mrsalzanohyper

Sordi comments in his own way Italy pornography boom of the mid 70s, the all chain from producers (movies and magazines) tò the final consumers. Four episodes and an epilogue at the cinema Premiere of the porno chief d'ouvre. Among them the best are the first (thanks to the partnership between Sordi and Di Lorenzo as the Colonnas - from the previous Le Coppie- and especially the scenes set in the cinema reacting to hilarious fake pornos) and the last (with a formidable Philip Noiret, a vulcanic De Laurentiis in disguise, struggling to convince Dagmar Lassander/lady chatterley to shoot the most "artistic" scene with the game warden). The central episodes, although less brilliant, do not lack wit and boast excellent female leads (Florinda Bolkan and Claudia Cardinale). Not the best Sordi direction but far to be his worst. My rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

One of Corbucci's best: perfectly balanced between comedy and drama, driven by the phenomenal couple Totò-De Sica, able to flow smoothly from farce to tragedy and fits rightly in the "resistential" vein of films such as Tutti a casa, Il federale, General Della Rovere. Small time thief Totò steals the uniform of the marshal of carabinieri De Sica which is awakened with the robe of Totò and forced to pretend to be a priest when he learns that the Germans are shooting all the carabinieri (supposed tò be faithful to the traitor King Vittorio Emanuele III). Resting on the shoulders of those two Giants it would be Easy tò forget the solid supporting cast especially Gianni Agus as the fascista podestà, Roland Bartrop as the german lieuteneant and Sandro Giacobini as the simple minded robber. Surprise ending.

One of the first box office hits of the great Totò, it's a very loose parody of Blood and Sand. Toto is mistaken for a dangerous murderer flying to Seville. Disguised first as a filthy hostess (!) then as the bullfighter Nicolete and craving the prosperous forms of american billionaire Isa Barzizza. Directed by Mattoli on a script by Steno and Marchesi it's closer to Bon Hope's physical comedy than to neorealistic Italian comedy of the era as the plot is based on a series of misconceptions and gags, some of which worked, some didn't. The best beign when a hungry Totò makes a sandwich using sponge, toothpaste and baby powder! Remarkable cast with Castellani, Pavese, Barzizza, Dondini and Benti. Quite Good.