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Klappentext Rémi Fournier Lanzoni's Comedy Italian Style is the first book to cover the genre "officially" known as commedia all'italiana comprehensively in English. For some, commedia all'italiana serves as a national cinematographic patrimony, and for others, it pr Zusammenfassung A guide to the glorious works and filmmakers who make the world laugh with them. It is suitable for those lovers of enduring, wry, over-the-top, side-splitting humor on film.
List of contents
- PART ONE: BEFORE THE ADVENT OF THE COMMEDIA ALL'ITALIANA
CHAPTER I: THE FORERUNNERS
- The Origins of Italian Comedy
- The Silent Era and the Prestige of Hollywood Comedies
- The Prewar Era, Cinecittà and Telefoni Bianchi
- The Marc'Aurelio and the New Screenwriters
CHAPTER II: THE AGE OF NEOREALISMO ROSA
- Neorealism and Neorealismo Rosa in Question
- A Special Case in Italian Comedy: Totò
- Differences between Commedia Italiana and Commedia all'italiana
- The Forerunners of the Comedy Italian Style
PART TWO: THE YEARS OF EUPHORIA AND THE COMMEDIA ALL'ITALIANA
CHAPTER I: ITALIAN COMEDY IN THE 1960s
- Italy During the Years of Economic Miracle
- Italian Film Industry in the 1960s and State Censorship
- The Art of Getting by and the Commedia all'italiana
CHAPTER II: THE PROTAGONISTS OF THE NEW COMEDY STYLE
- Dino Risi and the Art of Caustic Satire
- Mario Monicelli and Historical Comedies
- Regional Comedies Pietro Germi's Style
- Alberto Lattuada: Between Versatile and Eclectic Comedy
- The Newcomers to the Commedia: Antonio Pietrangeli and Elio Petri
PART THREE: THE FINAL ACT OF THE COMMEDIA ALL'ITALIANA
CHAPTER I: ITALIAN COMEDY IN THE 1970s
- Italy During the Lead Years
- Italian Film Industry in the 1970s
- Ettore Scola and the Discourse of Cynicism
- Marco Ferreri's Grotesque Style
CHAPTER II: THE LAST PROTAGONISTS
- Dino Risi: A Legacy in Evolution
- Lina Wertmüller: When Humor challenges the Rules
- Federico Fellini's Successful Return to Comedy
- A Comedy of Frustrations: Franco Brusati
- Luigi Zampa's Satirical Cinema
- The Human Comedy of Alberto Sordi
- Mario Monicelli and the Difficult Years
- Luigi Comencini: the End of an Era
ABBREVIATIONS
APPENDIX
- Academy Awards
- Cannes Film Festival
- Venice Film Festival
- David di Donatello
- Nastri d'Argento
- Italian Comedies at the Box Office
NOTES
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Report
The so-called Comedy Italian Style has been, in a certain way, engendered by Neorealism, and is often considered a realistic comedy; but it was also a fusion of "bitter and sweet", a genre of entertaining films that at the same time told something on a particular moment about an Italian society in rapid transformation. This comedy Italian Style was able to reveal on the big screen the common denominator among Italians: their gift for improvisation, a gift to look at reality with a knowing smile, even as a comedic satire. Lanzoni's Comedy Italian Style offers a faithful and interesting portrait about a unique period in Italian cinema. --Dino Risi, Director of The Monsters, Scent of a Woman and A Difficult Life
