Pagliacci - Amore tragico

I am a huge fan of the opera Pagliacci, it has a powerful story, great characters and above all amazing music. While I marginally prefer the 1968 and 1982 productions, this 1948 film is mighty fine as well. The costumes, sets and photography are excellent and as you would expect the music is phenomenal especially Vesti la guibba and Si Puo. When it comes to the acting and singing it is great, maybe the fact that the singing is separate to the acting takes some getting used to and the sound is not that great but mostly there are few or little problems. The singing for both Canio and Nedda is ideal and acting wise not only does Gina Lollobridgida look beautiful but shows a bitchy and vulnerable side to Nedda, and Afro Poli is a fine Canio. But Tito Gobbi as Tonio (and Silvio) is a revelation, while his voice isn't exactly the most powerful or most sensual, nor did it need to be, he had tremendous acting skills, strong musicianship and a sense of intelligence and intensity all of which are here. Here he is at his best in the prologue Si Puo which seamlessly sets the tone of the whole opera; while Leonard Warren, Robert Merrill and especially Sherrill Milnes(in the 1978 Met production) give very moving interpretations of this wonderful piece, Gobbi's(the middle of the aria has the most pathos sung by any baritone in my opinion) is in a different class. Overall, an absolute must for any fans of the opera and especially of Gobbi. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Mario Costa's PAGLIACCI (1948) is a very satisfying, inspired film adaptation of Ruggero Leoncavallo's popular opera (1892) of the same title. Taking the action outdoors in the beautiful Italian countryside, Costa adds lots of local color to an already exuberant setting by having the townspeople dress in typical Calabrian costumes, thus intensifying the authenticity of the opera's historical locale. To my mind, given the technical difficulties of filming in post-war Italy, this film is a miracle of perfection. Mario Bava's cinematography is breathtaking, making expert use of light and shadow with great sensibility. The sound in the DVD currently available is the best one can have, although I believe that, with adequate means, both image and sound could be rendered even more pristine. My greatest enjoyment, however, derives from the actors: Tito Gobbi (Tonio, Silvio), Afro Poli (Canio) and Gina Lollobrigida (Nedda). Gobbi is wonderful in his dual role. Both Poli and Lollobrigida fill the screen with just the right charge of magnetism. Lollobrigida's Nedda is indeed a grateful surprise, given the fact that the actress was totally inexperienced then. In her second speaking part, Lollobrigida already shows all the qualities that would make her a national and international star in just a few years.

It's a bit late in the day for me to have discovered this fine film version of "Pagliacci" (1947), but I'm happy to have found it because I do admire Tito Gobbi in all his roles.

The versatility of Tito Gobbi is truly remarkable. He plays two characters in this very realistic version, no frills, just the real dramatic story. As Tonio he is the simpleton who harbours a great love for Nedda (Gina Lollobrigida) but unfortunately she is the wife of Canio. She also treats lowly Tonio with considerable disdain when he has declared himself to her, and she scornfully whips him at one point and then he leaves humiliated but determined on vengeance. In his secondary role, Gobbi as Silvio is the dashing, very handsome villager who is Nedda's lover and wants her to run away with him that very evening. Nedda is uncertain but promises to meet Silvio after the evening's performance. and so they ecstatically sing of a beautiful future together. They, Tito and Lola, make a handsome pair on screen in this episode but musically I prefer the Corelli/Gobbi version on DVD (1954) in which Nedda, performed by Mafalda Micheluzzi, is wonderfully inspired in her joyful singing in anticipation, truly one of those special moments to be remembered afterwards.

Afro Poli as Canio, master of the company of strolling players, is the tortured soul, and his singing is done by Masini here. It seems a bit confusing to have separate actors in all phases and separate singing voices but one gets used to it. Gobbi is however himself in all acting and singing, and a marvellous voice it is.

It is in Act 2 that we hear Beppe, tenor, dressed as Harlequin, (acted by Morucci and sung by Gino Sinimberghi), sing a Serenade to his fair Columbine, Nedda. Abruptly Canio, who plays the role of Pagliaccio, Columbine's husband, suddenly appears on the scene. Harlequin runs away, and then the real life drama overwhelms Canio as he demands Nedda reveal the name of her lover. Catastrophe follows.

This drama was actually based on a true life incident which took place in Montalto in Calabria, where the composer Ruggiero Leoncavallo's father had been a district judge. Life can be stranger than fiction at times.

The opera was first performed in Milan in 1892 and was considered a fine example of 'verismo' opera. Unfortunately, while critics down through the years were not favourably impressed, the operatic 'greats' of the day, Caruso among them, loved to sing it and this sustained its popularity. Today's critics tend to regard it in a more kindly light, as being a 'powerful work' of unusual expressive quality. It's very grand how Gobbi sings the Prologue at the beginning. To me that's the finest moment!

Lacking Carmine Gallone's "Faust", the finest noir opera currently available on DVD is undoubtedly Mario Costa's 1948 movie version of "Pagliacci" in which Tito Gobbi (in no less than three roles) just manages to steal the limelight from Gina Lollobrigida, ideally cast as the super-beautiful Nedda. The unfortunate Afro Poli played Cannio to perfection. A fine singer himself, Poli spent much of his film career acting on-screen for not so handsome dubbers like, in this case, Galliano Masini — whose only other cinema venture was as the singing star of the 1938 "Star of the Sea", written and directed by one of Italy's great masters of the cinema, Corrado D'Errico. (Although D'Errico wrote and directed no less than 15 super-popular, extremely large-budget movies between 1929 and his death at the age of 39 in 1941, he was so totally forgotten just 15 years later that he's not even included in Italy's massive, seven-volume "Filmlexicon degli Autori e delle Opere". Such is fame in the movie world!}. The current DVD of the Mario Costa "Pagliacci" starts somewhat abruptly as it is missing the original introduction in which we are told something of the history of the Leoncavallo opera. Fortunately, the opera itself is presented intact. The sound, alas, is far from perfect, but that's how it was back in 1948. Fortunately, the voices do not suffer so much as the orchestra, and as the voices are the main item, this "Pagliacci" rates 8/10.

From the simpler days when cinematography focused on story and acting rather than gadgets and special effects. I paid to see this movie over a dozen times, in the days when home movies were not even a dream, except for the very rich. And even then, cellulloid would deteriorate in time.

This was my first exposure to Gina Lollobrigida, in my teens. What a discovery! And since then, this has remained one of my favorite opera performances, bar none. Simple, to the heart, well sung. And black and white definitely projected the story focusing on emotion, rather than landscape. Too bad the VHS version is missing the revealing spoken introduction we saw in the movie house. If anyone knows if it is available, I'd like to know.