unhappy that her husband Carlo doesn’t want children,
treats him as an infant, relegating him to the children’s den and treating him to countless gifts of baby toys.
Tinto Brass, with what was then his trademark frizzy hair,
plays one of the guests in Rossella and Carlo’s back yard who witness
Carlo’s squirming embarrassment at his wife’s antics.
He has a grand total of two lines.
Sandra Milo plays the lead.
She was also in Il Generale della Rovere
and narrated parts of Ça ira.
The reason?
She was producer Moris Ergas’s mistress at the time.
Maddeningly, the two cartoons (which were in color in this otherwise black-and-white movie)
that originally appeared between the two main stories have been deleted from the home video.
Why? Probably just to annoy us.
This was the end of Tinto Brass’s contract with Moris Ergas and Zebra Film.
I don’t know the reason why, though it might pertain to the censor troubles brought about by his first two features.
After this he would be offered a two-film contract by Dino De Laurentiis,
but under De Laurentiis, Brass would be assigned another writer’s scripts.
why? I don’t know.
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THE MUSIC:
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A mere 43 years after the première, the soundtrack album is released.
It includes the music for “Una donna dolce dolce,” not for “La balena bianca.”
Oh well.... Still great to have, though. |
ANICA — Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche Audiovisive e Multimediali.
Originally released on
Thursday, 31 December 1964
CINERIZ
presenta
moris ergas
presenta
|
la balena
bianca | |
| |
una donna
dolce dolce |
IN UN FILM DI
MAURO BOLOGNINI |
LA DONNA
E` UNA COSA
COSA MERAVIGLIOSA
|
UNA COPRODUZIONE
ITALO FRANCESE
ZEBRA FILM
AERA FILM |
INTERMEZZO ANIMATO
IL MONDO E` DELLE DONNE
di Pino Zac
AMORE
di Y. Kuri |
La balena bianca
| Soggetto di (original story by) | Goffredo Parise |
| Scenegiatura di (screenplay by) | Leonardo Benvenuti
Pieor de Bernardi
Goffredo Parise |
Assistente alla regia
(assistant to the director) | Luigi Bazzoni |
Ispettori di produzione
(unit manager) | Antonio Negri
Carlo Murzilli |
Operatore alla machina
(camera operator) | Pasquale De Santis |
Assistente al montaggio
(assistant to the editor) | Sergio Montanari |
| Segretaria di edizione (continuity) | Wanda Tuzi |
Stabilmento di sviluppo e stampa
(laboratory) | Istituto Luce S.p.A. |
| Edizione sonora (recording studio) | International Recording |
| Le attrezzature e numeri artistici sono stati gentilmente concesi dai (circus equipment and artistic numbers kindly provided by) | Circo Internazionale Orfei |
| Montaggio (editor) | Nino Baragli |
| Costumista (costumes) | Danilo Donati |
| Scenografie di (set designer) | Luigi Scaccianoce |
| Musiche di (music by) | Carlo Rustichelli
Edizione musicali CAM |
Direttore della fotografia
(director of photography) | Gianni Di Venanzo |
Direttore di produzione
(production manager) | Mauro Bolognini |
| PERSONAGGI E INTERPRETI | |
| Ciccia | Giampiera Colombo |
| Eros | Arnoldo Fabrizio |
| Luciana | Carmen Najarro |
Una donna dolce dolce
| Soggetto di (original story by) | Antonio Guerra
e
Giorgio Salvioni |
| Sceneggiatura di (screenplay by) | Leonardo Benvenuti
Piero de Bernardi
Antonio Guerra
Giorgio Salvioni |
Assistente alla regia
(assistant to the director) | Silvio Maestranzi |
Ispettori di produzione
(unit manager) | Antonio Negri
Carlo Murzilli |
Operatore alla macchina
(camera operator) | Arturo Zavattini |
Assistente al montaggio
(assistant to the editor) | Paolo Fiorellino |
| Segretario di edizione (continuity) | Albino Cucco |
Stabilmento di sviluppo e stampa
(laboratory) | Istituto Luce S.p.A. |
| Technico | Enzo Verzini |
| Edizione sonora (recording studio) | Nevada |
| Montaggio di (editing by) | Franco [“Kim”] Arcalli |
| Costumista (costumes) | Piero Tosi |
| Scenografia (set design) | Luigi Scaccianoce |
| Musiche di (music by) | Piero Piccioni
Edizio musicali RCA |
Direttore della fotografia
(director of photography) | Otello Martelli |
Direttore di produzione
(production manager) | Manolo Bolognini |
| PERSONAGGI ED INTERPRETI |
|
| Rossella |
Sandra Milo |
| Carlo |
Vittorio Caprioli |
| Laura |
Beba Loncar |
| Lucia |
Angela Minervini |
| ????? |
Nani Colombo |
| Nonna di Rossella |
Edra Gale |
| Zia Mary |
Paula Goodridge |
| Poldo |
Poldo Bendandi |
| Mario |
Tinto Brass [uncredited] |
|
