After the underrated Colpi Di Timone, Govi returns with another comedy at the cinema. This is the one people like the most. And again, it's a mix between comedy and neo-realism. On the front is the story of a mature father whose daughter wants to get married with a man living in Argentina. On the background is the theme of emigration, so popular at that time in Genoa.
Govi feels more comfortable in this picture, the character allows him more mimicry and relies more on expressions. A cheap family man who keeps the sugar locked up in a safe, reads other people's newspapers in secrecy, smokes cigars in an exotic fashion to make them last, recycles envelops by turning them inside out, gets mad when he sees the lights on and has other phobias, offers the laughs. Walter Chiari is charming, as is Alberto Sordi, at his beginnings, in one of the best characters he ever played.
And the co-star of the film is lovely Genoa, a tired Genoa just after the war, with devastation, depression, a slight will to let go of old traditions with one hand, but one that is too scared to let go and take on the new ones. And Govi used to represent Genoa so well in his theater plays.
WATCH FOR THE MOMENT WHEN - Govi, Stoppa and Sordi go to an expensive restaurant, and especially when they get the scare of the bill when Sordi has to go...
