|
Films set in Naples (also indexed
under "Neo-Realism")
 What follows is certainly not an exhaustive
list. I have simply listed 19 films that I have seen and
consider worthwhile for one reason or another. That is,
if I were to start a collection of films set in Naples,
I would include these. (In cases where a film has been
mentioned elsewhere within this encyclopedia,
highlighted titles or names link to those sections.
Also, I have not included any film in the vast
repertoire of the Neapolitan Sceneggiata. Click
here for a separate item on that.)
(The
first four films are marked "NR" to indicate
"Neo-Realism" and are also listed separately in the
index.)
In chronological order:
—Paisà
(Paisan, 1946,
dir. Roberto Rossellini) (NR)
One of the great films of postwar Italian Neorealism. It
is an "episode" film with six vignettes, all focusing on
the relationship between the recently liberated Italians
and their American liberators. The most popular vignette
seems to be one that takes place in Naples.
—Sciuscià (Shoe Shine, 1947, dir.
Vittorio de Sica) (NR)
Another classic of Neorealist cinema. It deals with the
lives of the scugnizzi, Neapolitan street
children at the end of WW II. The title, itself, is the
local pronunciation of the word "shoe shine"—which is
how many such children tried to grind out a living.
—Napoli
Milionaria (Naples Millionaire,
1950, dir. Eduardo de
Filippo)
(NR)
Anything by the great playwright De Filippo is about
Naples and worth seeing. This is his own screenplay from
his own stage play. He stars in it, as well, as a
Neapolitan streetcar conductor involved in other
people's problems.
—L'Oro
di Napoli
(The Gold of Naples, 1954,
dir. V.
DeSica)
(NR)
Based on the book by Marotta, this is another episode
film and easily the most popular one among Neapolitans
themselves. Various sides of Neapolitan culture are
presented, all of them worth laughing and thinking
about. Stars the great comic, Totò,
Sofia Loren, De Sica, himself, and Eduardo De Filippo, who gives
his infamous demonstration on the proper way to render
the rude, hand-blown "pernacchio"
("raspberry"—shown on film poster, above.).
—Tarantella
Napoletana
(1954, dir. Camillo
Mastrocinque)
This was only the second color film made in Italy. It
was billed as a "musical" on the level of the "great
American musical comedies." Small difference: this one
has no story at all. It's still worth seeing, though,
since it is a very well-done selection of choreographed
songs about Naples.
—Miseria e
nobiltà (Misery and Nobility, 1954, dir. Mario Mattoli )
A film version of a well-known play from 1888 by Eduardo Scarpetta, master of
the slapstick farce. He created the character of the
likable scatterbrain, Felice Sciosciammocca, played here
by Totò. The film also
features the young Sophia Loren. The plot involves
poverty-stricken Felice and his friend, don Pasquale,
masquerading as aristocratic relatives of a young woman
in order to get her parents approval for a marriage to a
young prince.
—La
banda degli onesti (Honest crooks, 1956, dir.C. Mastrocinque)
Hilarious film about three average Joes
who decide to become counterfeiters. Stars Totò, Peppino de Filippo, and
Giacomo Furia. The scene of the three of them using a
children's "count-out rhyme" to see who has to try to
cash their first phony banknote is worth the price of
admission.
—La sfida (The Challenge, 1958, Francesco Rosi)
Hard-hitting, it was the first of the films about
the Mafia and crooked politicians. It won a prize at the
1958 Venice Film Festival in spite of pressure not to
screen it.
—La baia di Napoli (It
started in Naples, 1960, dir. Melville
Shavelson)
Stars
Sophia Loren and Clark Gable. Romantic comedy about
falling in love on Capri.
Absolute fluff and absolutely delightful. Contains one
of the most popular Italian songs of the last 50 years,
"Tu vuo' fa' l'Americano" (roughly: "You try so hard to
be an American").
—Matrimonio
all'italiana (Marriage, Italian Style, 1964, dir. V.
de Sica)
This is de Sica's masterful rendition of Eduardo de Filippo's
stage-play, Filumena
Maturano, the story of an ingenious
ex-prostitute (Sophia Loren) who gets her common-law
husband (Marcello Mastroiani) to marry her by revealing
to him that he is the father of one of her three sons.
To ensure that he treats all three equally, she refuses
to tell him which one.
—Avanti
(1972, dir. Bill Wilder)
The funniest film set in Naples (ok, technically, the
island of Ischia) ever made by a non-Italian. It is
underrated, but as perfect a comedy, in its own way, as
Wilder's great Some Like it Hot. Stars Jack
Lemmon and Juliet Mills. Secondary roles are
magnificent, including Edward Andrews as an obnoxious US
diplomat. The original title is the Italian word
"Avanti," meaning "come in"). That word (in the sense of
"Forward") is, however, also the title of the Italian
Communist party newspaper; thus, the Italian release of
the film was hobbled by an awful title which translates
as "What Happened Between My Father and Your Mother".
What can I say? It's still a great film.
—Lucky
Luciano (1974, dir. F. Rosi)
Another Rosi film about crime and power. Stars Gian
Maria Volentè as the infamous gangster in Naples
after being deported from the United States.
—Signore
e signori, buonanotte (Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Night, 1976, dir. Leo Benvenuti and
others)
Relatively unknown abroad, this is an episode film, each
one a satire on some aspect of life in Naples. Impressive cast includes Marcello
Mastroiani, Ugo Tognazzi, Vittorio Gassman, Nino
Manfredi, and Paolo Villaggio. Most memorable
scene is of Neapolitan politicians gorging themselves on
a gigantic cake made to resemble the bay and city of
Naples.
—Ricomincio
da tre (1980, Massimo
Troisi)
The late Massimo Troisi was the most popular Neapolitan
comic since Totò. This was his first hit film. He
wrote it, directed it and
starred in it. Essentially, it is about his adventures
as he moves from Naples to Florence. The title, "I'm
starting at three" is a pun
on "to start from zero"—"to
start over." This is a chance to hone your language
skills; Troisi delivers all of his lines in Neapolitan
dialect.
—La
pelle (The Skin, 1981, dir. Liliana
Cavani)
Based on the book by Curzio Malaparte, the film is a
collection of bitter memories about the Allied
liberation of Naples. With Burt Lancaster and Marcello
Mastroiani.
—Cosí
parlò Bellavista (Thus Spake Bellavista, 1984,
dir. Luciano De Crescenzo)
De Crescenzo directs a film based on his own
best-selling book. Explores the differences in being
from the south and the north in Italy, one of De
Crescenzo's favorite topics. He is, at the moment, the
most popular living writer from Naples and has authored
a number of quirky, humorous "histories of philosophy"
for Everyman.
—'O Re (The
King, 1988, dir. Luigi Magni) A good film for
those interested in the history of the risorgimento—the
movement to unify Italy in the 19th century—and the
ultimate defeat of the Bourbon dynasty that had ruled
the Kingdom of Naples. Giancarlo Giannini plays the last
king, Francis II (known as "Franceschiello"), the
likable weakling never meant to rule; Ornella Muti plays
his German-born queen, Maria
Sofia, the "heroine of Gaeta." The film follows
them briefly during their exile in Rome after the fall
of the kingdom. A remarkable film score by Nicola
Piovani.
—Io
speriamo che me la cavo (Ciao, Professore! 1993, dir. Lina Wertmuller)
A brilliant performance by Paolo
Villaggio as a northern grade-school teacher who
winds up in the Neapolitan outback. He learns to
understand the dialect and, most importantly, to
understand the lives of his impoverished school
children. The film is based on a series of real
grade-school essays by local pupils--thus the
grammatical error in the title.
 —Ferdinando e
Carolina (1999, L.
Wertmuller)
The film is, in Wertmueller's words, a "libertine
comedy" about a very unfunny period in the history of
the Kingdom of Naples, the period before the French
Revolution when the young, oafish, and virile Ferdinand
IV was running around the woods hunting while his very
able and ruthless wife, Caroline of Hapsburg, was making
plans to run the kingdom.
to
main index to portal for literature &
film
|
