Domani è troppo tardi

Might be considered one of the best films of all time. This story of star-crossed adolescent lovers is well-served by the hauntingly beautiful music of Alessandro Cicognini. Vittorio De Sica is superb as the understanding teacher. Gino Leurini and beautiful Pier Angeli are respectively the Romeo and Juliet of the plot in which the intensity of the teen-agers emotions is heightened by the confining context of school life. Though little appreciated by the intelligentsia, whose taste usually leans to angst rather than tragedy - the film only got a silver ribbon - it was a huge success with the general public and deserves to be better remembered. It is a great humanist drama in the best Italian tradition.

This movie won the Best Italian Film Film prize at Venice in 1950 and had the biggest New York opening for any Italian film up to LA DOLCE VITA. It opened at the large Loew's State Theatre in Times Square, unheard of for a foreign-language film.

The movie is about the near-tragedy that occurs when a teenage girl,the lovely Pier Angeli (Anna Maria Pierangeli) and her puppy-love for a boy her own age (Gino Leurini) are misunderstood. Sentimental and very tame by today's standards, it nevertheless has great warmth and appeal. Vittorio De Sica is superb as a liberal and dignified teacher who tells his students the facts of life. Lois Maxwell is another teacher that shares her colleague's views, while Gabrielle Dorziat is a harsh and restrictive summer-camp headmistress ready to suppress any young romance. The fetching musical score is by Alessandro Cicognini, who scored all of the great films De Sica made as a director.

The recent issue of " je t'attendrai" aka "le déserteur" ,the very first movie in the history of cinema which featured a "real-time structure " on dvd ,along with Quentin Tarantino's support,put Leonide Moguy under the spotlight in his native country .

"Domani è troppo tardi", in spite of the presence of the great character actress Gabrielle Dorziat ,has remained neglected to this day here and it is certainly unfair.

Although not Italian, Moguy integrated well into the neorealism school ,which the presence of the brilliant director/actor De Sica reinforces.

This plea for a more tolerant sexuality may seem outdated by today's standards,but it was the beginning of a decade,the fifties ,and certainly a courageous movefor the time .

At home ,the youngsters are denied any information ( babies are born in cabbages , the stork brings them ,we buy them in the hospital,etc) , and at school ,only two teachers take a rebel stand .It may remind the French audience of an early Moguy movie "prisons sans barreaux " (jail without bars) (1937)which took place in a reform school for girls where a new headmistress wanted to impose more human rules. In "prison sans barreaux" , a young inmate (Corinne Luchaire ) discovered love and her story may recall that of Pier Angeli (once James Dean 's fiancée)and her Romeo.

In the Summer holiday camp ,things are worse ; Gabrielle Dorziat shines in her part of a holier-than-thou headmistress, an iron lady finally overtaken by events ; the calving cow is a good stroke of inspiration and replaces all the fossilized speeches of the old lady.

To the French audience ,I recommend " Domani è troppo tardi" To the Italian audience, "Je t'attendrai" aka "le déserteur" (feat Corinne Luchaire)

This is a very enjoyable film that centers on children trying to navigate a sweet but difficult time in their lives. The first half of this film is spot on. The second half is a somewhat melodramatic and predictable, but I believe it is exactly what would have appealed to the young girls in the audience.

I was taken to this Italian film in my native home and it was really touching as I was about Mirella's age.Thoughts of boys and their reaction on us girls were varied amongst my school chums (all girls).We had some knowledge of human conception and I remember the scene when Mirella or the friend asked the adult whether sitting on the toilet seat could cause a pregnancy. The audience did laugh. After the film I tried to write the story in full,but with difficulties with transition from Tamil to English in Form 1 as was then in the 1950s. My prowess in writing did not take off. Vittorio de Sica was a well known director and his films notably Bicycle Thieves were a huge hit and his films were shown in the smaller cinemas in my city, and at Film Festival events.