Partenza ore 7

"Partenza ore 7" (Departure at 7 O'Clock) resembles countless American musicals about a young singing female performer who gets her big break when the star of the company gets ill and she must go on to save the show. Those musicals were actually re-arriving from American when this film was made in immediate post-war Italy.

Chiaretta Gelli is the likable and sweetly-voiced newcomer from the sticks who suddenly becomes star of the show. Carlo Campanini does a nice turn as the company director. The movie suggests the Fellini-Lattuada "Variety Lights" (made later) in its portrait of the loves and travails of a troupe of traveling performers. The direction by Mario Mattoli is sprightly. Particularly amusing is when the troupe is stopped by armed bandits and forced to remove their outer clothes...leading them into an embarrassing predicament.

The end result of all this, however, is a movie you could enjoy while doing the ironing, listening to the songs without any real need to watch.