Domenica d’agosto **** (1950, Anna Baldini, Vera Carmi, Emilio Cigoli, Franco Interlenghi, Elvy Lissiak, Massimo Serato, Mario Vitale, Marcello Mastroianni) – Classic Movie Review 12,325

Director Luciano Emmer’s 1950 Italian multi-story comedy and drama film Domenica d’agosto [Sunday in August] is a haunting pleasure and a sweet delight, in which a rich assortment of different people spend a hot Sunday at the beach of Ostia outside Rome.

Among the many vignette stories, a very young and handsome looking Marcello Mastroianni plays a traffic cop devoted to his pregnant girlfriend who loses her job and home after conceiving a child out of wedlock with him.

The film was nominated for a 1952 BAFTA award for Best Film from any Source.

Time has turned it into a precious snapshot of the time and place, an Italy optimistically struggling for happiness out of the constraints of the post-war austerity. Though all briefly sketched in an all-too short running time of 88 minutes, the stories and characters make a very strong impact because of the engaging performances and the attentive, documentary-style direction, with Luciano Emmer keeping clarity and control of the many plot threads. The tone is lovely, warm and friendly, and profoundly human. The writing is excellent, crisp and credible. The characterful, colourful black and white exterior filming adds so much allure and lustre. Above all, it has the gift of charm.

The story is by Sergio Amidei and the screenplay is by Franco Brusati, Luciano Emmer,Giulio Macchi and Cesare Zavattini.

Such films mixing parallel stories with people at play were popular at the time: look at Bank Holiday in the UK back in 1938.

The cast are Anna Baldini as Marcella Meloni, Vera Carmi as Adriana, Emilio Cigoli as Alberto Mantovani, Franco Interlenghi as Enrico, Elvy Lissiak as Luciana, Massimo Serato as Roberto, Mario Vitale as Renato, Marcello Mastroianni as Ercole Nardi, Anna Medici as Rosetta, Andrea Compagnoni as Cesare Meloni, Ave Ninchi as Fernanda Meloni, Salvo Libassi as Perrone, and Jone Morino as Mesmè.

Mastroianni is dubbed by Alberto Sordi.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,325

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