Aber, aber, meine Herren...

The Italian Comedy of the Sixties has been internationally recognised as one of the most innovative and original cinema genres produced in that decade. This forgotten movie stands as one of the best examples of such genre. Three stories from the same bunch of middle aged guys from the North of Italy (the nice location is Treviso) are portrayed in this very enjoyable comedy. It is an almost Fellinesque movie, in the sense that it is grotesque, funny and clever at the same time. It mainly is a satire on the human relationships and the hypocrisy of people. Obviously all of this is depicted in a totally hilarious "Italian way". The actresses are simply irresistible (Virna Lisi looks awesome!), the actors very convincing, the story simply too good compared to nowadays scripts, while music, photography and direction are almost perfect. It won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival together with "Un homme une famme". To be rediscovered. a convinced 10/10.

I simply can't understand how a moviegoer like me missed this gem when it was first shown here - and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival. Especially being already convinced that Pietro Germi was one of the most talented directors of the Italian after war films. He made a screen adaptation of one of the greatest literary hits of the sixties, Carlo Emilio Gadda's QUER PASTICCIACCIO BRUTTO DI VIA MERULANA, a perfect combination of Italian language and Roman dialect. Concerning SIGNORE E SIGNORI, the cast is not all-stars, but extremely equal in its aspects, none is tops but none is dull either. Special rewards for the well known Franco Fabrizi, for exquisite Beba Loncar and the almost introducing Virna Lisi, who became famous for a long time. The atmosphere of this little Italian town was splendidly illustrated. I used to stay in Treviso when traveling to Venice, the City of the Doges being too expensive for me and Treviso, also nicely cut by its canaletti, was only at a half hour by train from the famous but hardly available Lagoon City. A huge Bravo! also for the remasterization, absolutely perfect. Warmly recommended to everybody who wants to have a big laugh and in the same time measure how mean some people were just half a century ago. Harry Carasso, Paris, France

According to the veteran Italian film director Ettore Scola,Italian people have the intrinsic knack of ridiculing themselves long before someone else can dare to point a figure at them.For them there is hardly any human sentiment which cannot be mocked.By doing so they have remained the champions of auto derision in this world.This is one fundamental quality which distinguishes them from the other nationalities of Europe.As far as a discussion on this film goes,its English title "The birds,The bees and The Italians" does perfect justice to the spirit of the film. The entire film is a laugh riot and the best thing about the screenplay is that although the depicted situations might appear common place but they never leave any room for any kind of guess work or speculation.So the end result is an intelligent film which entertains until the maximum possible extent of human enjoyment. Even the black and white photography is advantageous as it alludes to a time when there was too little advancement of technology. Recommended for those people who would like to have a nice laugh but would not dare to copy under any circumstances the actions portrayed in the film.

"Ma'am, you forgot your hat...", the excellent reply of the peasant who runs to give the bra to the "distinguished" lady who had to pay something extra besides the 5 million Italian lire, to shut his mouth and convince him to withdraw his complaint about his minor daughter. It's in episode 3 of the movie which is the best. The second best is the one with Gastone Moschin's extramarital affair with the beautiful Virna Lisi. The first episode is neither great nor bad. A bunch of exceptional actors, apart from the two already named: Franco Fabrizi, Alberto Lionello, Gigi Ballista, Beba Loncar, Nora Ricci, Patrizia Valturri. Pietro Germi, great master!

The entire film had a farcical quality and was generally comical enough to hold my interest, but something deeper in the second vignette began to bubble up to the surface. There was a longing, not quite a sadness, but an extremely emotionally complex situation where you can sympathize with everyone and all points of view. I feel like I was pleasantly fooled. I expected a burger, which would have been fine, but they brought me a steak instead.

Pietro Germi only directed 19 movies, but he was obviously very talented. I've seen a few of his other films and those were satisfyingly complex as well.

The male love interest in the second vignette was played by Gastone Moschin. He didn't strike me at first as the best choice for the role, but he executed it brilliantly. Virna Lisi is always stunning, but I didn't realize what a good actress she was until I saw the extremely sympathetic character she played, and she nailed it perfectly. Nora Ricci was top notch as the wife. She was able to very skillfully balance between an over the top shrew, and as someone the audience can feel for.

There was one other thing in the movie that I thought was great. There was a short running gag regarding the jilted wife that led into a different short running gag regarding boys making prank calls. I don't recall ever seeing anything like that before.

The very last scene with everyone gathered in the town square was quite poignant.

I definitely recommend this movie.