A Tale of Five Cities

A very poor man's hybrid of 'Un Carnet de Bal' and 'A Foreign Affair'. It's not exactly good, but contains evocative footage of bombed out postwar Rome and Berlin in those far-off days when ten shillings constituted a note, has an attractive leading actor in Bonar Colleano, one of the guest stars is a young Gina Lollobrigida; and there's even a glimpse of a youthful Marcello Mastroiani.

Bonar Colleano has spent the last several years with amnesia. He was picked up after an air raid, and nursed back to health. He's got his name, but no memory. He does have five pieces of paper money, each with a girl's name on it, and a picture of a boy. Sunday magazine editor Barbara Kelly takes an interest in his story -- and quite apparently, in Colleano himself -- and talks her boss into paying for transportation and necessary expenses. So he's off to Europe, hoping that he'll find the girl he seems to have married in Rome, Vienna, Berlin, Paris, or London. And his memory too.

It's an interesting idea, and so is having a different director in charge of each city's shoot; the film goer gets an idea of the devastation in Rome, Vienna, and Berlin, although Paris and London seem just fine. The situations seem a bit contrived, and while the awkwardness of the dialogue in four languages is understandable given the story -- can you imagine asking a woman if she's your abandoned wife? -- there's such a stop-and-go pace to the movie that it is, alas, less than gripping. Still, there are very early roles for Gina Lollobrigida, Marcello Mastroianni, Lana Morris and Eva Bartok.

I won't bother with the plot, what there is of it is covered elsewhere, but I would make a correction in that protagonist Bob Mitchell is in the RAF not the British Army. Sadly Bonar Colleano gives a decidedly stilted performance as Mitchell, but there are interesting appearances from some interesting actors: Eva Bartok, Gina Lollobrigida, stalwart Brit Geoffrey Sumner as the Wingco, Marcello Mastroiani and a cameo from Terence Alexander as a hotel receptionist. As Mitchell travels from city to city, almost every meeting leads to a silly misunderstanding, all of which could be avoided if he just starts out by saying he has amnesia. The movie does provide a glimpse of post-war Europe and shines a dim light on the plight of stateless refugees, but it's no Third Man.

Bob Mitchell (Bonar Colleano) is an English man who speaks with an American accent. He's a world-traveling circus acrobat, but after falling off a chandelier in a German bar, he suffers amnesia. He is assumed to be an American. They find clues to his identities with five bank notes from five European countries, each with a different girl's name plus a picture of a baby. Lesley (Barbara Kelly) from a magazine proposes to send him to all five countries in order to find his past. The movie has five local shoots of Rome, Vienna, Berlin, Paris and London. Each one is shot with a different crew including different directors and writers.

The setup is terribly clunky and just an excuse to get Bob to 5 different cities. I do notice that the movie genre is listed as Drama, Mystery, Romance, and War. It's missing Comedy. I think they do try to make a comedy. Of course, they fail badly. Maybe that's why nobody included Comedy as the genre. Bonar Colleano is very wooden and lack the comedic skills. About the only thing that is interesting is the scenery of post War Europe.

Bonar Cellano was a popular supporting actor in the UK till his early death in a car crash,which his friend Michael Balfour survived.His family were circus acrobats,which no doubt accounted for the scenes early one using his acrobatic skills.I disagree with the other reviewer,I believe his performance was perfectly acceptable.I do agree that this film is very clunky and not very satisfactory.His quest to 5 cities clearly coincides with the distribution deals made by the co producers.However the result is an uneven and patchy film.Again as mentioned by the other reviewer the scenery is interesting.Seeing the bombed cities where no reconstruction has taken place.