It started in Naples

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Movie
German title It started in Naples
Original title It started in Naples
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1960
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Melville Shavelson
script Melville Shavelson,
Jack Rose ,
Suso Cecchi D'Amico
production Jack Rose
music Alessandro Cicognini ,
Carlo Savina
camera Robert Surtees
cut Frank Bracht
occupation
synchronization

It Started in Naples (Original title: It Started in Naples ) is an American film romance with Clark Gable and Sophia Loren from the year 1960th

action

The US lawyer Mike Hamilton travels from Philadelphia to Naples to look after the estate of his fatally injured brother. From his professional colleague Mario Vitale, he learns on site that his brother has left an eight-year-old son named Nando who is now growing up on Capri with his aunt Lucia. Lucia, who works as a singer in a nightclub, now fears that Mike will get custody of Nando and that she will never see her beloved nephew again. Although Mike and the spirited Lucia get into an argument at the beginning of their acquaintance on Capri, he assures her that he will not take Nando away from her, but that he would at least support him financially.

When Mike misses the last boat from Capri back to Naples and strolls through the nightly streets of the island looking for entertainment, he finds Nando handing around leaflets with photos of the scantily clad Lucia. After sending Nando home, he goes to Lucia's club and watches one of her show numbers. Shortly thereafter, the two clash again when Mike questions Lucia's parenting methods. Mike is outraged that Nando smokes, skips school all the time and also works as a pickpocket. When he insists that Nando go to the American School in Rome , Lucia storms away furiously.

When Mike wants to pick up Nando from Lucia the next day, Lucia pretends that Mike wants to kidnap the boy, and so makes sure that the neighbors drive Mike away. Nevertheless, Nando meets with his uncle and shows him Capri's beauty. Shortly after, Mike meets with Mario to discuss the next legal steps. However, Mario intends to set Mike and Lucia up. He tells both that one feels drawn to the other. That same evening Mike shows up again in Lucia's club, where they finally dance together. Now that they get to know each other, the always busy Mike is starting to get used to the relaxed and sweet life in Italy. At a street party, Nando asks his uncle when he is going to marry his aunt. When Mike explains to Nando that he does not intend to marry Lucia, Nando runs away disappointed. Mike goes to Lucia and tells her that Nando ran away. Although Lucia pretends to have viewed their relationship as just a fun flirtation, it hurts her that he doesn't seem seriously interested in her.

In a court in Naples, Mario tries to influence the judges in favor of Lucia, whereupon she is granted custody. However, Lucia now understands Mike's wish that Nando should get a good education. With a heavy heart, she tells Nando that he stands in the way of her career as a singer and that he would be better off with his uncle. Sad and disappointed, Nando goes to Mike, who realizes that Lucia only gave up on her nephew because she wants the best for him. Mike sends Nando back to Capri and decides to return to the United States without him. When he gets on his train, however, he realizes that he would actually much rather stay in Italy. Together with Nando he finally returns to Capri, where Lucia welcomes them both happily.

background

The Blue Grotto, a location in the film

The film was shot in 1959 in the Italian Cinecittà film studios and on original locations in Rome, Naples and Capri, where the Blue Grotto also served as a backdrop. For Sophia Loren , who grew up in poor conditions near Naples, the filming meant a triumphant homecoming after she had risen to star in Hollywood and was now cheered and celebrated by the Neapolitan population. She had even more reason to be happy, as Vittorio De Sica played a supporting role with whom she had already made Das Gold von Neapel (1954) and would later collaborate on several more times until his death in 1974, such as in And yet live (1960 ), a melodrama for which Loren received the Oscar for Best Actress a year later .

It started in Naples and premiered in the United States on August 7, 1960 . Clark Gable died of a heart attack just three months later at the age of 59 . It should be his penultimate screen appearance. The film was released in Germany on February 24, 1961. On December 1, 1973 it was first broadcast on television by ZDF . In 2005 the film was released on DVD.

Reviews

For the lexicon of international films , It began in Naples as a "star comedy" that could come up with "many whimsical punchlines" and was "amiably entertaining". Cinema found it was "[h] wonderful how the fiery Loren is allowed to sing, dance and above all rant wildly to her heart's content". The love portrayed between her and Clark Gable is convincing "but at most on the script paper". Prisma said that the "thoroughbred woman Sophia Loren is in her element". In the film, she is “as we know and like to see her”.

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times counted Sophia Loren among the “optical attractions” of the film at the time. The "Gulf of Naples, the Blue Grotto, the port of Capri and various views of the Mediterranean island" are "not nearly as stunning as they". Even Clark Gable is "in their shadow". Variety said that the script and Shavelson's direction were too careful to "make the film roaringly funny and slippery". The resulting humor is sometimes pleasant, sometimes exhausting. However, Gable and Loren are "a surprisingly effective and compatible comedy duo". Above all, Loren offered “a lively and enjoyable performance”. But also the film critic Leonard Maltin again pointed out that the two stars could not convince as lovers, "although they give their best".

Awards

At the 1961 Academy Awards , the film was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Production Design category. However, he could not prevail against Spartacus . Furthermore, received It Started in Naples nominated for a Golden Globe in the category Best Picture - Musical or Comedy . Sophia Loren received nominations for both a Golden Globe and a Laurel Award for Best Actress in a Comedy.

German version

The German dubbed version was created in 1960 by Berliner Synchron GmbH. Klaus von Wahl was responsible for the dubbing and the dialogue script.

role actor Voice actor
Michael Hamilton Clark Gable Siegfried Schürenberg
Lucia Curcio Sophia Loren Marion Degler
Mario Vitale Vittorio De Sica Curt Ackermann
Nando Hamilton Marietto Michael Wuschick
Renzo Paolo Carlini Rainer Brandt
Luigi Claudio Ermelli Walter Bluhm
Lucia's lawyer Marco Tulli Friedrich Joloff

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ It began in Naples. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 13, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ cf. cinema.de
  3. ↑ cf. prisma.de
  4. ↑ “Among the scenic attractions […] is an eyeful named Sophia Loren. And the Bay of Naples, the Blue Grotto, the port of Capri and numerous vistas on the Mediterranean island are scarcely as stunning as she. […] Clark Gable […] lets himself be exposed throughout the picture as a sort of sourpuss in the shadow of the girl. " Bosley Crowther : Backdrop for Sophia Loren: Appears With Gable in 'It Started in Naples' . In: The New York Times , September 3, 1960.
  5. ^ “Both the script and Melville Shavelson's direction try too hard to make the film up-roariously funny and risque. […] Gable and Loren are a surprisingly effective and compatible comedy pair. The latter […] gives a vigorous and amusing performance. " See It Started in Naples . In: Variety , 1960.
  6. ↑ "Star duo never clicks as love match, but they do their best." Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2006 . Signet, 2005, p. 652.
  7. ↑ cf. synchrondatenbank.de
  8. ↑ It began in Naples. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on June 13, 2019 .