Es geschah in Rom

FROM the Archive of Alex's Forgotten Gems: Giornata balorda, 1960, is an Italian gem from the early New Wave Age that dropped completely out of sight for no good reason: The old English release Title was "The view from the Balcony" but I would go with "One Crazy Day"-- which would be a direct translation of the original Italian title. One reason it might have gotten lost in the shuffle is perhaps due to the titular similarity with a very well known theater piece of the time, "A view from the Bridge! ~~ Director was Mauro Bolognini, 1960, the B/w picture is based on a Moravia story, scripted by PASOLINI -- I saw this in Berkeley around 1960 when it first came out and was immediately impressed that here we had a quintessentially no-nonsense, unpretentious, totally realistic, down-to-earth Italian movie -- Neo-realismo updated with sixties touches and no artsy-artsy symbolism or in group jokes. I would love to see it again but it seems to have disappeared entirely. -- Basic Plot: A philandering Alfie type guy played by French actor Jean Sorrel starts out in a gritty balconied multi-family apartment project the life of which is shown with almost documentary type matter-of-factness, finds out that a woman he's had sex with is knocked up, splits the scene and ends up at the beach in this One Crazy Day -- all delivered in ROME dialect all the way. If I had just one Italian film to show to represent Italian film of the sixties, this would be it -- ahead of all the Fellini's and Antonionis of the time -- but they would of course follow as Backup in "Italian Cinema 10". Professore De Leone, cinema know-it-all --or Nothing at All!

This is the third film to make use of material from Alberto Moravia's 'Racconti Romani' and marks the final collaboration of writer Pasolini and director Bolognini, surely two of the strangest bedfellows(in a strictly metaphorical sense of course!) in the history of film.

From the opening with its stunning panning shot under tenement balconies we are in Pasolini country which offers a stark reminder that during Italy's 'Boom', for most of the population La Vita was far from Dolce!

One thing about Bolognini's films is certain. However seedy, shabby or unpleasant the surroundings one is guaranteed to have a cast of beautiful people and this is certainly no exception. Here we have the handsome Davide of Jean Sorel who feels that as a new father it is about time he found some gainful employment. He lands a job of sorts which soon goes pear-shaped but picks up an unexpected bonus.........!

Sorel is so good looking as to be almost unbearable but is redeemed by being a very good actor. His beauty is complemented by that of Jeanne Valerie, Isabelle Corey and the wondrous Lea Massari who had impressed that year in 'L' Avventura'. Her character is Freja, a name she happens to share with the Norse Goddess of Love. I would have to say that seeing her behind the wheel of a truck is the stuff of fantasy. There are indeed some very sensuous scenes in this which were initially cut but happily restored!

Bolognini's excellent compositional and visual sense is again in evidence and there is another fabulous score by Piero Piccioni. This comes from a particularly rich period in this director's output which culminated in the commercial failure of 'La Corruzione' in 1963. Thereafter his films were variable, never less that interesting but sometimes lapsing into stylish exercises. Pasolini of course went his own way and much preferred his Romans to be less glamorous.

The film is worth watching mainly for the opening scene, which is impressive enough for anyone. Then follows a dreary dismal day of wanderings and finding a few girls on the way - one of them finally secures a job for him, and that's what he was after. His girl has given him a child, they are not married, so he simply had to get a job in one way or another. He gets mixed up with some awkward business, a truck loaded with black market oil worth some $100,000 is smashed and burnt, it's a Roman holiday without a holiday, and the risk is that many would find this a very boring film. Fortunately we are returned to the fabulous opening scene in the end, and there is something of a redemption or atonement in the end. It was not a happy day, but it was rewarding anyway.

Imagine a black-and-white film about the lower class of Rome with a screenplay written by Pasolini before he becames a director himself. That's "Una giornata balorda". His director, Mauro Bolognini, is the same of "La notte brava" and "Il bello Antonio" - both also written by Pasolini, and was also a pretty good director. Here you can see the pasolinian proletarian world filmed as a good commercial product of the italian cinema of the early 60's. Says the legend that Pasolini decides to became a filmaker to avoid the glamourous professional actors of the period, and so did "Accatone", his first feature. Of course, Franco Citti who protagonized this one, is much more convincing than Jean Sorel, the star of "Una giornata..." but of course, not so good-looking (Sorel was one of the most beautifull men in the world at this time).It's a problem of style: glamour versus authenticity, etc etc. Enjoy it.