I magliari

"I migliari", directed by Francesco Rosi showed up, unexpectedly, on a cable channel not long ago. It's not a film that is seen often, so we decided to watch it because anything by its director, Francesco Rosi, is worth a look. This 1959 Italian feature takes us to the Germany that was way ahead of the rest of some European countries in recovering from the ravages of the the second world war.

We are taken to the underworld, where most of the characters live. At the center of it is Totonno who is a somewhat successful scam artist. He sells inferior merchandise pretending it has a quality that is not there. Around Totonno there we find a group of Italian immigrants eking a life in Germany relying on their wits to survive in a more secure environment. After all, their own country was still recovering, sending a lot of the population to other European countries where work was plentiful.

The second plot deals with the illicit relationship between Mario, a handsome young man, and Paula Mayer, the wife of a wealthy German man that is behind the schemes of the immigrants. Mario, who falls head over heels with Paula, wants to take her away from that world, but she wants no part in his world of poverty. After all, she has seen it all. She comes clean to Mario as she reveals her past.

The atmosphere of the film gives the viewer a bird's eye view of the Germany of that time. Shot mainly in Hannover and Hamburg, this movie reflects the tastes of a lot of Italian film makers of the post war ere in shooting in the streets and a frank depiction of the lives of these small time criminals. Best of all, Alberto Sordi, probably the most versatile of the Italian actors of his generation. Also appealing is Renato Salvatori, a handsome actor that gives an excellent portrait of the complex Mario. Belinda Lee, appears as the beautiful Paula Mayer.

Giovanni DiVenanzo's black and white cinematography serves well the story as well as the score by Piero Piccioni. Francesco Rosi delivered with this enjoyable film that should be seen by fans of the director and its stars.

The movie describes with precision and sensitivity the daily life of the Italian immigrant community in post-war Germany. Poverty is never far away, and all the parties, nice costumes and laughters cannot really make you forget it. Alberto Sordi is splendid in the role of Totonno, sympathetic, cynical and unscrupulous drummer. Mario, interpreted by Renato Salvatori is the exact opposite: naive, sensitive and full of good intentions, he stands out by his freshness and his honesty in this world where everything is chattiness and where friendships are rather superficial. A magnificent impossible love story between Mario and big boss wife Paula Mayer, interpreted by the sublime Belinda Lee, brings a touch of tragic beauty to this deeply human story. This magnificent actress, too rare in cinema because she disappeared much too early at the age of 25, is alone worth watching the film. The close-ups of her face against the background of the port of Hamburg are deeply moving. Her beauty, made strength and fragility literally bursts the screen.

Released in 1959, "I Magliari" is one of the numerous politically-engaged and socially-committed films Italian director Francesco Rosi has made throughout the 1950s and 1960s. A story of itinerant sellers in Germany, the film features Alberto Sordi and Renato Salvatori as the two male stars, and British actress Belinda Lee who died only a couple of years after the making of this movie. The film was shot entirely in Germany (Hannover and Hamburg) where a group of Italian emigrants try to make their fortune by engaging in a series of organized scams that appear to revolve around the sale of poor quality textiles as genuine quality fabric to Germans at inflated prices. Although the latter part of the film develops into a love story between the rather good-hearted young Tuscan expatriate, Mario (Renato Salvatori, a moving Brad Pitt look-alike, on his way to international fame -- see "Rocco and his Brothers" directed by Visconti in 1960), and the pretty and somewhat mysterious Paula Mayer (Belinda Lee), the wife of the German boss, much of the film focuses on male groups exercising, challenging and negotiating power in a desperate effort to secure spoils and territory. Hence the rather unusual blend of several styles (Italian comedy, romance, and documentary-like scenes about the living conditions of Italian emigrants in post-war Western Germany). Alberto Sordi is extraordinary as a pitiful crook, big-mouthed and cynical. One of the scenes shows Sordi at his best when he tries to sell a whole batch of carpets to a nice and gullible German housewife. The scene is the comical peak of the film, which is on the other hand not so funny. The story deals mainly with the theme of emigration and is still worth watching today, as the North-South problem is still increasing. This flashback into the '50s is a salutary one and is certainly no "small work" from F. Rosi. For those who like music of the '50s, the score features several hits of that time.