El oro de Nápoles

I am Italian and I saw this movie on TV a few days ago. I had not seen it in the past. Totò is absolutely fantastic in his role. But the most astonishing episode is that of the 'funeralino', the funeral of a child: that is very 'neapolitan' to me. Sorrow and attention to manners are co-existent and you never know whether it is true sorrow or pure acting. Paolo Stoppa is also excellent in his role as a new widower. Of course, the movie is quoted because of Sofia Loren, who was helping her husband in his job of making pizzas. This is the movie where her nickname 'la pizzaiola' came from. While watching it, I did not realize that it had been made so many years ago. It well deserves to be seen.

A masterwork about Naples directed by a Neapolitan that really has it all. As with all 'portmanteau' films there are segments that 'appeal' more than others although here all of them have merit. The 'wow' factor obviously belongs to 'Pizza on Credit' in which a lusty, unfaithful wife pretends to have mislaid her wedding ring in the pizza dough. No director brought out the raw, earthy sensuality of Sophia Loren as well as de Sica who apparently choreographed her every move, gesture and inflection. Bringing them together proved a masterstroke by Carlo Ponti and as we know the de Sica/Loren partnership reaped rich rewards. The segment called 'The Gambler' featuring de Sica himself as an impoverished nobleman is masterful. Just how many hopefuls he auditioned before casting Piero Bilancioni as the servant's son who keeps beating him at cards is anyone's guess but the boy is stupendous and one wonders what became of him. Personally the story that stays with me most features Silvana Mangano as Teresa, a former prostitute who is faced with a tough choice between being the mistress of a large house and denied a husband's love or going back to her old 'profession'. The scene where she wavers and goes from tearfulness to defiant resolution is La Mangano at her most magnificent and is certainly one of the finest moments in Italian cinema. Music is by Alessandro Cicognigni, a regular de Sica collaborator and Carlo Montuori, who went on to film 'Bicycle Thieves', is behind the camera. The story by Giuseppe Marotta is adapted by the ubiquitous Cesare Zavattini who also had a hand in the screenplay. De Sica himself once said that 'Neapolitans, like children, always look good on camera' but in this he was being unduly modest. A truly magical film of which one can never tire.

I wish mildly to dissent from the love fest shown for this de Sica film by my nine IMDB colleagues below. I feel that, like most anthology movies, it is a mixed bag with some estimable sections, and some that are, frankly, on the dull side. Oddly enough, in a group of short films geared toward the comic end of the spectrum, I found that my two faves were the two most somber, namely the moving story of the prostitute Teresa who, remembering the cold world out there that she used to be in, chooses material comfort over love, and the very brief work that deals with a child's funeral procession along the Naples waterfront and that manages, in ten minutes of screen time, to get at the thin line that separates the joys of life from the bleakness of death. The three comedies, by contrast, I found way too broad and strained and excessively pushing the Italian stereotypical envelope, with too much yelling, weeping and general operatic histrionics in lieu of comedy. I will say, however, that Sophia Loren's breakthrough role as a pizza maker's unfaithful wife was striking, as well as a timely reminder that this greatest of Italian actresses could give Claudia and Gina stiff competition in the curvaceous dept. And De Sica's love for his home town comes through so vividly that you can almost smell the pasta puttanesca. B minus.

this is not a comedy.

rather documentary movie. shows what i am usually most interested in - local people. their habits, day-to-day life, way they enjoy life and face problems people of Neapol, and city itself, from 50ties as pictured in this movie is worth to see.

all of them are 'typical' Italians - eating pasta, drinking wine, celebrating family, friends, expressing feelings. Moreover you will see local communities, habits - what is most probably no more existing in Neapol nowadays.

the film is not an action killer. it has some subtle humor, good actors, and tells five stories. so if you want to have relaxed, easy afternoon, and fancy traveling in time and space - 'go to Neapol'!

I recently watched The Gold of Naples after a prolonged search. Like many others, I first learned of this film through Martin Scorsese's documentary on Italian cinema. While not as famous as some of Vittorio De Sica's other films, I assumed The Gold of Naples would eventually be released on DVD. Years have passed and the only American DVD release is a cheap, dubbed, public domain copy paired with The Bicycle Thief. I recently found a subtitled VHS tape from a 90's dealer (Facets or Sinister Cinema). Although the print is the 107 minute U.S. cut with two stories missing, the experience was well worth it. The Gold of Naples is an anthology film and, like most, the stories vary in quality. However, none of these stories are bad (something I cannot say about many anthology films). The first one has Toto as a man with the misfortune to be stuck living with a bully. This local thug moved in and will not leave. This story I found the weakest, but Toto is something of an acquired taste. The second story features the lovely Sophia Loren as the adulterous wife of a pizza maker. Much havoc ensues when the wife's prized jade ring goes missing. The third story is the funniest (and was prominently featured in the Scorsese documentary). In it, director Vittorio De Sica, himself, plays a compulsive gambler who meets his match in the hotel doorman's young son. Lastly, Silvano Mangano plays a prostitute who marries a wealthy man she has never met. This one is the most melancholy of the stories, a far cry from the good humor of the first three. That is all. I wish I could report on the other two stories, but they remain unseen in America. How about a restoration, Criterion?