Poppy

I watched this movie almost by accident and I'm happy I did. The plot is almost textbook, but there are some good deviations that keep it fun. I laughed at a number of jokes. Many of them were executed well. The male lead was able to change characters as required with a lot of skill and ease. The age difference between the two was a little strange, but this was 1950s Italy where you were an old maid if you weren't married by 20.

Joint direction by Marcelo Marchesi and Vittorio Metz, neither name familiar to me - but then, not being Italian and never having lived in Italy, there is a great deal I do not know about its cinema, apart from its neorealist period.

LO SAI CHE I PAPAVERI is now better known as a song than as a movie, but there are some charming aspects to this film, notably the beauty and freshness of Annamaria Ferrero, as a very young student enamored of her teacher/male lead Walter Chiari. The latter's imitation of ducks of various ages remains one of the film's high points.

Other than that, nice spoof of psychiatry - then very much in vogue in Italy - suggesting a Dr Jekyll % Mr Hyde personality in Chiari... but it left me baffled as to whether the taciturn teacher getting ready to marry and the night club-frequenting boisterous fellow who kisses Ferrero are the same man.

Interesting angle on how night clubs make money by selling everything - including photos taken by demi-clad beauties - at exorbintant prices.

The oddball, zany script is helped by competent cinematography by Riccardo Pallotini... but it still made no sense to me, despite the funny bunch of gargoyle-like drug dealers at the night club, and other hilarious moments. 6/10.