A Garibaldian in the Convent (1942)
(Un garibaldino al convento)
Country: IT
Technical: bw 83m
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Leonardo Cortese, María Mercader, Carla Del Poggio, Fausto Guerzoni
Synopsis:
On taking her grand-daughters to visit her childhood neighbour and schoolmate, a redoubtable matron regales them with the story of how they gave succour to a wounded rebel within the walls of their convent.
Review:
This early De Sica film may superficially fit into the mould of a Christian-Jaque frolic of ten years later, but is in fact subtler in its constant changes of mood, already showing signs of the director's peculiar blend of the poignant and the comic. True enough, there are two love stories in the film, that of the young Mariella and her Garibaldian secret fiancé, passionate, requited and yet fated never to be consumed, and that of Caterinetta's uncle for Mariella's mother, comical, hopeless, and somehow touching nevertheless. The character of Caterinetta, the spunkiest fifteen year-old you ever did see, provides the energy and gaiety needed to bind all the ingredients together, and Del Poggio, who is inexplicably spotted as if with measles throughout (as is the older actress who plays her in the present), is magnificent. De Sica, who fell in love with Mercader during shooting, has an uncredited walk-on as a Garibaldian officer!
(Un garibaldino al convento)
Country: IT
Technical: bw 83m
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Leonardo Cortese, María Mercader, Carla Del Poggio, Fausto Guerzoni
Synopsis:
On taking her grand-daughters to visit her childhood neighbour and schoolmate, a redoubtable matron regales them with the story of how they gave succour to a wounded rebel within the walls of their convent.
Review:
This early De Sica film may superficially fit into the mould of a Christian-Jaque frolic of ten years later, but is in fact subtler in its constant changes of mood, already showing signs of the director's peculiar blend of the poignant and the comic. True enough, there are two love stories in the film, that of the young Mariella and her Garibaldian secret fiancé, passionate, requited and yet fated never to be consumed, and that of Caterinetta's uncle for Mariella's mother, comical, hopeless, and somehow touching nevertheless. The character of Caterinetta, the spunkiest fifteen year-old you ever did see, provides the energy and gaiety needed to bind all the ingredients together, and Del Poggio, who is inexplicably spotted as if with measles throughout (as is the older actress who plays her in the present), is magnificent. De Sica, who fell in love with Mercader during shooting, has an uncredited walk-on as a Garibaldian officer!
(Un garibaldino al convento)
Country: IT
Technical: bw 83m
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Leonardo Cortese, María Mercader, Carla Del Poggio, Fausto Guerzoni
Synopsis:
On taking her grand-daughters to visit her childhood neighbour and schoolmate, a redoubtable matron regales them with the story of how they gave succour to a wounded rebel within the walls of their convent.
Review:
This early De Sica film may superficially fit into the mould of a Christian-Jaque frolic of ten years later, but is in fact subtler in its constant changes of mood, already showing signs of the director's peculiar blend of the poignant and the comic. True enough, there are two love stories in the film, that of the young Mariella and her Garibaldian secret fiancé, passionate, requited and yet fated never to be consumed, and that of Caterinetta's uncle for Mariella's mother, comical, hopeless, and somehow touching nevertheless. The character of Caterinetta, the spunkiest fifteen year-old you ever did see, provides the energy and gaiety needed to bind all the ingredients together, and Del Poggio, who is inexplicably spotted as if with measles throughout (as is the older actress who plays her in the present), is magnificent. De Sica, who fell in love with Mercader during shooting, has an uncredited walk-on as a Garibaldian officer!