Donatella

Donatella is a decidedly minor effort from one of Italy's major directors, Mario Monicelli, who excelled at both serious drama and sharp satirical comedy. Here we have a typical romance based on misunderstandings when a lower middle class girl played by Elsa Martinelli (her father in nice support from Aldo Fabrizi is a bookbinder and her wavering boyfriend played by Walter Chiari is a gas station attendant) gets a job as secretary in a lavish villa. A lawyer played by Gabriele Ferzetti thinks she is an aristocrat, introduces her to a set of posh night club going friends (including Xavier Cugat playing himself) and is at first disappointed to learn her real identity. The pleasures of this film are the jazzy numbers performed by Cugat's wife Abbe Lane and the nice lensing of familiar Rome landmarks by Tonino Delli Colli who puts color and widescreen to good use.