I promessi sposi

It is hardly surprising that 'I Promessi Sposi' has been adapted on numerous occasions for both large screen and small.

This is the second version which is described by film historians as belonging to the Calligrafic style that flourished in Italian cinema in the 1940's and based upon literary works as opposed to the Hollywoodesque Telefono Bianchi comedies. Director Mario Camerini was equally at home in comedy and drama and he and his team have done a splendid job here with Alessandro Manzoni's monumental historical novel.

Filmed with an evidently generous budget at Cinecitta and around Lake Como, the crowd scenes are well choreographed and the depiction of the plague that struck Milan in 1630 is particularly powerful. Production values are of the highest and the score by Ildebrando Pizzetti suitably inspiring.

As with all film adaptations there are of course omissions, condensations and character diminutions. The character that suffers the most in this regard is the wicked Nun Of Monza, based upon Marianna de Leyva, whose role has been reduced to just two scenes which is even more frustrating as she is played by the fascinating Evi Maltagliata of whom this viewer can never have enough. Other characters come out of it pretty well notably the unnamed robber baron based on Francesco Visconti, here given a typically strong portrayal by Carlo Ninchi whose conversion by the Cardinal Borromeo of Ruggero Ruggeri is most effective, if a little sudden! The cowardly curate is well realised by Armando Falconi.

The 'betrothed' of the title are touchingly played by a youthful Gino Cervi and Dina Sassoli who are basically required to be honest in his case and demure in hers. The search for an actress to play the coveted role of Lucia was, by all accounts, said to rival Hollywood's search for a Scarlett O'Hara and the appealing Sassoli has been well cast.

Although rivalled only by Dante's 'Divine Comedy' as the most read work of Italian literature, Manzoni's novel has not really struck a chord with English readers which could be attributed to indifferent translations but is most likely due to its strong vein of Catholicism whilst its message that the poor must bear their sufferings with grace so as to gain their reward in the Afterlife is unlikely to find a sympathic ear in modern times, except in the Vatican.

The two most famous lovers in Italian literature are probably the doomed Paolo and Francesca from Dante's INFERNO. Renzo and Lucia from Alessandro Manzoni's THE BETROTHED (I PROMESSI SPOSI) would have to qualify as the second most famous ones. This 1941 adaptation for the screen, like the novel whose highlights it adheres to, is set in 17th Century Lombardy and deals with the young couple's love, a tyrant's evil, and religious salvation, all set against a turbulent social background of war that makes this a kind of northern Italian GONE WITH THE WIND.

The villain of the piece is Don Rodrigo, lord of the domain, who prevents the marriage of the couple with strong-arm tactics because he himself is infatuated with the girl. The priest Don Abbondio, comes to the assistance of the two as does a godly brother, Cristoforo. The character called l'Innominato or "the unnamed" is sent by Don Rodrigo to abduct the girl and give her once and for all to Don Rodrigo, but in a startling change of heart, he undergoes a religious conversion and does the right thing by liberating her. Brother Cristoforo frees her also from her vow of chastity she had made in the hope of being relinquished from the clutches of the Innominato. But her tribulations are not over. She contracts the plague, winds up in a hospital with other plague victims. But she is rescued and recovers. The two lovers are re-united. All is well.

The original novel, not widely read outside of Italy, is a stylistic achievement of great beauty and faith. Composer Giuseppe Verdi wrote his great Requiem Mass for Manzoni upon the author's death. This film does some justice to the book although the presentation is often a bit stilted and heavy-handed. Nevertheless Gino Cervi makes a fine Renzo and Dina Sassoli as Lucia is lovely to look at. This film was also called THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH and FATHER CHRISTOPHER'S PRAYER. Director Mario Camerini has made many very good films in his long career that began in the silent era.

Alessandro Manzoni's celebrated novel "The Betrothed" is to Italian literature what "War and Peace" is to Russian or "Gone With The Wind" to American. For the record, a 9-hour adaptation for Italian TV made in 1989 attracted an all-star cast featuring Alberto Sordi, Franco Nero, F. Murray Abraham, Burt Lancaster, Helmut Berger, Valentina Cortese, Fernando Rey, etc.!

Anyway, the film version under review is the third cinematic adaptation and it was a lavish affair for its time. Being the only version I've watched and not having read the original novel, I can't judge how faithful it is to the text but it is understandable that contemporary reviews complained that it was compromised by a too-condensed second half; even so the latter stages did indeed feel choppy to me despite the film being fairly long at nearly 2 hours! The elaborate plot - taking in numerous characters and set in several cities over a period of years, covers court intrigues, the persecution of two lovers, the renunciation of love, an outbreak of pestilence (the best sequences in the film) and culminates in a miracle - is meticulously brought to life and the good performances enhance the film's every mood through romance, drama, comedy and action.

Director Mario Camerini previously handled the Vittorio De Sica series of "white telephone" films throughout the 1930s and would go on to make the enjoyable (but hardly definitive) international film version of ULYSSES (1953) with Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn. On the other hand, leading man Gino Cervi, best-known as the Communist antagonist to Fernandel's Don Camillo in a popular series of comedies, is a handsome hero here (worlds apart from the gruff and tyrannical monarch in THE IRON CROWN, made the same year!).