Amori di mezzo secolo / Mid-Century Loves (2023 restoration CSC – Cineteca Nazionale)

Amori di mezzo secolo / Mid-Century Loves (IT 1954). D: Mario Chiari. Ep. Dopoguerra 1920: Silvana Pampanini (Susanna/Salomè) e Alberto Sordi (Alberto).

Amours d'une moitié de siècle.
    IT 1954. Sog.: Carlo Infascelli. Scen.: Oreste Biancoli, Giuseppe Mangione, Vinicio Marinucci, Roberto Rossellini, Carlo Infascelli, Alessandro Continenza. F.: Tonino Delli Colli. Academy. Ferraniacolor. M.: Dolores Tamburini, Rolando Benedetti. Scgf.: Mario Chiari. Mus.: Carlo Rustichelli. Prod.: Carlo Infascelli per Excelsa Film, Roma Film Produzione. DCP. D.: 94’. Col.
    Unreleased in Finland.

Five episodes:

D: Glauco Pellegrini. Ep. L’amore romantico: Franco Interlenghi (Mario), Leonora Ruffo (Elena), Paola Borboni (Matilde), Carlo Ninchi (il padre di Elena), Luigi Tosi (conte Edoardo Savelli);

D: Pietro Germi. Ep. Guerra 1915-18: Maria Pia Casilio (Carmela), Albino Cocco (Antonio), Lauro Gazzolo (il maestro);

D: Mario Chiari. Ep. Dopoguerra 1920: Alberto Sordi (Alberto), Silvana Pampanini (Susanna/Salomè), Giuseppe Porelli (Fosco D’Agata), Alba Arnova (Yvonne);

D: Roberto Rossellini. Ep. Napoli 1943: Antonella Lualdi (Carla), Franco Pastorino (Renato), Ugo D’Alessio (Pasquale), Nello Ascoli (Raffaele);

D: Antonio Pietrangeli. Ep. Girandola 1910: Lea Padovani (Isabella), Andrea Checchi (Gabriele), Umberto Melnati (Cocò), Carlo Campanini (Michelangelo).

Restored in 4K in 2023 by CSC – Cineteca Nazionale at the CSC Digital Lab laboratory, from a vintage positive print.

    Copy from CSC – Cineteca Nazionale.

    Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna 2023: Recovered and Restored.

    Introduced by Marta Donzelli and Alberto Anile (CSC – Cineteca Nazionale), hosted by Gian Luca Farinelli.

    Viewed at Cinema Lumiere – Sala Scorsese, 25 June 2023.

Alberto Anile (Bologna 2023 catalog): " Nowadays, it is amusing to think that a film like Amori di mezzo secolo, following a troubled journey from set to home video, has only reached us in an inferior version as a result of censorship. The episode directed by Domenico Paolella that should have ended the film was eliminated and probably immediately destroyed; the remaining five episodes and intermezzi were shown in a different order as a result of the removal of the original ending, while the film as a whole was forbidden for anyone under the age of sixteen. In 1978, the classification was reduced to “universal” for a planned TV broadcast, but only after the elimination of numerous scenes and the intermissions. "

" The discovery in the Cineteca Nazionale of a vintage copy that lasts 18 minutes longer (probably the version shown theatrically in 1954) now allows us to rediscover and re-evaluate the entire operation. Virtually unchanged are the episodes by Glauco Pellegrini (a romantic story set in the early 20th century about the love between Leonora Ruffo and Franco Interlenghi that is opposed by a wicked aunt) and by Pietro Germi (a pregnant Maria Pia Casilio waits in vain for the return of her husband from the First World War). The amusing mega-sketch by Mario Chiari, that features Alberto Sordi as an early Fascist who rediscovers his old fiancée (Silvana Pampanini) at Cinecittà, regains various scenes and a new ending. The same is true of the episode that was ultimately placed last, a lively whirl of infidelities and misunderstandings starring Lea Padovani and Carlo Campanini, which Antonio Pietrangeli had the audacity to set in the Parliament (albeit in 1910). "

" The musical/journalistic intermezzi by Vinicio Marinucci also return. However, the most significant rediscovery is also the shortest; in this restored version, the final scene of the most distinguished episode, set in Naples 1943, and directed by Rossellini, is finally complete. The agony of two lovers, Antonella Lualdi and Franco Pastorino, hit by allied bombs while kissing, is extended by a few seconds and a few words (“Why?… My love… my love…”), thus underlining with desperate courage, the senseless struggle between love and war. " Alberto Anile

IMDb: " Anthology of tragic love. A noblewoman falls for a commoner. Expectant father is sent to fight in WWI. A 1920s fascist enjoys Rome's nightlife. WWII airman falls for a girl in Naples. A doctor keeps quiet about his patients' infidelities. "

Wikipedia synopsis: 

" Episode # 01: "Romantic love", directed by: Glauco Pellegrini

In 1900 Elena, a young man from a rich bourgeois family, falls in love with the musician Mario. Her father and her aunt Matilde, however, would like the girl to marry a rich count. When Mario leaves for his tour, Matilde promises both young people to foster their feelings, while she actually destroys the letters they send each other, and persuades Elena that Mario has forgotten her. Elena ends up marrying the count.

Episode # 02: "War 1915-18", directed by: Pietro Germi

During the First World War, in a small Abruzzo village the very young lovers Antonio and Carmela get married and are expecting a child. Antonio is called to the front between the draft of 1900: Carmela and all friends and acquaintances are very proud of him and confidently await the end of the war. In the end the victory is announced and the celebrations are unleashed in the town: still no one knows that Antonio was killed in his first assault with the Sicily Brigade.

Episode # 03: "Postwar 1920", directed by: Mario Chiari

Alberto, an exalted squadist, leaves his country greeting his relatives and his girlfriend Susanna to take part in the March on Rome. In reality, he is mainly interested in Rome's nightlife and beautiful women. Susanna joins him in disguise and discovers him in a tabarin in equivocal attitudes with an entrîneuse, to whom she does not fail to reveal her contempt for her peasant girlfriend. But Susanna is not far behind in terms of beauty and sensuality, so much so that she is hired for a provocative number in the part of Salome, and she takes the opportunity to take her revenge on Alberto.

Episode # 04: "Naples 1943", directed by: Roberto Rossellini

During the bombings of the Second World War, actors and extras engaged in rehearsals at the Teatro di San Carlo rush into the air-raid shelter, and there the extra Carla and the airman Renato fall in love, but will be divided by death.

Episode # 05: "Girandola 1910", directed by: Antonio Pietrangeli

We are in the belle époque. A doctor advises a patient to limit his sexual activity; this however asks the doctor to mediate with his mistress so that she is less demanding. The woman is also having another relationship, and she too begs the doctor to intervene discreetly with the second man; and so on until among the whirlwind of lovers the doctor recognizes his wife. "

AA: A history of Italy in the first half of the 20th century via love affairs.

It begins with an arranged marriage and a cynical ruse to thwart the genuine love story.

There are two tragic war affairs, directed by Pietro Germi and Roberto Rossellini, respectively.

In between there is a farcical romp with Alberto Sordi as a Fascist buffoon during the March to Rome.

It ends with "Girandola 1910", a frivolous "La Ronde" variation without the depth brought to the theme by Arthur Schnitzler or Max Ophuls.

I wonder why.

The film would be stronger if "Girandola 1910" would be shown in chronological order, as the second episode. And Rossellini's episode would be the finale.

I love the charming compilation soundtrack and would be grateful for a song listing. The intermezzi are full of delicious detail. A beautiful restoration of a fascinating film, but it is a mixed bag, another uneven entry in the omnibus format so much favoured in the Italian cinema from the 1940s till the 1970s.