The gold of Naples

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Movie
German title The gold of Naples
Original title L'oro di Napoli
Country of production Italy
original language Italian
Publishing year 1954
length 138 minutes
Rod
Director Vittorio De Sica
script Vittorio De Sica
Cesare Zavattini
Giuseppe Marotta based on short stories by Giuseppe Marotta
production Carlo Ponti
Dino De Laurentiis
music Alessandro Cicognini
camera Carlo Montuori
cut Eraldo Da Roma
occupation

The Gold of Naples ( L'oro di Napoli ) is an Italian episode film made in 1954, all six parts of which were directed by Vittorio De Sica . Cesare Zavattini was involved in the script . The episodes take place in Naples and convey a picture of the city's mood in the immediate post-war period. As it is said at the beginning, gold refers to the hope and will to survive of the Neapolitans.

Despite the conscientiously realistic depiction of the surroundings, the focus of the film is not on current problems at the time, as one might have suspected with the neorealists De Sica and Zavattini. Rather, it refers to the “eternity” of the city. De Sica said: “One of the secrets of Naples lies in its nature, unchangeable over the centuries, which defines the people, their habits and their philosophy.” The well-known images of Naples as a city of music and popular festivals that take place in the first The episode unfolding on the street and splendid architecture contrasts the film, especially in the following parts, with scenes that take place indoors and reveal mendacity, helplessness and despair. Among domestic films, The Gold of Naples had the fifth largest grossing in Italy in 1954. It was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955. The theatrical version shown in Germany and the USA only contained four episodes, the third and sixth were left out.

The episodes

First episode "The Tyrant" ( Il guappo )

The first episode shows Totò as a family man who is humiliated and exploited by a violent subtenant with mafia behavior. This spreads across the apartment, can be operated and fed. The power he has over the family and others remains unexplained. Even the children have absolute respect for the lodger while ignoring their father.

One day the lodger comes into the apartment in despair. A doctor has diagnosed him with a heart attack; he fears his death. Totò uses this moment of weakness and rebels noisily against the unpleasant roommate who makes off. A respected doctor makes a counter-diagnosis and the lodger returns to Totò. Because the family is resolutely against him, he leaves lonely.

Second episode "Pizza on credit" ( Pizze a credito )

In her first major film role, Sophia Loren is a pizza maker . She had a close relationship with producer Carlo Ponti , who projected The Gold of Naples with Dino de Laurentiis . Ponti had her audition at de Sica because he wanted to give her the role. The role seemed tailor-made for Loren, she said, “a spirited, passionate Neapolitan - the type of woman I knew so well. She was even still called Sofia. ”De Sica, also from Naples, shared this view. De Laurentiis, however, wanted a well-known, strong name, knew Ponti's personal interest in Loren and reluctantly gave in. During the filming, Loren refined her expression thanks to de Sica, who was herself a seasoned actor. In addition to her temperament, Loren relied on “what nature gave her” in this role. Daniela Sannwald put it this way: “Sofia's white blouse with a decorative ribbon at the neckline goes with her somewhat coarse, peasant-savvy down-to-earth attitude and signals her customers that they are appetizingly clean. Sophia Loren, however, manages a mixture of permissiveness and decency, especially in simple, inexpensive clothing, which drives Catholic men in particular to a frenzy. "

Sofia and her jealous husband sell their pizzas on a pedestrianized street. Little does the husband suspect that she regularly visits a young lover.

Suddenly she notices that she has left her emerald-adorned engagement ring in the lover's bedroom. She pretends to her husband that the ring must have fallen into the pizza dough. Both of them now go one after the other to all buyers who bought a pizza from them that day. Finally, her secret lover reports and gives her the ring back.

Third episode "The Funeral" ( Il funeralino )

"A child has died," announces the subtitle at the beginning of the episode with the most serious tone. There is no story arc: the child's mother leads a funeral procession with a large entourage through the streets of the city. It turns out that she planned every detail of the funeral carefully and wanted to achieve the greatest possible effect on passers-by. In a fascinating way she embodies a mixture of grief, domination, control, ritual, dignity and pride about the great moment of her funeral procession through the boulevard.

Fourth episode "The Players" ( I giocatori )

Director Vittorio De Sica himself plays in this episode. He gives a nobleman whom his rich wife has incapacitated because of his gambling addiction.

Nevertheless, she grants him exit. The count is allowed to play cards - with the ten-year-old son of the porter. The boy wins almost all of the games in which they play worthless trinkets. He's bored with his aristocratic play partner who uses his cards inappropriately and blames his bad luck for the course of the game.

Fifth episode "Teresa" ( Teresa )

Silvana Mangano received the Nastro d'Argento for best actress for the lead role in this episode . She plays the prostitute Teresa from Rome, who gets married in Naples without knowing who she is to be. The agent finally introduces him to her at a meeting in the Galleria Umberto I - the handsome, wealthy Don Nicola.

Nicola evades her questions about why he chose her for the wedding. The wedding will take place soon. On their wedding night, Don Nicola confesses that he feels responsible for the suicide of a young woman who was in love with him. His marriage to an “unworthy one” is a self-willed penance, and he is waiting for the moment when the whole neighborhood knows who he has married. Teresa, who was looking forward to a life as a respected woman, is horrified and packs her suitcase again. In the emptiness of the night she thinks about it - out of strength rather than weakness - and returns to his home.

Sixth episode "Il professore"

The sixth episode revolves around a "professor" whom all sorts of people visit in order to receive advice for all situations from him for a modest fee.

criticism

At that time, the film service ruled that the episodes “Pizza on credit” and “Therese” were not suitable for young people and that the latter were “very sought after and not without a certain embarrassment”. All in all, the film is “softer than usual with de Sica, but still not flowing. Those who enjoy human peculiarities and artistic finesse will enjoy this film. ”Totò gives“ a convincing sample of his subtle comedy ”. The "most cinematic and artistically dense" episode is "The Players", although it has the least to do with Naples. You get by without a lot of words, with skilful pictures of the faces.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adriano Aprà: Naples et ses alentours dans le cinéma sonore (1930-1993): un panorama . In: Adriano Aprà and Jean A. Gili (eds.): Naples et le cinéma . Center Georges Pompidou / Fabbri Editori, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-85850-657-4 , p. 103
  2. ^ Marcia Landy: Italian film . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000, ISBN 0-521-64009-1 , pp. 131-132
  3. ↑ Carlo Celli, Marga Cottino-Jones: A new guide to Italian cinema . Palgrave, New York 2007, ISBN 1-403-97560-4 , p. 173.
  4. ↑ Sophia Loren in her autobiography: Sophia. Life and love . Heyne, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-453-01200-3 , pp. 98-100.
  5. ↑ a b film service , No. 50/1955
  6. ^ Daniela Sannwald: L'oro di Napoli . In: Deutsche Kinemathek Foundation: Sophia Loren . Henschel Verlag, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-89487-203-9 , p. 41.