Villa da vendere

Villa Da Vendere was based, as were some other Italian films in the escapist Fascist and WWII era, on an Eastern European play in this case a Hungarian comedy that had been filmed in 1935 as Ez A Villa Elado.It's not quite as funny as some of the other similar ones I've seen but has several good performances and works well as a vehicle for popular star Amedeo Nazzari. His support includes the immensely talented Titina De Filippo as his aunt,Carlo Duse as the butler, and Claudio Ermelli who American audiences would see about 10 years later in Roman Holiday. The direction is a bit crude but there are moments where the satire on the rich reminds one of the great Hollywood screwball comedies of the 1930s. Especially amusing when previous owner Nazzari returns incognito to see what is going on and is mistaken for a crook.