What
follows is certainly not an exhaustive list. I have simply
listed some films that I have seen and consider worthwhile
for one reason or another. That is, if I were to start a
collection of films set in Naples, I would include these.
(In cases where a film has been mentioned elsewhere within
these pages, I have highlighted links to those entries.
Also, I have not included any film in the vast repertoire
of the Neapolitan Sceneggiata.
Click here for a separate item
on that.)
(The first
four films are marked "NR" to indicate "Neo-Realism"
and are also listed separately in that entry at the link
at the top of this page.)
—Paisà (Paisan,
1946, dir. Roberto
Rossellini)
(NR)
One of the great films of postwar Italian Neorealism. It
is an "episode" film with six vignettes, all focusing on
the relationship between the recently liberated Italians
and their American liberators. The most popular vignette
seems to be one that takes place in Naples.
—Sciuscià
(Shoe Shine, 1947, dir. Vittorio de
Sica) (NR)
Another classic of Neorealist cinema. It deals with the
lives of the scugnizzi, Neapolitan street children
at the end of WW II. The title, itself, is the local
pronunciation of the word "shoe shine"—which is how many
such children tried to grind out a living.
—Napoli Milionaria (Naples
Millionaire, 1950, dir. Eduardo
de Filippo)
(NR)
Anything by the great playwright De Filippo is about
Naples and worth seeing. This is his own screenplay from
his own stage play. He stars in it, as well, as a
Neapolitan streetcar conductor involved in other people's
problems.
—L'Oro di Napoli (The Gold of Naples, 1954, dir. V.
DeSica)
(NR)
Based on the book by Marotta, this is another episode film
and easily the most popular one among Neapolitans
themselves. Various sides of Neapolitan culture are
presented, all of them worth laughing and thinking about.
Stars the great comic, Totò, Sofia Loren, De Sica,
himself, and Eduardo De Filippo,
who gives his infamous demonstration on the proper way to
render the rude, hand-blown "pernacchio"
("raspberry"—shown on film poster, above.).
—Tarantella Napoletana (1954, dir. Camillo Mastrocinque)
This was only the second color film made in Italy. It was
billed as a "musical" on the level of the "great American
musical comedies." Small difference: this one has no story
at all. It's still worth seeing, though, since it is a
very well-done selection of choreographed songs about
Naples.
—Miseria e nobiltà (Misery and Nobility,
1954, dir. Mario Mattoli )
A film version of a well-known play from 1888 by Eduardo Scarpetta, master of the
slapstick farce. He created the character of the likable
scatterbrain, Felice Sciosciammocca, played here by Totò.
The film also features the young Sophia Loren. The plot
involves poverty-stricken Felice and his friend, don
Pasquale, masquerading as aristocratic relatives of a
young woman in order to get her parents approval for a
marriage to a young prince.
—La banda degli onesti (Honest
crooks, 1956,
dir.C. Mastrocinque)
Hilarious
film about three average Joes who decide to become
counterfeiters. Stars Totò, Peppino de Filippo, and Giacomo
Furia. The scene of the three of them using a children's
"count-out rhyme" to see who has to try to cash their
first phony banknote is worth the price of admission.
—La sfida (The
Challenge, 1958, Francesco
Rosi)
Hard-hitting, it was the first of the films about
the Mafia and crooked politicians. It won a prize at the
1958 Venice Film Festival in spite of pressure not to
screen it.
—La baia
di Napoli (It started in Naples,
1960, dir. Melville Shavelson)
Stars
Sophia Loren and Clark Gable. Romantic comedy about
falling in love on Capri.
Absolute fluff and absolutely delightful. Contains one of
the most popular Italian songs of the last 50 years, "Tu
vuo' fa' l'Americano" (roughly: "You try so hard to be an
American").
—Yesterday,
Today, Tomorrow -- (Ieri, oggi, domani) 1963,
dir. V. De Sica)
An "anthology" film, starring Sophia
Loren and Marcelo Mastroianni playing 6 different
persons. It's complicated and hilarious. See details here.
—Matrimonio all'italiana
(Marriage, Italian Style, 1964, dir. V. De Sica)
This is de Sica's masterful rendition of Eduardo de Filippo's stage-play,
Filumena Maturano,
the story of an ingenious ex-prostitute (Sophia Loren) who
gets her common-law husband (Marcello Mastroiani) to marry
her by revealing to him that he is the father of one of
her three sons. To ensure that he treats all three
equally, she refuses to tell him which one.
—Avanti (1972, dir. Bill
Wilder)
The funniest film set in Naples (ok, technically, the
island of Ischia) ever made by a non-Italian. It is
underrated, but as perfect a comedy, in its own way, as
Wilder's great Some Like it Hot. Stars Jack Lemmon
and Juliet Mills. Secondary roles are magnificent,
including Edward Andrews as an obnoxious US diplomat. The
original title is the Italian word Avanti, meaning
"come in"). That word (in the sense of "Forward") is,
however, also the title of the Italian Socialist party
newspaper; thus, the Italian release of the film was
hobbled by an awful title which translates as "What
Happened Between My Father and Your Mother". What can I
say? It's still a great film.
—Lucky Luciano (1974, dir. F. Rosi)
Another Rosi film about crime and power. Stars Gian
Maria Volentè as the infamous gangster in Naples after
being deported from the United States.
—Signore e signori, buonanotte (Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Night, 1976, dir. Leo Benvenuti and
others)
Relatively unknown abroad, this is an episode film, each
one a satire on some aspect of life in Naples. Impressive cast includes Marcello
Mastroiani, Ugo Tognazzi, Vittorio Gassman, Nino
Manfredi, and Paolo Villaggio. Most memorable
scene is of Neapolitan politicians gorging themselves on a
gigantic cake made to resemble the bay and city of Naples.
—Ricomincio da tre (1980, Massimo Troisi)
The late Massimo Troisi was the most popular Neapolitan
comic since Totò. This was his first hit film. He wrote
it, directed it and starred in
it. Essentially, it is about his adventures as he moves
from Naples to Florence. The title, "I'm starting at
three" is a pun on "to start from zero"—"to start
over." This is a chance to hone your language skills;
Troisi delivers all of his lines in Neapolitan dialect.
—La pelle (The
Skin, 1981, dir. Liliana Cavani)
Based on the book by Curzio Malaparte, the film is a
collection of bitter memories about the Allied liberation
of Naples. With Burt Lancaster and Marcello Mastroiani.
—Cosí parlò Bellavista (Thus Spake
Bellavista, 1984, dir. Luciano De
Crescenzo)
De Crescenzo directs a film based on his own best-selling
book. Explores the differences in being from the south and
the north in Italy, one of De Crescenzo's favorite topics.
He is, at the moment, the most popular living writer from
Naples and has authored a number of quirky, humorous
"histories of philosophy" for Everyman.
—'O Re (The King, 1988, dir.
Luigi Magni)
A good film for those interested in the history of the risorgimento—the
movement to unify Italy in the 19th century—and the
ultimate defeat of the Bourbon dynasty that had ruled the
Kingdom of Naples. Giancarlo Giannini plays the last king,
Francis II (known as "Franceschiello"), the likable
weakling never meant to rule; Ornella Muti plays his
German-born queen, Maria Sofia,
the "heroine of Gaeta." The film follows them briefly
during their exile in Rome after the fall of the kingdom.
A remarkable film score by Nicola Piovani.
—Io speriamo che me la
cavo (Ciao, Professore! 1993, dir. Lina Wertmuller)
A brilliant performance by Paolo Villaggio as a northern
grade-school teacher who winds up in the Neapolitan
outback. He learns to understand the dialect and, most
importantly, to understand the lives of his impoverished
school children. The film is based on a series of real
grade-school essays by local pupils--thus the grammatical
error in the title.
—Ferdinando
e Carolina (1999, L.
Wertmuller)
The film is, in Wertmueller's words, a "libertine comedy"
about a very unfunny period in the history of the Kingdom
of Naples, the period before the French Revolution when
the young, oafish, and virile Ferdinand IV was running
around the woods hunting while his very able and ruthless
wife, Caroline of Hapsburg, was making plans to run the
kingdom.