Luigi Comencini
Encyclopedia
Luigi Comencini was an Italian
film director
. Together with Dino Risi, Ettore Scola and Mario Monicelli
, he was considered among the masters of the commedia all'italiana
genre.
His daughters Cristina and Francesca
are both film directors.
.
His first successful movie was L'imperatore di Capri, featuring Totò
. Comencini's 1953 Pane, amore e fantasia
, with Vittorio De Sica
and Gina Lollobrigida
, is considered a primary example of neorealismo rosa (pink neorealism). It was followed by Pane, amore e gelosia.
After a first work with Alberto Sordi
(La bella di Roma, 1955), Comencini again directed the Roman actor in what is considered his masterwork, Tutti a casa, a bitter comedy about Italy after the armistice of 1943
. Also set in World War II, but devoted to the Italian partisans, are La ragazza di Bube (1963). This was followed by Incompreso (1966, based on the English novel by Florence Montgomery
).
Comencini obtainted an outstanding success with what is ranked amongst the best production of Italian television ever, Le avventure di Pinocchio
(1972). In the same year he directed the feature film Lo scopone scientifico, a notable dark comedy with Sordi and Silvana Mangano
. In 1975 he released the mystery La donna della domenica, featuring Marcello Mastroianni
, Jacqueline Bisset
and Jean-Louis Trintignant
.
Comencini subsequent works were characterized by the presence of one of most important Italian actors of the time, such as Ugo Tognazzi
in Il gatto (1977) and Nino Manfredi
for his episode of Basta che non si sappia in giro. In the 1980s Comencini's movies met with less success but his Cuore
television series of 1984 was praised.
He died in Rome after a long illness in 2007.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. Together with Dino Risi, Ettore Scola and Mario Monicelli
Mario Monicelli
Mario Monicelli was an Italian director and screenwriter and one of the masters of the Commedia all'Italiana , three times nominated for Oscar.-Biography:...
, he was considered among the masters of the commedia all'italiana
Commedia all'italiana
Commedia all'italiana or Italian-style comedy is an Italian film genre. It is widely considered to have started with Mario Monicelli's I soliti ignoti in 1958 and derives its name from the title of Pietro Germi's Divorzio all'italiana .-Stars:Vittorio Gassman, Ugo...
genre.
His daughters Cristina and Francesca
Francesca Comencini
Francesca Comencini is an Italian film director and screenwriter. She attended the Lycée français Chateaubriand school with her sisters. She has directed 14 films since 1984. Her film Le parole di mio padre was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...
are both film directors.
Biography
Comencini was born in SalòSalò
Salò is a town and commune in the Province of Brescia in the region of Lombardy on the banks of Lake Garda. The city was the capital of Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945, with the ISR often being called the "Republic of Salò" .-History:Salò was founded in the Roman period as Pagus...
.
His first successful movie was L'imperatore di Capri, featuring Totò
Totò
Prince Antonio Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno De Curtis di Bisanzio Gagliardi, best known by his stage name Totò and nicknamed il principe della risata was an Italian comedian, film and theatre actor, writer, singer and songwriter...
. Comencini's 1953 Pane, amore e fantasia
Pane, Amore e Fantasia
Bread, Love and Dreams is a 1953 Italian romantic comedy film directed by Luigi Comencini. At the 4th Berlin International Film Festival it won the Silver Bear award.-Plot summary:...
, with Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement....
and Gina Lollobrigida
Gina Lollobrigida
Gina Lollobrigida is an Italian actress, photojournalist and sculptress. She was one of the most popular European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s. She was also an iconic sex symbol of the 1950s. Today, she remains an active supporter of Italian and Italian American causes, particularly the...
, is considered a primary example of neorealismo rosa (pink neorealism). It was followed by Pane, amore e gelosia.
After a first work with Alberto Sordi
Alberto Sordi
Alberto Sordi, also known as Albertone, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian actor. He was also a film director and the dubbing voice of Oliver Hardy in the Italian version of the Laurel & Hardy films....
(La bella di Roma, 1955), Comencini again directed the Roman actor in what is considered his masterwork, Tutti a casa, a bitter comedy about Italy after the armistice of 1943
Armistice with Italy
The Armistice with Italy was an armistice signed on September 3 and publicly declared on September 8, 1943, during World War II, between Italy and the Allied armed forces, who were then occupying the southern end of the country, entailing the capitulation of Italy...
. Also set in World War II, but devoted to the Italian partisans, are La ragazza di Bube (1963). This was followed by Incompreso (1966, based on the English novel by Florence Montgomery
Florence Montgomery
-Life and works:She was born Florence Harriet Montgomery in Chelsea, London on 17 January 1843, the second of the seven surviving children of Admiral Alexander Leslie Montgomery and his wife Caroline Rose Campbell of Hampton Court, Middlesex. Her father was also an MP. He succeeded to a baronetcy...
).
Comencini obtainted an outstanding success with what is ranked amongst the best production of Italian television ever, Le avventure di Pinocchio
Pinocchio
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio , an...
(1972). In the same year he directed the feature film Lo scopone scientifico, a notable dark comedy with Sordi and Silvana Mangano
Silvana Mangano
Silvana Mangano was an Italian actress.Raised in poverty during World War II, Mangano trained as a dancer and worked as a model before winning a "Miss Rome" beauty pageant in 1946...
. In 1975 he released the mystery La donna della domenica, featuring Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
, Jacqueline Bisset
Jacqueline Bisset
Jacqueline Bisset is an English actress. She has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. She is known for her roles in the films Bullitt , Airport , The Deep , Class , and the TV series Nip/Tuck in 2006...
and Jean-Louis Trintignant
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Jean-Louis Trintignant is a French actor who has enjoyed an international acclaim. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.-Career:...
.
Comencini subsequent works were characterized by the presence of one of most important Italian actors of the time, such as Ugo Tognazzi
Ugo Tognazzi
Ugo Tognazzi was an Italian film, TV, and theatre actor, director, and screenwriter.-Early life:Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a traveller clerk for an insurance company.After his return in the native city in 1936, he...
in Il gatto (1977) and Nino Manfredi
Nino Manfredi
Nino Manfredi was an Italian actor, one of the most prominent in the commedia all'italiana genre....
for his episode of Basta che non si sappia in giro. In the 1980s Comencini's movies met with less success but his Cuore
Cuore
Cuore is Italian term for "heart". It may refer to:* Heart * Heart * Daihatsu Cuore* Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events, particle physics facility in the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso...
television series of 1984 was praised.
He died in Rome after a long illness in 2007.
Filmography
- Bambini in città (1947)
- Proibito rubare (1948)
- L'imperatore di Capri (1949)
- L'ospedale del delitto (1950)
- Persiane chiusePersiane chiusePersiane chiuse is a 1950 Italian film directed by Luigi Comencini.-Plot:Sandra searches her missing sister. For this, she enters the morally degraded seaside of Genoa....
(1950) - La tratta delle biancheLa Tratta delle biancheLa Tratta delle bianche is a 1952 Italian film. It was also released in the United States in 1954 under the title Girls Marked Danger.-Cast:...
(1953) - La valigia dei sogni (1953)
- Pane, amore e fantasiaPane, Amore e FantasiaBread, Love and Dreams is a 1953 Italian romantic comedy film directed by Luigi Comencini. At the 4th Berlin International Film Festival it won the Silver Bear award.-Plot summary:...
(1953) - Pane, amore e gelosiaPane, amore e gelosiaBread, Love and Jealousy , Known as Frisky in USA is a 1954 Italian romantic comedy film directed by Luigi Comencini. It is the second part of the Italian trilogy, followed by Scandal in Sorrento-Overview and response:...
(1954) - La bella di Roma (1955)
- La finestra sul Luna ParkThe Window to Luna ParkThe Window to Luna Park is a 1957 Italian drama film directed by Luigi Comencini. It was entered into the 7th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Giulia Rubini - Ada, Aldo's wife* Gastone Renzelli - Aldo* Pierre Trabaud - Righetto...
(1957) - Mariti in città (1957)
- Mogli pericolose (1958)
- Le sorprese dell'amore (1959)
- And That on Monday MorningAnd That on Monday MorningAnd That on Monday Morning is a 1959 German comedy film directed by Luigi Comencini. It was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* O. W. Fischer - Alois Kessel* Ulla Jacobsson - Delia Mond* Vera Tschechowa - Monika...
(1959) - Everybody Go HomeEverybody Go HomeEverybody Go Home is a 1960 Italian film directed by Luigi Comencini. It features an international cast including the U.S. actors Martin Balsam, Alex Nicol and the Franco-Italian Serge Reggiani...
(Tutti a casa) (1960) - A cavallo della tigreA cavallo della tigre (1961 film)A cavallo della tigre is an Italian film written and directed by Luigi Comencini in 1961. It was released as Jailbreak in the UK and On the Tiger's Back in the U.S.-Cast:*Nino Manfredi as Giacinto Rossi*Mario Adorf as Tagliabue...
(1961) - Il commissarioIl commissarioIl commissario is an Italian television series....
(1962) - La ragazza di BubeLa ragazza di Bube (film)La ragazza di Bube is a 1963 Italian crime film drama directed by Luigi Comencini and starring Claudia Cardinale and George Chakiris.In terms of plot the film is a relatively faithful adaptation of Carlo Cassola’s 1960 novel La ragazza di Bube; but its atmosphere is distinctly different, as the...
(1963) - Tre notti d'amore (1964)
- La mia signora (1964)
- Il compagno Don Camillo (1965)
- La bugiardaLa bugiardaLa bugiarda is a 1965 Italian comedy film directed by Luigi Comencini and starring Catherine Spaak.-Cast:*Catherine Spaak ... Maria / Silvana / Caterina*Enrico Maria Salerno ... Count Adriano Silveri...
(1965) - Le bamboleLe bamboleLe bambole is a 1965 Italian comedy film in four segments; cast includes Virna Lisi, Nino Manfredi, Gina Lollobrigida, Elke Sommer and Monica Vitti...
(1965, episode "Il trattato di eugenetica") - IncompresoMisunderstood (1966 film)Misunderstood is a 1966 Italian drama film directed by Luigi Comencini. It was entered into the 1967 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:Duncombe is the UK Consul General in Florence, Italy. He becomes a widower when his two sons, Andrew and Miles, are still young kids...
(1966) - Italian secret service (1968)
- Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova, veneziano (1969)
- Senza sapere niente di lei (1969)
- Le avventure di Pinocchio (1972, TV series)
- Lo scopone scientifico (The Scientific CardplayerThe Scientific CardplayerThe Scientific Cardplayer is the English language title of a 1972 Italian drama film directed by Luigi Comencini. The screenplay was written by Rodolfo Sonego.-Synopsis:...
) (1972) - Delitto d'amore (1974)
- Mio Dio come sono caduta in basso (1974)
- La donna della domenica (1975)
- Basta che non si sappia in giro (1976, episode "L'equivoco)
- Quelle strane occasioni (1976)
- Signore e signori, buonanotte (1976)
- Il gatto (1977)
- L'ingorgo - Una storia impossibile (1978)
- Voltati Eugenio (1980)
- Cercasi Gesù (1982)
- Cuore (1984, TV series)
- Un ragazzo di Calabria (1987)
- La Bohème (1988)
- Buon Natale... buon anno (1989)
- Marcellino (1992)