San Sebastian Film Festival ::

Mario Monicelli, Cesare Civita, Alberto Mondadori

Italy

Amateur adaptation of a delirious story by Edgar Allan Poe starring a man obsessed with the sick eye of the old man with whom he lives. Monicelli made this film with his cousin, Alberto Mondadori, in 16 mm and with no sound. The future filmmaker Alberto Lattuada was the art director.

I ragazzi della via Paal

Mario Monicelli, Alberto Mondadori

Italy

Another 16 mm silent short made with Alberto Mondadori. On this occasion the adaptation of a tremendously popular novel at that time, The Paul Street Boys, by the Hungarian author Ferenc Molnár, depicting rival groups of boys in the streets of Budapest. Landed first prize in the Passo Ridotto section at the Venice Mostra.

Totò cerca casa / Totò Looks for an Apartment

Steno, Mario Monicelli

Italy

Beniamino Lomacchio is starving and penniless. Having lost his house during the war, he finds temporary shelter in a classroom. When school starts again he is forced to look for a new accommodation in a cemetery, of which he is also appointed the guard, but too afraid, he returns to the school only to be thrown out. Finding a luxury apartment, he discovers that a swindler has l...

Beniamino Lomacchio is starving and penniless. Having lost his house during the war, he finds temporary shelter in a classroom. When school starts again he is forced to look for a new accommodation in a cemetery, of which he is also appointed the guard, but too afraid, he returns to the school only to be thrown out. Finding a luxury apartment, he discovers that a swindler has let it to several tenants at the same time.

Al diavolo la celebrità / A Night of Fame

Steno, Mario Monicelli

Italy

When Franco Bresci, a young teacher and expert in oriental languages, is hired by diplomat Bernard Stork as a translator, he soon falls in love with his secretary, Ellen. Losing his job following a translation error, he invokes the Devil, who introduces him to the pleasures of celebrity in the figures of a tenor and a boxer.

È arrivato il cavaliere!

Steno, Mario Monicelli

Italy

A group of people with no fixed abode camps in a desert area, former site of an air-raid shelter during the war, on which the landowner decides to build a house for his soon-to-be-married daughter. The news alarms the group who, led by the Cavaliere, comes up with a plot to stay. But the subway builders force them to give in.

Vita da cani / A Dog’s Life

Steno, Mario Monicelli

Italy

In the small vaudeville company led by the Cavaliere Martoni, three of the chorus girls seeking fortune must decide their future: Vera marries a despicable businessman and has an unhappy ending; Franca has a happy marriage and Margherita achieves success.

Guardie e ladri / Cops and Robbers

Steno, Mario Monicelli

Italy

As he approaches retirement, in order to keep his job, Brigadiere Bottoni has three months to catch Esposito, a small-time swindler who slipped through his fingers. After following him for some time, the two become friends, discovering that they have many problems in common. Understanding each other?s reasons, Esposito allows himself to be captured and Bottoni hides the truth f...

As he approaches retirement, in order to keep his job, Brigadiere Bottoni has three months to catch Esposito, a small-time swindler who slipped through his fingers. After following him for some time, the two become friends, discovering that they have many problems in common. Understanding each other?s reasons, Esposito allows himself to be captured and Bottoni hides the truth from Esposito's family.

Totò e i re di Roma / Totò and the King of Rome

Steno, Mario Monicelli

Italy

Ercole Pappalardo, a poor Ministry archivist and married father of five children, arouses such hatred in his boss that the latter fires him on discovering that he lacks the elementary education certificate. Ercole decides to commit suicide in order to tell his wife the winning combination of lottery numbers from the other world. But even there things don?t turn out as he expect...

Ercole Pappalardo, a poor Ministry archivist and married father of five children, arouses such hatred in his boss that the latter fires him on discovering that he lacks the elementary education certificate. Ercole decides to commit suicide in order to tell his wife the winning combination of lottery numbers from the other world. But even there things don?t turn out as he expects.

Totò e le donne / Totò and the Women

Steno, Mario Monicelli

Italy

Antonio Scaparro is obsessed with women, and particularly with his wife. To his relief, he finds some peace and quiet in the attic, from where he explains the methods used by women to make men's life impossible.

Le infedeli / The Unfaithfuls

Steno, Mario Monicelli

Italy

A rich doctor infatuated with a model has his wife, Luisa, followed by an unscrupulous detective accustomed to blackmail in the hope of finding a good excuse to divorce her. But things turn sour for everyone.

Totò e Carolina

Mario Monicelli

Italy

In a raid carried out by the anti-prostitution brigade in the Villa Borghese gardens, agent Caccavallo arrests Carolina, mistaking her for a prostitute. In fact, the girl has left home because she is pregnant. The superintendent entrusts Caccavallo with the job of taking her back to her native village. But when nobody wants to take her in, he decides to give the girl shelter hi...

In a raid carried out by the anti-prostitution brigade in the Villa Borghese gardens, agent Caccavallo arrests Carolina, mistaking her for a prostitute. In fact, the girl has left home because she is pregnant. The superintendent entrusts Caccavallo with the job of taking her back to her native village. But when nobody wants to take her in, he decides to give the girl shelter himself.

Proibito / Forbidden

Mario Monicelli

Italy-France

Don Paolo, a young cleric from Sardinia, returns to his native village as the parish priest of the small church, now closed and almost in ruins. Driven by religious zeal, he sets out to work in order to open it again for worship, but his efforts seem useless due to an old feud between two families, the Corraine and the Barras.

Un eroe dei nostri tempi / A Hero of Our Times

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Alberto lives with his old aunt and his elderly maid, whose joint attentions and fears have turned him into a shy young man lacking in initiative. In order to avoid being accused of committing a crime, he always writes down everything he does in a notebook so that he?ll know what to say if he?s ever interrogated. But it?s precisely this perpetual indecision and lack of courage ...

Alberto lives with his old aunt and his elderly maid, whose joint attentions and fears have turned him into a shy young man lacking in initiative. In order to avoid being accused of committing a crime, he always writes down everything he does in a notebook so that he?ll know what to say if he?s ever interrogated. But it?s precisely this perpetual indecision and lack of courage that get him involved in a series of misadventures with a colleague who is in love with him.

Donatella

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Donatella, a bookbinder?s daughter, finds a rich American woman?s bag and returns it to her, thus earning the trust of the lady, who asks the girl to stay at her villa so that it won?t seem empty while she?s away in New York. There she meets Maurizio, who falls in love with her. But he?s on the point of losing Donatella when he mistakes her for a social climber.

I soliti ignoti / Big Deal on Madonna Street

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Five unlikely small-time thieves get a tip for a foolproof pawnshop robbery. Although they receive lessons from a retired safecracker, instead of reaching the strongbox they end up in a kitchen. The job goes wrong, but at least they have a good meal.Silver Shell at San Sebastian Festival in 1958, ex-aequo with Alfred Hitchcock?s Vertigo.

La grande guerra / The Great War

Mario Monicelli

Italy-France

During the First World War, and despite their attempts to avoid it, Oreste Iacovacci, from Rome, and Giovanni Busacca, from Milan, are sent to the front, where they try to avoid danger. However, captured by the Austrians, they show that they know how to die with dignity.

Risate di gioia / Joyful Laughter

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Gioia Pennicotti, an extra at Cinecittà, where people call her Tortorella, is invited to a dinner party on New Year's Eve to avoid having thirteen guests. But she?s ditched when the arrival of an additional guest renders her presence useless. Not wanting to be alone, she decides to go out with her friend Umberto Pennazzutto, a bit actor nicknamed Bad Luck now in the employment...

Gioia Pennicotti, an extra at Cinecittà, where people call her Tortorella, is invited to a dinner party on New Year's Eve to avoid having thirteen guests. But she?s ditched when the arrival of an additional guest renders her presence useless. Not wanting to be alone, she decides to go out with her friend Umberto Pennazzutto, a bit actor nicknamed Bad Luck now in the employment of Lello the thief.

Boccaccio '70 (“Renzo e Luciana”) / Boccaccio ‘70 (“Renzo e Luciana”)

Vittorio De Sica (La riffa), Federico Fellini (Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio), Mario Monicelli (Renzo e Luciana), Luchino Visconti (Il lavoro)

Italy-France

Two workers, Renzo and Luciana, must keep their marriage secret if they don?t want to lose their jobs. When their boss finds out, he fires them. And when they finally find a house and new jobs, they are separated by their working shifts: one starts when the other one finishes.

I compagni / The Organizer

Mario Monicelli

Italy-France-Yugoslavia-Australia

The action takes place in a textile factory in late 19th century Turin. Professor Sinigaglia leads a strike for better working conditions. A group of blacklegs tries to break the walkout and one of the workers dies in the scuffle. Police intervention brings the stoppage to an end, but the workers have come to realise their power and their rights.

Casanova '70 / Casanova ‘70

Mario Monicelli

Italy-France

Andrea, a NATO commander, is a true Casanova. Only able to make love in dangerous situations, his psychiatrist advises him to go on holiday and relax. But that?s when the trouble starts.San Sebastian Award for Best Director and Best Actor, Marcello Mastroianni, at San Sebastian Festival in 1965.

L'Armata Brancaleone / For Love and Gold

Mario Monicelli

Italy-France-Spain

In the Middle Ages, penniless knight Brancaleone da Norcia leads an ill-fated group in its endeavour to conquer a fiefdom. Following a series of adventures (the plague, a widow beset by desire, the rescue of a maiden who has fallen into the hands of bandits, an attack by Saracen pirates) they fail to capture the fiefdom and decide to leave for the Holy Land.

La ragazza con la pistola / Girl with a Pistol

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Loved and left by Vincenzo Maccaluso, the smitten Assunta, from Sicily, follows him to England armed with a gun and a thirst for revenge. While she succeeds in finding Vincenzo working in a hospital, she also meets a doctor who talks her out of killing him. But Assunta finally takes vengeance her own way.San Sebastian Award for Best Actress, Monica Vitti, at San Sebastian Fes...

Loved and left by Vincenzo Maccaluso, the smitten Assunta, from Sicily, follows him to England armed with a gun and a thirst for revenge. While she succeeds in finding Vincenzo working in a hospital, she also meets a doctor who talks her out of killing him. But Assunta finally takes vengeance her own way.San Sebastian Award for Best Actress, Monica Vitti, at San Sebastian Festival in 1968.

Brancaleone alle crociate / Brancaleone at the Crusades

Mario Monicelli

Italy-Algeria

Brancaleone da Norcia and his small ragged army set out to conquer the Holy Sepulchre. Having lost his fellow fighters in a battle, Brancaleone desperately calls for Death; but once in its presence, he takes cold feet and asks for more time. Granted his wish, and having saved the baby son of a Norman king, Brancaleone sets out with yet another bedraggled legion to return the bo...

Brancaleone da Norcia and his small ragged army set out to conquer the Holy Sepulchre. Having lost his fellow fighters in a battle, Brancaleone desperately calls for Death; but once in its presence, he takes cold feet and asks for more time. Granted his wish, and having saved the baby son of a Norman king, Brancaleone sets out with yet another bedraggled legion to return the boy to his father as he heads for the Crusades.San Sebastian Award for Best Actor, Vittorio Gassman, at San Sebastian Festival in 1971.

La mortadella

Mario Monicelli

Italy-France

Maddalena Ciarrapico leaves her job in Italy to join her fiancé, Michele Bruni, in New York. But they won?t allow her through airport customs as she?s carrying a mortadella sausage and American laws forbid the entrance of cold meats to the USA. Refusing to leave it, Maddalena finds herself in increasingly deeper water.

Vogliamo i colonnelli / We Want the Colonels

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Right-wing deputy Giuseppe Tritoni organizes a coup d'état. When the moment comes, nothing works out as it should. The Interior Minister has emergency laws approved and these, under a cloak of democracy, constitute the real coup.

Romanzo popolare

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Giulio, a worker from Milan, marries a southern girl far younger than himself, Vincenzina. All goes well until the appearance of Giovanni, a cop who falls in love with the girl. Although she first of all rejects his advances, she finally gives in to him. Giulio, who had shown himself in a modern light until then, throws her out, leaving her to raise the child alone. Vincenzina ...

Giulio, a worker from Milan, marries a southern girl far younger than himself, Vincenzina. All goes well until the appearance of Giovanni, a cop who falls in love with the girl. Although she first of all rejects his advances, she finally gives in to him. Giulio, who had shown himself in a modern light until then, throws her out, leaving her to raise the child alone. Vincenzina finally leaves Giovanni and comes to an understanding with Giulio.

Amici miei / My Friends

Mario Monicelli

Italy

A group of friends (Necchi, a bar owner; Perozzi, a journalist; Melandri, an architect; and Macetti, a ruined nobleman) live in Florence. They have been friends since childhood and spend their time playing abominable jokes on all and sundry, known to them or not. The intention of these four men in their fifties -later to number five with the incorporation of Sassaroli, a famous...

A group of friends (Necchi, a bar owner; Perozzi, a journalist; Melandri, an architect; and Macetti, a ruined nobleman) live in Florence. They have been friends since childhood and spend their time playing abominable jokes on all and sundry, known to them or not. The intention of these four men in their fifties -later to number five with the incorporation of Sassaroli, a famous doctor- and their pranks or "zingarate" is to exorcize old age and death.

Caro Michele / Dear Michael

Mario Monicelli

Italy

After the May 1968 student revolt, a disgruntled Michele decides to head for London, from where he continues writing to his mother and sisters. Through these letters we meet several members of his family and friends, and among the latter Mara, who claims to have a son by him. Michele dies in a clash with the police during a demonstration in Bruges.

Un borghese piccolo piccolo / A Very Little Man

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Wanting his son to work in the same ministry as himself, Giovanni Vivaldi, a modest civil servant approaching retirement, joins the same Masonic lodge as his boss. His son sits and passes the written exam, only to be shot by a bank robber before his father?s eyes that same day. Giovanni finds the murderer but, instead of handing him over to the police, he takes him prisoner, to...

Wanting his son to work in the same ministry as himself, Giovanni Vivaldi, a modest civil servant approaching retirement, joins the same Masonic lodge as his boss. His son sits and passes the written exam, only to be shot by a bank robber before his father?s eyes that same day. Giovanni finds the murderer but, instead of handing him over to the police, he takes him prisoner, tortures and kills him.

I nuovi mostri (“First Aid” - “Autostop”) / The New Monsters

Mario Monicelli (First Aid; Autostop), Dino Risi (Con i saluti degli amici; Tantum ergo; Pornodiva; Mammina mammona; Senza parole), Ettore Scola (Il sospetto; Hostaria; Come una regina; Cittadino esemplare; Sequestro di persona cara; Elogio funebre; L’ucc

Italy

First Aid: unable to find a hospital to take a pedestrian knocked down by a car, a snobbish aristocrat returns the man to the scene of the accident. Autostop: a travelling salesman kills a young hitch-hiker who refuses his advances.

Viaggio con Anita / A Trip with Anita

Mario Monicelli

Italy-France

Guido Massaccesi, a wealthy bank employee, married with children, sets out to see his dying father. Suddenly deciding not to travel alone, he takes along an American tourist, hiding the purpose of the trip from her. The truth comes out at the funeral and a huge scandal ensues, but the son gets his revenge when he reveals the family secrets.

Camera d'albergo / Hotel Room

Mario Monicelli

Italy-France

Following their meeting with an arrogant Cinecittà producer, three young men hide a camera in a hotel room. Although their initial intention is to shoot a masterpiece, the result is as scandalous as it is sure to be a hit. This is the tale of two stories: a love triangle and a film within a film.

Il Marchese del Grillo / The Marquis of Grillo

Mario Monicelli

Italy-France

Rome, in the times of Pope Pius VII and the French Revolution. Nobleman Onofrio del Grillo, the Pope's steward, plays all sorts of pranks to fill his time, but his social standing always gets him off the hook.

Amici miei atto II / My Friends Act II

Mario Monicelli

Italy

The film starts where Amici miei ends, at the funeral of Perozzi, whose memory is also conjured up in different flashbacks to events like the Florence floods of 1966. The passing of time has had had no effect on their "zingarate", the increasingly nasty pranks they like to play.

Bertoldo, Bertoldino e… Cacasenno / Bertoldo, Bertoldino, and Cascacenno

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Around the year 1000, at King Alboino's court, three outlandish characters, the peasant Bertoldo, his son Bertoldino, who is always up to no good, and Fra Cipolla da Frosolone, with his tendency to get into trouble, escape from all sorts of absurd situations thanks to their cunning. The king ends up making Bertoldo a Baron.

Le due vite di Mattia Pascal / The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal

Mario Monicelli

Italy-France-Germany-Spain-Switzerland

Womanizer Mattia Pascal is forced to marry a woman who falls pregnant to him. Winning a fortune at roulette, he takes the opportunity to fake his suicide and start a new life, first in Montecarlo and later in Venice. Yet again in dire straits, he returns to his village only to discover that his wife has married his best friend. A life of loneliness awaits him.

I picari

Mario Monicelli

Italy-Spain

Spain, 17th century. Having described their respective backgrounds to one another, two tramps decide to join forces. Setting off on their way, their roads cross with those of a prostitute and a nobleman in even greater dire straits than themselves. The screenplay takes its inspiration from the signature work of Spanish picaresque, Lazarillo de Tormes.

Il male oscuro / Dark Illness

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Giuseppe Marchi, a writer, leaves the widow with whom he has been having an affair and marries a much younger girl than himself, getting her pregnant. He is professionally dissatisfied, suffers pains and has himself operated for a non-existent ulcer and appendicitis, until a psychiatrist makes him understand that it all stems from the unresolved relationship with his late fathe...

Giuseppe Marchi, a writer, leaves the widow with whom he has been having an affair and marries a much younger girl than himself, getting her pregnant. He is professionally dissatisfied, suffers pains and has himself operated for a non-existent ulcer and appendicitis, until a psychiatrist makes him understand that it all stems from the unresolved relationship with his late father, a tyrannical carabinieri officer.

Parenti serpenti / Dearest Relatives, Poisonous Relations

Mario Monicelli

Italy

During a Christmas holiday, an elderly couple hosts their four children and their families. They ask that one of their offspring look after them in exchange for the inheritance. But none of them want to take on the expenses and they devise with a plan to get rid of their parents.

Cari fottutissimi amici / Dear Goddamned Friends

Mario Monicelli

Italy-Spain

Summer 1944, Tuscany. A scruffy group of boxers headed by a former pugilist travels from one village to another fighting exhibition matches. Dieci and his men are put to all sorts of tests against the background of an Italy emerging from WWII in disastrous conditions.

Un amico magico: Il maestro Nino Rota

Mario Monicelli

Italy

A documentary constituting Monicelli's affectionate tribute to a valued collaborator and great friend, with the appearance of Suso Cecchi d?Amico, Bruno Moretti, Lina Wertmüller, Franco Zeffirelli and archive images of Federico Fellini and Nino Rota himself.

Le rose del deserto / The Roses of the Desert

Mario Monicelli

Italy

The misfortunes of an Italian military medical team in a remote Libyan desert oasis during the 1940 campaign to reinforce the Germans. Their lack of experience causes chaos to reign in the camp until they turn into a kind of humanitarian mission to help the locals.

Vicino al Colosseo… c'è Monti

Mario Monicelli

Italy

Monicelli's very latest film behind the camera is a short that shows everyday life in the neighbourhood of Monti in Rome, where the director has lived for 22 years. Shot in close collaboration with the photographer Chiara Rapaccini, the documentary takes a close look at the most intimate and traditional aspects of life in the district. Shown out of competition at Venice ?08.